Tips on Navigating the Guidebook

Reading all of the sections of this guidebook in order will essentially take you along on our journey through this project, from the concerns we started with to the information we learned and some of the changes we have already implemented in our own teaching. However, not every section may be relevant to your needs at the moment. Therefore, feel free to skip around and explore individual sections. You can jump to specific sections using the drop-down menu under “Contents” on the left-hand side of the screen. If you prefer to read the content in order, forward and backward navigation buttons are located at the very bottom of your browser screen.

If you want to learn more of what inspired this project and why we believe all instructors need to commit to a more critical approach to the teaching of language and culture, read Section II “Our Starting Point.” Or you may already be convinced that your current materials and practices aren’t serving you and your students well, but you aren’t sure what alternative pedagogical approaches are out there; in this case we point you towards Section IV.

If you want to dive right into the nitty-gritty of the shortcomings of traditional representations of culture and “diverse” voices, along with specific ways to address them, head to Sections V and VI. Section VI presents some examples of our own re-worked materials. The final section includes the bibliography as well as links to other materials to help you continue your professional development.

Regardless of where you start, we do recommend that everyone read Section III “Desired Outcomes” in order to better understand our goals for this guidebook and what it can and cannot offer.

Finally, if you find this guidebook useful, please share it widely with friends, colleagues, reading groups, etc. We have intentionally published this guidebook as an open resource with a Creative Commons license that allows you to reproduce and rework any aspects of what is written here, with attribution. We hope that you will utilize it, adapt it, and make it serve your purposes, in order to push the project of more critical, more inclusive, and more compassionate language education forward.