| Despite the inextricable link between language and culture, more often than not, culture remains an afterthought in world language curricula as instruction focuses on language development. This multiple case study researched four world language teachers' integration of culture in their teaching. The research sought to learn about how teachers integrate culture, what they understand by it, what informs their understanding, how they link culture and language and whether their representations challenge societal injustices. The literature delved beyond the field of world languages by looking at the broader context of education and evolved into a discussion on dichotomies of power which framed the research. The research was conducted from a critical perspective. Through this lens, the literature underwent a conceptual analysis on culture. This expanded beyond cursory understandings by culling from various fields that touched upon the oft-ignored element of power from these discussions. Additionally, an analysis of how the field of world language education has studied culture informs the research. A purposive sample of four high school teachers was solicited. Two of them taught in an urban high school and two in suburban high schools. Three of the participants taught French and one taught Spanish. Their cases were studied through a series of four semi-structured interviews, two open-ended interviews and twenty classroom observations. The findings include a single-case analysis for each participant as well as a cross-case analysis for all participants. Teachers that were experiencing the most satisfaction in their integration of culture identified experiences beyond the traditional scope of teacher education courses as pivotal in their conscienticization. Additionally, they experienced a reclaiming of curriculum through the onset of standards-based thematic units. On the other hand, teachers that had felt structural limitations struggled to make their curriculum relevant to their students. Limiting themselves to primarily teaching from the text, these participants integrated culture additively. Looking toward the possibility of more transformative opportunities, this research pointed to implications for key players, including school districts, teacher education programs, the field of world language education and teachers. |
