Understanding comprehension: Hermeneutics, literature, and culture in collegiate foreign language education

Abstract

In this chapter, I propose a connection between hermeneutics and foreign language education. This connection generates insights into the process of literary reading in the second language, guides curriculum development, supports the articulation of educational goals, and provides a pedagogical framework for the effective use of cultural materials in the language classroom. Language program directors face many challenges in the context of the implementation of contemporary undergraduate curricula. To achieve effective curricular modifications, language program directors have to engage an entire department, often composed of literary scholars, linguists, and applied linguists. However, this multidisciplinary structure results often in a cacophony of methodological approaches and jargons. A framework to conceive and articulate culture-centered undergraduate curricula that relies not entirely on applied linguistics may therefore contribute the collaborative process of reforming a language program. The chapter introduces insights from both applied linguistics and hermeneutics and shows that fundamental concepts from both fields are congruent. These insights challenge intuitive assumptions of literary reading in the second language, provide the vocabulary to articulate educational goals in an integrated undergraduate curriculum, and reject the traditional two-tier curriculum. Further, I argue that hermeneutics can be of practical value to implement literature and cultural artifacts in the advanced language classroom. I illustrate this claim and demonstrate how hermeneutic theory can guide the didactization of foreign films in relation to their Hollywood remakes.