DIalogue and Argumentation for cultural Literacy Learning in Schools (DIALLS)

DIALLS answers the Horizon 2020 call ‘Understanding Europe – promoting the European Public and Cultural Space’ under the topic of Cultural Literacy of Young Generations in Europe (specifically promoting cultural literacy through formal education).

DIALLS is a three year project starting in June 2018.  It centralises co-constructive dialogue as a main cultural literacy value, with the aim of promoting tolerance, inclusion and empathy. It moves beyond a concept of cultural literacy as being about knowledge of culture (through exploration of literature and art for example) into a consideration of the disposition to explore different interpretations of it. It innovates by also viewing cultural literacy as enabled by the response to and creation of cultural resources, thus centralising young people as the users and producers of culture.

Leader: Dr. Fiona Maine, Faculty of Education, Cambridge University, UK.

Abstract

DIALLS is a three year project with two main objectives. First it will develop young people’s cultural literacy in formal education through the teaching of dialogue and argumentation as a means to understand European identities, cultures and diversities. This will be achieved through the creation and implementation of cultural literacy learning activities, where students respond to and produce multi-modal texts (wordless picturebooks and short films) reflecting European cultural heritage and/or positive cultural values; and through analysis of how structured interactions, both face-to-face and using an online platform, promote effective inter-cultural dialogue and mutual understanding as students co-construct meanings with their European peers. Second, it will provide comprehensive guidance for the development of cultural literacy in schools through the creation of a scale of progression to assess knowledge, skills and competences for pre-primary through to secondary-aged students. This will also produce a deep understanding of how civic and cultural values are manifested in students’ discourse and their production of cultural artefacts. Comparative analysis of students in and across eight European countries will highlight the potential impact of social factors including gender, socio-economic context, age, and ethnicity on how young people negotiate and construct their European identities. DIALLS is directly relevant to the call’s work programme as it addresses the role of formal education in supporting the acquisition of the knowledge, skills and competences needed for effective inter-cultural dialogue. The novelty of our proposal lies in our goal to establish educational face-to-face and online environments as dialogic spaces of tolerance, integrity and inclusion, where students can share their perspectives and their own created cultural artefacts as they make sense of Europe and its different cultures. Our teaching and assessment tools will form the basis of guidance to support schools in their development of a dialogic pedagogy for cultural literacy in tomorrow’s Europe.

Participants

Plan of activities