Transcultureel Taalonderwijs

After 'intercultural' and 'multiculturai', we introduce the term 'transcultural' in relation to language education. In our opinion, this term is understood to mean a type of education in which, by means of exchanging culturally different experiences, the culturally biased frame of reference of the language learner contributes to the formation of new concepts. In this way, the classroom becomes a breeding ground for a 'third culture' (Kramsch, 1993), in addition to the first culture of the learner and the second culture associated with the language being learned. Transcultural education, in our view, is the ultimate implementation of intercultural education. In the context of second language learning, the term 'transcultural' has an additional meaning: most of the students find themselves in the transition from one culture to another. In our paper, we develop these two meanings of 'transculturaP as relating to the teaching and learning of Dutch as a second language. Starting from a theoretical framework, we end up with suggestions for application in the language classroom.