Perspective-making and its potential in intercultural learning

Exploring and expanding perspectives is a commonly cited goal of language education, especially in relation to intercultural learning. This chapter first reviews the concept of "perspective-taking" as it appears in professional standards and related research, transformative language learning theory and studies, as well as more semiotic (or meaning-anchored) approaches to theorizing and researching language education. With this framing in place, a clarification is offered as to why it is pressing to examine this much-referenced concept of perspective-taking, a notion that can be thought of more broadly and practiced more deeply. The notions that perspective-taking (new) teachers encounter do not account for cultural worlds in expansive, dynamic, or historically conscious ways. Therefore, the authors propose that teachers think, plan, and teach in terms of "perspective-making," emphasizing that this approach to intercultural teaching in language education can be more critical and more acknowledging of both teachers' and learners' agency as meaning-makers. Episodes are offered to illustrate and spark new imagining about how to expand the intercultural worlds and worldviews in language classrooms. Finally, readers are invited to similarly examine their own practice with reflection and discussion questions.