MIST Fall 2009

Journal 4

Kiyoung Sohn

WHY CULTURE COURSE AT DLI?

Project Summary
The context of this instruction module is the Korean School at the Defense Language
Institute of Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC). The Basic Korean program at DLI is a
very intensive 63 week language program targeted for military linguists. As an
exiting mechanism, the Defense Language Proficiency Test (DLPT) is administered
to assess the students ability in target language. Since the goal for passing DLPT has
been raised recently, some faculty may feel that it is too much to accomplish in such
a limited time. This concern may lead them to think that extra curricular activities in
the program may be unnecessary.
With this setting in mind, the goal of the unit is to raise the awareness of the
importance of the culture course offered at the Korean School. The learning unit
includes questions for the audience (Korean instructors) to bring out their personal
and professional experiences in learning/ teaching language with regards to the
cultural influence. The learners will be directed to the slides where they are
provided with empirical data to support the importance of a cultural component in
language learning/teaching. For some learners, who are aware of what culture does
in language learning to some degree, the objective of this unit would be reinforcing
their recognition and provide tangible data to confirm their beliefs on this topic. The
ultimate goal of this instruction would be to lead the instructors to possess positive
attitudes toward Culture Course in the Korean School so that they would invest
more time and effort to deliver quality instruction.
Intended Audience

This instruction module is designed for the instructors at the Korean School at the
Defense Language Institute of Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC). The Basic Korean
program at DLI is a very intensive 63 week language program targeted for military
linguists. As an exiting mechanism, the DLPT is administered to assess the students
ability in the target language. Since the goal for passing DLPT has been raised
recently, some faculty feels that it is too much to accomplish in such a limited time.
This concern may lead them to think that extra curricular activities and culture
hours in the program may be unnecessary.
Project Objectives

The learning objectives for this unit is to come to a realization that culture can play a
significant role in achieving the institutes goal, reaching high a level of target
language. At the end of this learning module, the learners will be able to discern the
common myths and the facts about culture and language, to realize the importance
IST 526

Professor Ittelson

MIST Fall 2009

Kiyoung Sohn

of the culture course, and to build a positive attitude while preparing for the course.
Link to Captivate Program

http://itcdland.csumb.edu/~ksohn/IST526/myproject.swf
To advance the project, clicking is required even in one slide. Also, to view the
project in full screen may be necessary to be able to click buttons located in
the lower section of the slides.

Link to Your VoiceThread Recording

http://voicethread.com/share/822285/

Reflections on Your Project

While working on this learning module looked quite difficult at first, the process
done throughout the whole semester, with step by step assignments, made it more
doable than I originally thought. In the process, the most challenging problems were
technical difficulties, which can be very frustrating. However, the lesson learned is
that some things you cannot control and you should be prepared to be flexible and
not give up.

IST 526

Professor Ittelson