Teaching Sensitivity to Cultural Difference in the First‐Year Foreign Language Classroom

This article summarizes teacher action research for the teaching of subjective culture in the foreign language classroom. It begins with a literature review, followed by a description of Milton J. Bennett's Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (Bennett, 1993), the theoretical paradigm upon which classroom activities and experiments were based. Bennett's model is compared and contrasted with other approaches to teaching culture, its strengths and weaknesses are discussed, and suggestions for implementing the model are presented. The article then summarizes efforts to mobilize the theory at the elementary French level, describes various culture‐teaching strategies, and presents the results of evaluations of the effectiveness of the strategies using the Intercultural Development Inventory. Final remarks concern the goals of the culture component in the foreign language curriculum and suggestions for next steps in research.