In a recently published, well-received book, What the Best College Teachers Do, author Ken Bain expounds on 15 years of meticulous research into the attributes and techniques of successful college instructors. One of his main conclusions is that the best college teachers employ what he calls metacognition, or thinking about thinking. He explains that students are inspired when taken on deep intellectual forays. Examples of such cerebral expeditions are probing for tacit assumptions, critically examining the socially constructed paradigms that manipulate our realities, and examining the implications of particular lines of thought. In foreign language classes, the teaching of culture provides a medium for the instructor to exploit this pedagogical resource. Yet most culture taught in foreign language classes is so superficial as to not lend itself to critical reflection or significant paradigm shifts. This article discusses how Bain's findings can be utilized to improve cultural instruction and stimulate the raising of consciousness.
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