Tuesday, May 16, 2000

Students in Indiana and Australia Will Compare Notes on Literature By DAN CARNEVALE Students at Ball State University will get a virtual taste of Australian culture by critiquing and interpreting literature in tandem with their peers from down under. The two groups of students will use e-mail to discuss and debate their views of two books written by American authors and two written by Australian authors. "The goal is to internationalize a core world-literature course," says Joseph F. Trimmer, an English professor at Ball State, in Muncie, Ind. He is coordinating the effort with James Cook University of North Queensland, in Australia. The project is part of a three-year program at Ball State that aims to expose its students to world cultures by letting them see how students in other countries interpret literature. This spring, an Australian professor visited the campus to teach and prepare students for the electronic correspondence with Australian students a year from now. Mr. Trimmer is organizing similar projects with South Africa and India for the next two years. Annette Patterson, a senior lecturer in the School of Education at James Cook, says the cultural differences can be striking. "American students either misread or don't understand particular literary references that I just take for granted," she says. "Australian students are in the same situation" as their counterparts here. Situated in Townsville, on the northeast coast, James Cook University is isolated from the many influences of American culture -- except for a few television shows -- that can be found in Australia's population centers to the south, Ms. Patterson says. Likewise, Mr. Trimmer says, most Americans have very little exposure to Australia except for movies like Crocodile Dundee and Foster's lager commercials, which aren't representative of life there. Both professors hope that the students will be able to pick up on the culture of their counterparts halfway across the world. But it is clear that the cultural divide is large. During a visit to Ball State this month, Ms. Patterson drew puzzled looks when she mentioned "tall-poppy syndrome," an Australian phrase that refers to cutting someone down to size. The roles were reversed when students asked her if she was going to root for her favorite basketball team, the University of Wisconsin Badgers, who were playing that night. In Australia, "root" is a vulgar term for sex. "We would just not say that in Australia -- I just about fainted." Ms. Patterson says. "I asked, 'How many people are on the team?'" The professors hope that the students will pay closer attention to the readings so that they can make informed contributions to the discussions. Australian students, Ms. Patterson says, tend to put leisure activities ahead of academics. "They only come in if there isn't a good surf," she says, laughing. "If you're going to be in correspondence with someone in another country, you might want to read the book." Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

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