Developing and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence: A Guide for Language Teachers and Teacher Educators, To Get to Know Each Other Leads to Better Mutual Understanding

ELT Journal ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 277-280
Author(s):  
S. Andernovics
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Mutual Understanding ◽  
Intercultural Communicative Competence

scholarly journals Interculturality in English Language Teaching – A Small Study with Portuguese Teachers

e-TEALS ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-125
Author(s):  
Ana Ponce de Leão
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Intercultural Competence ◽  
English Language ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Intercultural Communicative Competence ◽  
Language Teacher ◽  
Teachers Perceptions

Abstract UNESCO and many other organisations worldwide have been working on approaches in education to develop tolerance, respect for cultural diversity, and intercultural dialogue. Particularly, the Council of Europe has laid out guiding principles in several documents to promote intercultural competence, following Byram’s and Zarate’s efforts in integrating this important component in language education. The commitment to developing the notion of intercultural competence has been so influential that many countries, e.g., Portugal, have established the intercultural domain as a goal in the foreign language curricula. However, this commitment has been questioned by researchers worldwide who consider that action is needed to effectively promote intercultural competence. The research coordinated by Sercu, for example, suggests that, although foreign language teachers are willing to comply with an intercultural dimension, their profile is more compatible with that of a traditional foreign language teacher, rather than with a foreign language teacher, who promotes intercultural communicative competence. In this study, I propose to examine teachers’ perceptions and beliefs about intercultural communicative competence in a cluster of schools in Portugal and compare these findings with Sercu’s study. Despite a twelve-year gap, the present study draws similar conclusions.

scholarly journals Teaching intercultural communicative competence through the four skills

2008 ◽  
pp. 157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther Usó Juan ◽  
Alicia Martínez Flor
Keyword(s):  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Theoretical Concept ◽  
Communicative Language Teaching ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Intercultural Communicative Competence ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Linguistic System ◽  
Point Of Departure

Nowadays, the most accepted instructional framework in second or foreign language (L2) programs is Communicative Language Teaching, whose main goal is to increase learners’ communicative competence. This theoretical term means being able to use the linguistic system effectively and appropriately in the target language and culture. However, the implementation of a communicative methodology is not an easy task since it requires an understanding of the integrated nature of the theoretical concept of communicative competence (Celce-Murcia and Olshtain, 2005). Therefore, it is the main goal of this paper to help language teachers better understand such a theoretical concept for improving their classroom practices. In so doing, we first provide an explanation of the theoretical concept of communicative competence. Then, a current framework of communicative competence, which aims at highlighting the function of the four macro-skills to build discourse competence for communicative purposes and reflects our conceptualization of language teaching is briefly discussed (Usó-Juan and Martínez-Flor, 2006a). Finally, on the basis of this framework, and taking the intercultural component as the point of departure, a variety of activities in the four language skills are presented for teaching learners intercultural communicative competence.

scholarly journals Reflecting on the Japan-Chile Task-Based Telecollaboration Project for Beginner-Level Learners

2015 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 175
Author(s):  
B. Greg Dunne
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Intercultural Communicative Competence ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Teachers ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Collaboration Project

Using O’Dowd and Ritter’s (2006) Inventory of Reasons for Failed Communication in Telecollaborative Projects as a barometer, this article details the considerations and procedures followed in a task-based, asynchronous email tele-collaboration project between EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners in Japan and Chile. In a climate where current research surrounding telecollaboration continues to gravitate toward the dual foci of intercultural communicative competence and multimodal technology, this article exemplifies how the adoption of a task-based framework can greatly assist the induction of beginner-level EFL students into a telecollaborative learning environment. It also encourages EFL and ESL (English as a Second Language) teachers throughout the world to seek task designs that will help them do the same. The project experienced its share of logistical and technical challenges but by adopting the currently unconventional stance of designing tasks that highlight individual identity and downplay cultural identity the project appeared to minimize intercultural tension, unmanageable levels of incomprehensibility and inability to arrive at task outcomes.Utilisant l’article de O’Dowd et Ritter (2006) Inventory of Reasons for Failed Communication in Telecollaborative Projects comme baromètre, cet article décrit en détail les considérations et les procédures d’un projet de télécollaboration asynchrone, par courriel et basé sur les tâches entre des apprenants d’anglais langue étrangère (ALE) au Japon et au Chili. Dans le climat actuel où la recherche portant sur la télécollaboration continue à se tourner vers la compétence communicative interculturelle et la technologie multimodale, cet article démontre les bienfaits significatifs d’adopter un cadre basé sur les tâches pour accueillir les élèves débutants en ALE dans un milieu d’apprentissage télécollaboratif. L’article encourage également les enseignants d’ALE et d’ALS partout au monde à rechercher des tâches qui les aideront à en faire autant. Le projet a connu sa part de défis logistiques et techniques, mais en adoptant la position originale de concevoir des tâches qui soulignent l’identité individuelle et diminuent l’identité culturelle, il semble avoir minimisé la tension interculturelle, l’incompréhensibilité et l’incapacité à arriver aux résultats voulus.

scholarly journals Developing ICC within the Activity Theory

1970 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-162
Author(s):  
Teresa Siek-Piskozub
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Activity Theory ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Intercultural Communicative Competence ◽  
Major Goal ◽  
Foreign Language Teachers ◽  
Language Competence ◽  
Cultural Components ◽  
Adam Mickiewicz

The major goal of the article is to introduce the Activity Theory as a framework for developing intercultural communicative competence (ICC) of prospective foreign language teachers with the example of students from the Faculty of English (FE) at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland. I will refer to the concept of ICC resulting from the evolution of the concept of language competence in which social and cultural components have become more prominent, and for which the reference to the mythical

scholarly journals Intercultural Communicative Competence: In-Service EFL Teachers Building Understanding Through Study Groups

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-92
Author(s):  
Luis Fernando Cuartas Álvarez
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Study Groups ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Intercultural Communicative Competence ◽  
Collective Case Study ◽  
Group Data ◽  
English Language Teachers ◽  
Teachers Professional Development

This paper reports on an exploratory collective case study on three in-service English language teachers in Medellin, Colombia. The study aimed at creating a route for teachers to collaboratively construct their understanding of intercultural communicative competence through their involvement in a study group. Data were collected through recordings, interviews, and reflective logs, which followed a bottom-up analysis. Results evidenced changes in the participants’ views of culture, cross-cultural knowledge, intercultural stance, and understanding of intercultural communicative competence. As a conclusion, study groups materialized as an applicable tool for teachers’ professional development, which allowed participants to redraw their own initial beliefs and assumptions, fostering them to change professionally and in their praxis.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document