scholarly journals Developing Students’ Intercultural Competence among Moroccan EFL students: Focus on raising their Cross-cultural Awareness

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 43-56
Author(s):  
Driss Benattabou
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Intercultural Communication ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Intercultural Competence ◽  
Cultural Awareness ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Communication Course ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Deep Culture ◽  
Efl Students

         The goal of this paper is to consider alternative ways to incorporate an intercultural communication course as an integral part of the curriculum designed for Moroccan learners of EFL. Some aspects of what comes to be dubbed as ‘deep culture’ should find room in the contents of the EFL course so as to alert Moroccan learners about the potential intercultural barriers they are far more likely to face. It is proposed that for an effective intercultural communication to take place, the English course should help foreign language learners explicitly understand what target linguistic forms might be and how their meanings may differ across cultures. The analysis of some instances of intercultural misunderstandings may surely give more credence to the vital importance of implementing a multicultural approach to education. This paper offers some teaching strategies to assist Moroccan learners of EFL overcome these intercultural barriers.

scholarly journals The Cultural Content in EFL Textbooks and What Teachers Need to Do About It

2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis Fernando Gómez Rodríguez
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Intercultural Competence ◽  
Surface Culture ◽  
Instructional Resources ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Deep Culture ◽  
Cultural Content ◽  
English Classroom

<p>This article analyzes the cultural content in three communicative English as a foreign language textbooks that are used as main instructional resources in the English classroom. The study examined whether the textbooks include elements of surface or deep culture, and the findings indicate that the textbooks contain only static and congratulatory topics of surface culture and omit complex and transformative forms of culture. Consequently, the second part of the article suggests how teachers can address deep-rooted aspects of culture that might help English as a foreign language learners build more substantive intercultural competence in the language classroom.</p><p>En este artículo se analiza el contenido cultural en tres textos de inglés comunicativo utilizados como el principal recurso de enseñanza en la clase de inglés. Se indagó si los textos incluyen elementos de la cultura superficial o de la cultura profunda. Se observó que los textos sólo presentan temas “admirables” y representativos de la cultura superficial y no ofrecen temas complejos y trasformativos de la cultura profunda. En consecuencia, en la segunda parte del artículo se sugiere a los profesores de inglés cómo abordar aspectos complejos de la cultura profunda que podrían ayudarle a los estudiantes de inglés como lengua extranjera a construir una competencia intercultural más sólida.</p>

Developing Intercultural Awareness and Language Speaking Proficiency for Foreign Language Learners through Cross–Cultural Voicemail Exchange

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 17-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amber Yayin Wang ◽  
Wan-Jeng Chang
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Intercultural Awareness ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Speaking Proficiency ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
English Speaking

To expand global and intercultural communication, the effectiveness of asynchronous online communication devices, especially email, have been discussed in the area of foreign language teaching. A lack of specific research exists that addresses the application of online voicemail. This paper reports on a five month period of voicemail exchanges between 53 EFL learners in Taiwan and 56 CFL learners in the United States. The authors examine the responses of EFL students to this cross–cultural voicemail project and assess their progress in intercultural awareness and English speaking proficiency before and after the project. This study concludes that the use of voicemail creates an impact on the English speaking performance and intercultural awareness of EFL students and increases the motivation of EFL students in using English to express ideas. Further implications for teaching are discussed.

scholarly journals Teaching Sociolinguistics: A Medium for Cultural Awareness of Indonesian University Foreign Language Learners

Humaniora ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 192
Author(s):  
Agnes Herawati
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Cultural Awareness ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Language Usage ◽  
Research Results ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Language Classrooms

This paper tries to show the evidences that indicate how teaching Sociolinguistics can result in a number of valuable outcomes, including helping students understand and appreciate other cultures different from theirs. Sociolinguistics provides useful examples of language usage in different genres, including how culture influences people in using a language. The opportunities of learning other cultures through language will take the students to the higher level of appreciation of the culture of the target language. To determine how this outcome can be achieved in the language classrooms, this paper provides a review of closely connected literature about how to bridge the gap between cultures in particular. However, to increase its completeness and relevance, this paper also provides some research results that reveal how teaching Sociolinguistics has taken its new applicability and importance, and furthermore adds the effects on how students become more proficient and enthusiastic about their learning. 

scholarly journals Using Tongue Twister to Improve Students’ Pronunciation

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 110-115
Author(s):  
Dewi Lutfiani
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Oral Communication ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Correct Pronunciation ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Tongue Twister ◽  
Basic Ability ◽  
Teaching Learning ◽  
Teaching Pronunciation

peaking skill comprises five components; pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar,fluency and accuracy, which are very essential in delivering messages orinformation clearly. As one of the five components of speaking, pronunciationis an essential component in oral communication and a basic ability of speakingEnglish. Since English is a foreign language, correct pronunciation becomesa crucial matter to avoid misunderstanding between a speaker and a listener.Therefore, teaching pronunciation to EFL students is very essential, and it is notan easy task for English teachers. The main reason is that English pronunciationis difficult for most foreign language learners since what is written is differentfrom what is spoken. Regarding the difficulty of the students, teachers shouldbe creative to select a technique of teaching pronunciation. One techniquethat is suitable for teaching pronunciation is tongue twister. This techniquewas applied to the eleventh grade of SMA Muhammadiyah 3 Jember in the2015/2016 academic year. The results of the classroom action research whichwas done in two cycles showed 77.14% students got score ≥75 and 77.13% ofthe students were active in teaching learning process. The results had met thecriteria of success of the research.

scholarly journals PRAGMATICS IN EFL CLASSROOM: AVOIDING PRAGMATIC FAILURE IN CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-91
Author(s):  
Nailul Author Restu Pamungkas ◽  
Lutfina Tarita Wulandari
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Communication ◽  
Cross Cultural Communication ◽  
Teaching Language ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Pragmatic Awareness ◽  
Pragmatic Failure ◽  
Cultural Pragmatics

In teaching language along with its culture, teacher should take pragmatic aspects into consideration, since understanding pragmatics will help foreign language learners to avoid false interpretation which will cause misunderstanding in communication between speakers with different culture and social backgrounds. It is called as pragmatic failure which usually takes place in cross-cultural communication. Since pragmatics plays quite important role in communication, it is important for foreign language learners to have sensitivity of cross cultural pragmatics, which is commonly known as cross cultural or intercultural pragmatic awareness. However, teaching language along with culture seems to be problematic, since it is relatively difficult to choose which aspect(s) of culture to teach, what content to include, and to represent cultures implicitly under study which presents differences from the norm of students’ local culture. Therefore, this paper tries to explore the essential issues of spoken discourse, pragmatics, cross cultural pragmatics, pragmatic failure, pragmatic awareness, and its implication to pedagogy.

scholarly journals Intercultural competence - an aim for the teaching of English in Norway?

2008 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ragnhild Elisabeth Lund
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Intercultural Competence ◽  
National Curriculum ◽  
Compulsory Education ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
Future Developments ◽  
Foreign Language Learners

The 1997 Norwegian national curriculum (L-97) pointed out the need for foreign language learners to develop ‘the ability to communicate across cultural divides’. The present article investigates how this perspective is followed up in the most recent national curriculum, LK-06, and discusses how intercultural competence can be dealt with in the teaching of English in Norwegian compulsory education. The author also indicates possible future developments by referring to some Council of Europe projects. The main focus is on the questions of how (inter)cultural topics can be selected and how intercultural competence can be assessed.

scholarly journals LANGUAGE REPRESENTATION OF AXIOLOGICAL ATTITUDE TO NEIGHBOUR NATIONS (ON THE ETHNONYMY MATERIAL OF LANGUAGES OF DIFFERENT STRUCTURES)

2020 ◽  
pp. 38-44
Author(s):  
Татьяна Юрьевна Гурьянова ◽  
Кристина Валериевна Фадеева ◽  
Елена Анатольевна Ваганова
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Practical Importance ◽  
Negative Attitude ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Multicultural Society ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Language Representation ◽  
History Of

В условиях динамичного развития поликультурного общества, а также ускорившейся глобализации и взаимопроникновения культур народов практическую значимость приобретают исследования страноведческой и лингвокультурной направленности. Фразеологизмы используются в речи всех слоев населения, они связаны с повседневными заботами людей. На формирование этнонимов повлияла история развития народов, их традиции, обычаи и культура. Таким образом, фразеологизмы с этнонимами отражают национальный менталитет, их изучение не теряет своей актуальности. В данной статье рассмотрены проблемы языковой репрезентации ценностного отношения к соседним народам, проанализированы особенности фразеологизмов русского, английского, французского, немецкого и чувашского языков. Практическим материалом исследования являются фразеологизмы и этнонимы, используемые носителями русского, английского, французского, немецкого и чувашского языков. Анализ отобранных фразеологизмов с национальным компонентом показал, что их коннотативная окраска различна. На ее формирование повлияли различные экономические, политические и культурные события. Приведены примеры, отражающие негативное восприятие соседних народов. Незначительная часть рассмотренных фразеологизмов имеет позитивный смысл. В статье рассматриваются причины формирования некоторых фразеологизмов с этнонимами на конкретных примерах. Подобное исследование может найти свое применение в теории межкультурной коммуникации, так как оно является необходимым для студентов, изучающих иностранные языки. In the context of the dynamic development of a multicultural society, the process of globalization, and the interpenetration of cultures of peoples, the research of cross-cultural and linguistic orientation becomes of practical importance. Phraseological units are used in the speech of all segments of the population, they are related to the daily concerns of people. The formation of ethnonyms was influenced by the history of peoples’ development, their traditions, customs and culture. Thus, phraseo-logical units with ethnonyms reflect the national mentality and their study is still relevant. The article describes the problems of language representation of attitudes towards neighboring nations, analyzed the peculiarities of Russian, English, French, German and Chuvash idioms with ethnonyms used by native speakers. The analysis demonstrated that the connotation of the idioms is different. Various economic, political and cultural factors influenced it. The article provides some examples of negative attitude to neighboring nations. Some of the analyzed idioms are characterized by positive connotation. This article also considers the reasons for the formation of some idioms with ethnonyms. The results of the study can be employed in the theory of intercultural communication, since it is essential for foreign language learners.

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.

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