scholarly journals Standardizing Differences? Standards for Intercultural Competence in Formal Education

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 249-265
Author(s):  
Ana Jovanović
Keyword(s):  
Intercultural Competence ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Fundamental Question ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Intercultural Communicative Competence ◽  
Self Evaluation ◽  
Contemporary Education ◽  
Do So

The importance intercultural communicative competence plays in contemporary education of foreign languages has provided the latter with an approach that is frequently termed intercultural education. Nevertheless, the topic is still quite controversial, to say the least, and especially so in respect to issues related with the evaluation of intercultural communicative competence. In addition to the difficulties of defining the concept and criteria for its evaluation, we need to address the fundamental question of whether it is possible to evaluate intercultural competence at all, and, if this is the case, whether it is moral to do so. Here we explore the case of Serbia and a project whose goal was to define the standards of competence for foreign languages in formal primary education. As a member of the working group, and thus with the privilege of an insider’s perspective, I analyse the steps that were followed in the development of the standards for intercultural competence. This auto-ethnographic exposition aims at offering a critical analysis of intercultural competence in the curricular documents of foreign languages, but also at providing a space for reflection and self-evaluation.

scholarly journals Intercultural Learning in Asynchronous Telecollaborative Exchanges: A Case Study

2010 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Margarita Vinagre
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Intercultural Competence ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Intercultural Communicative Competence ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Self Evaluation ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
Intercultural Exchange ◽  
Academic Year

<p>Recent studies have shown the potential that telecollaborative exchanges entail for the development of intercultural competence in participants (Warschauer &amp; Kern 2000; O'Dowd 2003; Liaw 2006; Ware, 2005; Belz 2003; 2007). However, trying to assess the development of such a competence is a highly complex process, especially of those components that go beyond knowledge such as attitudes. In this article I present the findings of an online intercultural exchange carried out between university language students (Spanish-English) during the academic year 2006-2007. Students collaborated electronically outside the classroom via email and wikis and data was gathered from a series of instruments, including email and wiki content, language learning diaries, critical incidents, essays and self-evaluation questionnaires. On the basis of Byram's (1997; 2000) model of Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) we attempted to assess qualitatively the development of the different components of ICC in telecollaborative intercultural exchanges. Our findings suggest that the instruments mentioned can help us to trace the development of intercultural competence with regard to a) interest in knowing other people's way of life and introducing one's own culture to others and c) knowledge about one's own and others' culture for intercultural communication (Byram 2000:4). However, we found little evidence of b) ability to change perspective and, therefore, further research needs to be carried out on how best to encourage students to decentre and to exhibit ‘a willingness to suspend belief in one's own meanings and behaviours, and to analyse them from the viewpoint of the others with whom one is engaging' (Byram 1997:34).</p>

scholarly journals Culture and Language as Factors Related in the Process of Learning and Education

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 16
Author(s):  
Irena Papa
Keyword(s):  
Intercultural Competence ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Communicative Language Teaching ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Culture And Language

Communicative language teaching has become a familiar part of the landscape of language teaching in the last three or four decades. Teachers who perceive the objectives of teaching foreign languages associated with learning intercultural competence will be more inclined to make the process of teaching foreign languages more intercultural than teachers who perceive objectives as related to the acquisition of communicative competence. In this paper the relationship between culture and language is going to be explored by focusing on their role and impact in the process of learning languages and education.

scholarly journals Developing intercultural competence in an academic foreign language classroom

2018 ◽  
pp. 133-154
Author(s):  
Monika Kusiak-Pisowacka
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Intercultural Competence ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Foreign Language Teaching ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Intercultural Communicative Competence ◽  
Communication Course ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Students First ◽  
Interesting Area

This paper focuses on the issue of developing intercultural communicative competence (ICC) in a higher education context, with a special focus put on teaching advanced foreign language (FL) students. First, the concept of ICC is discussed on the basis of Byram’s (1997) theory, which is still considered the most comprehensive model for describing the principles of developing and assessing intercultural competence in foreign language teaching. Next, a short overview of studies related to teaching ICC conducted by Polish researchers is presented. This is followed by a description of an Intercultural Communication course designed for university students and conducted by the author of the paper. In this report, the theoretical principles, the main aims of the course along with the techniques applied in teaching and evaluating students are discussed. It is hoped that the paper will be a useful contribution to discussions concerning developing ICC and will stimulate further research in this interesting area of education.

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.

Networking-Based Strategies of Intercultural Communicative Competence Development Among Kazakhstani University Students

2019 ◽  
pp. 197-210
Author(s):  
Azamat Akbarov
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Intercultural Competence ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
Intercultural Communicative Competence ◽  
Intercultural Understanding ◽  
Intercultural Awareness ◽  
Language Communication

This chapter presents an empirical study of the intercultural communicative competence of students of Kazakhstani universities. The study results indicate that students should develop their cultural knowledge, intercultural receptivity, communication strategies, intercultural awareness etc. A number of issues related to the formation of intercultural competence in the process of teaching foreign-language communication, taking into account the cultural and mental differences of the native speakers, which is a necessary condition for a successful dialogue of cultures are also discussed. The concept of communicative competence in teaching foreign languages stipulates development of students' knowledge, skills and abilities that enable them to join the ethno-cultural values of the country of the studied language and use the foreign language in situations of intercultural understanding and cognition in practice. Conjunction of such knowledge, skills and abilities constitutes communicative competence. Based on the results of the research, proposals are made for the curriculum and teaching of intercultural communication and methods of developing intercultural communicative competence of students of Kazakhstan universities in a networked environment.

scholarly journals Student interest in cultural content of a foreign country

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 465
Author(s):  
Katarina Krželj
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Intercultural Competence ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Foreign Language Teaching ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Student Interest ◽  
Legislative Framework ◽  
Target Culture

The paper presents results of a study on the interest of students of non-philological faculties (of universities in Serbia) in contents from foreign cultures and how high importance students attach to learning about the target culture in foreign language teaching and learning at non-philological faculties. The goal of modern foreign language teaching at non-philological faculties, in addition to the development of communicative competence in the profession, is also to develop pluricultural competence. In order to test the chances of attaining this goal, it is necessary to perform an analysis of the legislative framework in which teaching foreign languages for special purposes takes place, an analysis of learning aims and the possibility of developing cross-cultural sensitization. An analysis of the needs for and interests in the contents of the target culture must be precededed by an analysis of the specificities of intercultural learning and intercultural competence. Based on these results, it is possible to establish the correlation between the elements of the culture already present in the existing teaching material and the interests and needs of the target group which these materials are intended for.The data thus obtained will serve as a basis for defining the guidelines for selecting contents of the target culture, which, on one hand, will be based on methodological and didactical principles of interculturally oriented foreign language teaching, and on the other hand, will reflect the real needs and interests of the students from a number of non-philological faculties.

scholarly journals CHALLENGES AND BARRIERS IN FORMATION OF COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE AMONG ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS

2018 ◽  
Vol 64 ◽  
Author(s):  
O.I. Bozhok ◽  
L.I. Bilins’ka ◽  
M.M. Gomola
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Individual Group ◽  
Common Problems

The aim of this research is to highlight some problems in teaching and learning English as a foreign language. As there exist different ways in mastering foreign languages there also exist many methods of their teaching. In the course of training many students face with spelling, inflection, pronunciation, grammar and other common problems which are constantly investigated and solved. According to the level of any individual group of students the approach of organization and conduction of the lesson should also be individual as learners make different mistakes. So teachers of any foreign language must not just get formal education but also be aware of modern techniques and approaches.

scholarly journals Diary as a Means for a Student to Discover a Country

Verbum ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Loreta Chodzkienė
Keyword(s):  
Host Country ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Intercultural Communicative Competence ◽  
Cultural Aspects ◽  
Research Task ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Vilnius University ◽  
Incoming Students ◽  
Compare And Contrast

This paper aims to present a diary as a multifaceted means for incoming international students to become familiar with the host country (in this case, Lithuania), discover it through the ways of immersion and exploration, and reflect upon it on the diary pages. Every year the course of ‘Intercultural Communication’ taught at the Institute of Foreign Languages, Faculty of Philology, Vilnius University, welcomes a large number of incoming students from different parts of the world. Further to the subject syllabus, these students are given a special research task: to delve into the context of the host country, focus on a number of socio-cultural aspects, compare and contrast them to the similar ones in their native countries and reflect upon them in their diaries. The paper provides an overview of the accumulated empirical evidence on the attitudinal discoveries of 84 students representing 21 countries. The employed Interpretive content analysis proved to be a flexible and helpful research method to reveal the informants' existing cultural capital (Bourdieu 1994), to follow the flow of their interpretations consequently leading to the shifts in their attitudes, and thus, contribute to the development of the students' intercultural communicative competence. This paper sheds light on the informants’ attitudes towards Lithuania as the destination country for their Erasmus+ exchange, as well as their impressions of the academic environment of Vilnius University.

scholarly journals Learning and knowledge technologies in the content language integrated learning for the development of intercultural communicative competence

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 562-577
Author(s):  
Leidy Dayan Perlaza Torres ◽  
Adela Macias Molina ◽  
Gonzalo Romero Martínez
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Intercultural Competence ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Intercultural Communicative Competence ◽  
Communicative Skills ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Integral Development ◽  
English Students

This article focuses on the incidence of learning knowledge technologies and the content learning integrated language approach in the development of intercultural communicative competence (ICC). ICC is considered a relevant competence for the 21st century in the process of teaching and learning foreign languages and the integral development of students. This research arose from the need to complement the development of communicative skills in English students from the UCEVA Language Department of the municipality of Tulua. With the aim of developing intercultural competence in 32 students of English level 2 of Teens and Adults programs. In order to promote the recognition, respect, and acceptance of cultural diversity and the enrichment of cultural identity through interaction, and socialization with others in different situations and contexts. To carry out this quantitative study, with a quasi-experimental design, the “ICC skill to 21st-century” test was applied as a pre-test and post-test to identify and evaluate the level of development of intercultural communicative competence in the participants. Also, the didactic unit “Beyond my thoughts” framed in the use of LKT tools and the CLIL approach was implemented and the descriptive frequency and independent samples techniques of the SPSS v.20 were used to analyze the data obtained. As a result, the statistical analysis showed that there were no significant incidents in the development of intercultural communicative competence, therefore the null hypothesis was accepted. While the descriptive results reflected that the implementation of the didactic unit generated an impact on the development of this 21st-century skill given that intercultural communicative competence involves both the dimensions of people and those experiences that they live. Therefore, its evaluation is not limited to tests but to the analysis and reflection that students make of their process sequentially when facing their reality.  

scholarly journals Formation of the Intercultural Communicative Competence of Students in Process of Learning Foreign Languages

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 230
Author(s):  
Liliya Mukharlyamova ◽  
Natalya Konopleva ◽  
Ilkhamiya Galimzyanova ◽  
Irina Berezhnaya
Keyword(s):  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Intercultural Communicative Competence
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document