It is now widely recognised that learning a language should not just involve linguistic competence but also intercultural competence. It is also clear that intercultural competence can be developed through related subjects such as geography, history, mother tongue teaching. This book takes this as a given and provides practical help for teachers who wish to help their learners acquire intercultural competence in the ordinary classroom. It contains descriptions of lessons and materials from a wide range of classrooms in several countries and for beginners to advanced learners.
"This book presents a structured yet flexible methodology for developing intercultural competence in a variety of contexts, both formal and informal. Piloted around the world by UNESCO, this methodology has proven to be effective in a range of different contexts and focused on a variety of different issues. It therefore can be considered an important resource for anyone concerned with effectively managing the growing cultural diversity within our societies to ensure inclusive and sustainable development. Intercultural competence refers to the skills, attitudes and behaviours needed to improve interactions across difference, whether within a society (differences due to age, gender, religion, socio-economic status, political affiliation, ethnicity, and so on) or across borders. The book serves as a tool to develop those competences, presenting an innovative adaptation of what could be considered an ancient tradition of storytelling found in many cultures. Through engaging in the methodology, participants develop key elements of intercultural competence including greater self-awareness, openness, respect, reflexivity, empathy, increased awareness of others, and in the end, greater cultural humility. This book will be of great interest to intercultural trainers, policymakers, development practitioners, educators, community organizers, civil society leaders, university lecturers and students -- all who are interested in developing intercultural competence as a means to understand and appreciate difference, develop relationships with those across difference, engage in intercultural dialogue and bridge societal divides"--
The volume Developing Intercultural Competence through English: Focus on Ukrainian and Polish Cultures edited by Anna Niżegorodcew, Yakiv Bystrov and Marcin Kleban offers a valuable result of a joint intercultural project between two universities from the neighbouring countries of Poland and Ukraine. Among the mass of books on intercultural communication the proposed volume distinguishes itself by three features: unusual format combining the work of both scholars and students, the focus on the intercultural approach, and practical designation. It also stresses the increasing awareness in the modern world that teaching/learning English serves the purpose of developing general intercultural competence and not building the knowledge about the English speaking world. [...] The choice of topics [...] indicates an interesting cultural difference - Ukrainian inclination to focus on the characteristic and attractive aspects of their own culture and Polish on the problematic and the difficult. Professor Lucyna Aleksandrowicz-Pędich, Department of English, Warsaw School of Social Sciences and Humanities Z recenzji prof. dr. hab. Mirosława J. Szymańskiego
This is the third book in the Pestalozzi series. The first, Teacher education for change, dealt with the underlying philosophy of the Pestalozzi Programme and its approach to education in general and teacher education in particular. The second Intercultural competence for all, looked at the various implications of promoting the development of intercultural competence as a main concern of mainstream education. This work takes a step further towards the full integration of intercultural competences as a key element within the education system. It aims at offering an educational rationale and conceptual framework for the development of intercultural competence, as well as a clear description of its constitutive elements to be developed in and through education.
ELF; Culture in Teacher Education Programs; Culture in ELT Materials; Developing Intercultural Competence through Literature, Creative Drama, Technology, Movies; Young Learners; Classroom Assessment of L2 Cultural Knowledge; Conflict Resolution in Intercultural Communications
This revised edition of Michael Byram’s classic 1997 book updates the text in light of both recent research and critiques and commentaries on the 1st edition. Beginning from the premise that foreign and second language teaching should prepare learners to use a language with fluency and accuracy, and also to speak with people who have different cultural identities, social values and behaviours, the book is an invaluable guide for teachers and curriculum developers, taking them from a definition of Intercultural Communicative Competence through planning for teaching to assessment. This edition refines the definitions of the five ‘savoirs’ of intercultural competence, and includes new sections on issues such as moral relativism and human rights, mediation, intercultural citizenship and teachers’ ethical responsibilities.
This volume provides a strong theoretical introduction to the field of intercultural communication, offering practical examples of classroom activities, as well as presenting empirical research which demonstrates that intercultural communicative competence (ICC) can be developed effectively in specially tailored courses adjusted to the needs of learners. It presents a novel model of intercultural sensitivity assessment, and outlines the results of research into intercultural communicative competence conducted among the students of English Language Studies in state colleges in Poland. The cultural component in developing ICC as an extra-linguistic determinant is assigned particular prominence in the book. A thorough analysis of the empirical material collected from participant observation, the administered questionnaires and interviews allowed the most common values and attitudes held as components of intercultural sensitivity to be identified. The obtained findings are subsequently analyzed to predict the potential areas of communication misunderstandings and failures between Polish learners of English and representatives of other cultures.
With an increasing number of refugees and immigrants in European and American classrooms, teachers need to be prepared to meet their varied and complex needs. In particular, to help these diverse students succeed, teachers need to be interculturally competent, which is a combination of many skills including attitude, linguistic and cultural awareness, empathy, and flexibility. However, developing these skills not only takes theoretical knowledge but also hands-on training and practice. While many programs in school of education provide experiential practicum projects and online collaborations with diverse students, they have not expanded to the population in war zones. Moreover, a review of literature revealed a gap in research on how online tutoring might impact the intercultural competence development of pre-service ESL teachers. This study attempted to fill that gap by exploring how teaching English online to students in Afghanistan for six weeks impacted the intercultural competence of pre-service ESL teachers. Ten pre-service ESL teachers participated in this study. Pre-interviews, post interviews, and five reflection journals during the six weeks comprised the qualitative data. The data were analyzed through the lens of the process model of intercultural competence framework by Deardorff (2006a). The data, which was analyzed, categorized, verified, and interpreted, revealed that the preservice ESL teachers developed intercultural competence within a six-week period. While some pre-service ESL teachers expressed their initial discomfort about the unknowns of teaching online face to face, the dynamics of interacting with student of a different culture, fear of miscommunication, and grappling with their own assumptions, this discomfort diminished after a few sessions. In fact, some participants described this experience as "eye-opening." Therefore, this study concluded that becoming familiar with the people and practices of a diverse culture, in an online environment and for even a short duration, helped preservice teachers develop self-awareness, empathy, and linguistic knowledge, all factors that helped developed their intercultural competence. So it is recommended to integrate online teaching into practicum and international field projects to help build a new generation of interculturally competent and globally minded teachers.
As the world becomes more globalized, student populations in educational settings will continue to grow in diversity. To ensure students develop the cultural competence to adapt to new environments, educational institutions must develop curriculum, policies, and programs to aid in the progression of cultural acceptance and understanding. Multicultural Instructional Design: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications is a vital reference source for the latest research findings on inclusive curriculum development for multicultural learners. It also examines the interaction between culture and learning in academic environments and the efforts to mediate it through various educational venues. Highlighting a range of topics such as intercultural communication, student diversity, and language skills, this multi-volume book is ideally designed for educators, professionals, school administrators, researchers, and practitioners in the field of education.
