Facilitating Intercultural Study through Novel Reading —The Application of Reading Task Journals

Abstract

As English becomes the global lingua franca, the correlation between the English language and a particular culture is problematic (Baker, 2012). Thus, EFL learners are expected to cultivate their intercultural competence while improving their linguistic competence. There is a growing interest in introducing novel reading to intercultural communication courses, because EFL learners can be exposed to more cultural varieties and understand the culture concepts better by drawing on examples from the novel. However, many EFL learners feel overwhelmed to read due to the reading task difficulty and the lack of guidance about intercultural study. This paper aimed to investigate the effectiveness of applying reading task journals to facilitate students’ intercultural study through novel reading. The research findings indicate that the difficulty of novel reading lies in the cultural aspect and the reading task journals successfully help EFL learners comprehend the novel, raise the awareness of the reading process, improve language skills, undertake intercultural study and enhance intercultural communicative competence in the end.