Abstract
The present paper reports on a qualitative study investigating how Iranian learners of English as a foreign language understand culture and the extent to which this understanding meets the needs of efficient intercultural communication. In order to gather data, in-depth semistructured interviews were conducted with eight participants. The interviews were designed and thematically analyzed using Baker’s (2011) model of intercultural awareness. The model, which served as the analytical framework of the study, has been used to account for the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to communicate through English as a lingua franca. Based on the findings of the study, the main elements of the model are relevant in accounting for intercultural awareness—which varied among the participants—not only in English as a lingua franca setting but also in contexts where partners with different cultural backgrounds speak the same first language. Moreover, with the aim of developing learners’ intercultural awareness, the policies and practices of English as a foreign language teaching in Iran need to be revised.
Highlights
It looks like Americans are more honest
The findings of the study are presented in light of each of the four themes drawn from Baker’s (2011) model of intercultural awareness (ICA); namely, one’s own culture, the complexity of cultures, cultural stereotypes, and negotiation and mediation between cultures
The terms English as a foreign language (EFL) and English as a lingua franca (ELF) are “on opposite sides of the same coin”: the English that is taught to or learned by non-native speakers (EFL), and the English that non-native speakers use in international communication (ELF) (Swan, 2012)
Summary
It looks like Americans are more honest. Europeans are imposters...it’s like they are not honest with you, but people from the U.S are really honest. The quotation above is from a well-educated 31-year-old Iranian woman Despite her definitive statements about Americans and Europeans, she has never been to Europe or the U.S. The ability to move beyond cultural generalizations and stereotypes requires an awareness of the complexities of cultures, that is, an advanced cultural awareness (Baker, 2011). Culture has long been an element of language pedagogy, even in the Grammar-translation method, where the goal was to have access to the canons of Greek and Latin literature (Hermessi, 2016). It was not until a few decades ago that more attention was paid to intercultural communication—and culture in its own right—in language education. In the world of globalization and internationalization, language pedagogy “can no longer make do with focusing on the target language and target countries—and on cultures as territorially defined phenomena” (Risager, 2007, p. 1). Risager (2007) suggests that instead of a national paradigm, modern language studies should take on a transnational one that recognizes linguistic and cultural complexity
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