Critical Cultural Awareness Research Articles

Cultural Competence in Chinese Language Education: Discussing the Importance of Cultural Awareness and Sensitivity in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language

Background and Aim: Cultural competence plays a significant role in successful language education. Studies have shown that culturally sensitive pedagogy enables teachers to connect language to an accurate cultural context, preventing misappropriate language use. This study examined the importance of cultural awareness and sensitivity in teaching Chinese as a foreign language. Materials and Methods: Data was collected using observation, interviews, and systematic reviews of academic journals. The classroom observation was selected because it provides first-hand data about how educators teach the Chinese language. The researchers also observed the impact of cultural awareness on teaching methods and outcomes. Interviews were conducted using open-ended questionnaires to obtain the benefits of cultural awareness and sensitivity in teaching the Chinese language. The systematic review helped in extracting data from the previous studies. The inductive and deductive thematic analyses were conducted based on the guidance from Byram’s intercultural competence framework. Results: The findings showed that cultural awareness and sensitivity are important in teaching the Chinese language because they improve critical cultural awareness, linguistic competency, and the ability of language educators to translate and communicate effectively. The various elements of linguistic competency that teachers demonstrate include comprehension, connotation, convention, and conditioning. Conclusion: Cultural awareness and sensitivity also help language educators empower learners and enhance their capacity to become better intercultural communicators. The paper suggests that Chinese language teachers should make regular visits to China to enhance their cultural awareness. Educators should also try various strategies, including double translation, comparison, and situational settings to integrate cultural awareness into their teachings.

Mobile-enhanced virtual exchanges through asynchronous video interaction: Learners as ethnographers in the L2 classroom to promote intercultural communicative competence

This practice report focuses on the integration of virtual exchange (VE) with mobileassisted language learning (MALL), where learners act as ethnographers within the context of language education. This VE model harnesses mobile technology capabilities to exchange personal and immersive cultural insights through asynchronous video content using Flip.com. The model consists of three integrated sections: Preparation, Intercultural Exchange, and Reflection. This report covers a pilot implementation of the mobile-enhanced VE model to evaluate the outcomes on Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC). The project lasted eight weeks, covering various topics, such as greetings, food, and education. Participants were L2 learners of Spanish in the United States and L1 Spanish speakers in Spain. Outcomes were evaluated through a survey where students in the United States self-assessed their perceived ICC gains. This survey, grounded in Byram’s (2009) ICC model, measured changes in students’ attitudes, knowledge, skills of interpreting and relating, skills of interaction, and critical cultural awareness. Students reported substantial improvements in all areas of ICC, highlighting enhanced engagement and understanding of the target culture facilitated by the mobileenhanced VE model. This report provides insights for the incorporation of mobile technology for VE projects in L2 settings, emphasizing its role in expanding global interconnectedness and deepening intercultural learning among learners by offering a more dynamic, authentic, and immersive learning experience.

Why not learn with children? A model of intercultural and intergenerational learning through Mandarin as a second language in higher education

ABSTRACT This study develops an intercultural and intergenerational model for teaching Mandarin as a second language, aimed at enhancing international students' intercultural communicative competence. Three native Mandarin-speaking kindergarten children in Taiwan, with no English knowledge, participated in a university Mandarin class with international students. They interacted exclusively in Mandarin, engaging in tasks like introductions, surveys, and storytelling. Students later provided community services, reading to Taiwanese kindergarteners in Mandarin. Through action research, including teacher logs, reflections, and interviews, the model was shown to improve students' attitudes, interpretation skills, and critical cultural awareness.

Engaging critical cultural awareness through video mediation during online intercultural encounters

ABSTRACT Online international collaboration projects provide students with valuable opportunities to apply their critical cultural awareness (CCA), which involves evaluating the values of one’s culture and other cultures using a systematic approach. In such projects, mediation tasks can play a crucial role by facilitating participants’ access to the meaning of a text that would otherwise be inaccessible due to linguistic, semantic, or cultural barriers. However, the potential of using videos for mediation in online collaboration projects to engage CCA remains underexplored. This exploratory study addresses this gap by investigating the mediation efforts of Colombian and German university students who utilised English as a lingua franca during online intercultural encounters. The results showed that using videos for mediation stimulated critical evaluation and reflection on students’ and their partners’ cultures. Interacting and mediating in a virtual environment encouraged students to explain stereotypes and share their thoughts on different cultural aspects, including social injustice issues, thereby fostering a deeper engagement with culture-related concepts. Findings demonstrated that the choice of videos influenced the depth of evaluation and analysis. Consequently, employing certain types of videos as a foundation for mediation activities proved a powerful tool for engaging students in CCA during international encounters.

Addressing intercultural language teaching issues in EFL settings

Globalization has made intercultural competence essential for EFL learners, yet traditional approaches like grammar-translation and communicative language teaching remain prevalent in Algeria. These methods focus primarily on language mechanics, lacking a foundation for developing intercultural skills. This study advocates for adopting an intercultural language teaching approach in Algerian EFL classrooms to better prepare students for effective communication in multicultural contexts. Through literature analysis and classroom observations, the study finds that current practices inadequately address students' intercultural needs. In contrast, ILT fosters critical cultural awareness, empathy, and adaptability, providing a more comprehensive framework for building intercultural communicative competence. It is recommended that policymakers and educators support ILT integration, especially in oral expression classes where students actively engage. Emphasis on teacher training and curriculum reform would help embed this intercultural framework in the classroom, thereby developing EFL learners who are both linguistically skilled and culturally adaptive communicators. Keywords: Communicative competence; English as a foreign language; intercultural; language teaching

Teacher cognition about intercultural communicative competence (ICC): a comparative study of English-major and German-major pre-service teachers in China

This study explored teacher cognition concerning intercultural communicative competence (ICC) among pre-service English and German teachers in China, a context influenced by a rising demand for English as a lingua franca and the increasing significance of the German language due to the ‘Belt and Road’ initiative. Data were gathered from undergraduate pre-service teachers of English (EnS) (n = 54) and German (GeS) (n = 89) using a questionnaire at a Chinese university. The findings revealed that: (1) EnS emphasised ICC-oriented knowledge, attitudes, and critical cultural awareness in their provided definitions of ICC, whereas GeS focused on German proficiency and target ­culture-oriented knowledge; (2) EnS’ length of studying English, abroad experience, and prior teaching experience exhibited varying correlations with their ICC beliefs, whereas only grade level and abroad experience were significantly related to GeS’ cognition about ICC. This study contributes to the broader discourse on teachers teaching different languages and their perceptions of ICC amidst the global landscape shaped by the coexistence of multiple languages and cultures. It concludes by calling for further research examining teacher cognition and influential factors across diverse languages and educational contexts in the realm of ICC.

Incorporating Korean Culture in English Language Teaching for Intercultural Communication: Adopting CCA Approach

This study investigates the impact of integrating Korean culture into the ELT curriculum adopting a critical cultural awareness approach on students' cultural understanding. Furthermore, the study extends its research to examine the extent to which the local cultural understanding in English acquired from the course contributes to enhancing learners’ intercultural communication in global contexts. This nine-month longitudinal study employed a qualitative data approach derived from a mixed-method study involving pre- and post-survey questionnaires from college EFL learners and in-depth qualitative interviews. Overall, the findings have shown that the integration of local culture into the ELT curriculum helped students: (i) to enrich their understanding of local culture and history; (ii) to examine cultural values with critical perspectives; and (iii) to feel empowered and better prepared to engage in intercultural communication. The analysis also points out that students’ self-/national identity was enhanced, and their English communication skills in global contexts were promoted. Some important implications of this study are discussed for teachers who consider teaching local culture by connecting critical cultural awareness approach in foreign language curricula. Considering that there has been little research on teaching local culture in English class to improve intercultural communication in Korean educational contexts, it is recommended that further research should highlight more dynamic intercultural communication cases by providing on-line communication with students in other countries to facilitate intercultural experiences.

The Impact of Street Interviews on Chinese EFL Undergraduates’ Intercultural Communicative Competence

The study adopts Byram’s Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) model as the theoretical framework, and structured interviews were conducted to explore the impact of street interviews on the participants’ ICC. Analysis results revealed street interviews help students acquire knowledge in intercultural attitudes, intercultural knowledge, skills of discovery and interaction, and critical cultural awareness, aligning with the four components of Byram’s ICC model. Meanwhile, they have positive perceptions of street interviews. Therefore, street interviews have a positive effect on the development of participants’ ICC.

The Construction of a Model for Cultivating Intercultural Communication Competence of Business English Majors in the Context of One Belt and One Road

Abstract Under the background of Belt and Road, not only economic cooperation but also humanistic exchanges between countries should be strengthened, which requires that modern college students have strong communication skills in Business English. This paper discusses the model of cultivation and constructs an ICC model containing five aspects: knowledge, attitude, interpretation and association skills, discovery and interaction skills, and education. Based on this model, the course content and teaching methods are designed around four dimensions: attitude, knowledge, skills, and critical cultural awareness. Through the construction of the intercultural communication competence index system to verify the effect of the ICC model on the cultivation of students’ intercultural communication competence, all dimensions show that the effect of the ICC model is more obvious. The results of teaching practice show that the student’s final average score is 66.59, which is 10.27 points higher than the midterm average score, and the significant probability of the t-test using SPSS is p<0.01, which is a significant difference between before and after. The above-analyzed results prove that the ICC model achieved good teaching effects in the application experiment.

A Research on Needs Analysis from Students for Developing an Intercultural Communication Course

Background and aims: This research aims to investigate the intercultural communicative competence (ICC) of English major undergraduate students at Heilongjiang International University. It delves into students' attitudes, knowledge, skills of interpreting and relating, skills of discovery and interaction, and critical cultural awareness to improve the students’ ICC. The research reveals that while students possess some level of ICC, there are areas where they lack confidence and knowledge. Materials and methods: The study draws on questionnaires to gather data from 181 participants and utilizes a five-point scale for interpretation. Results: Results indicate that students are unsure about their knowledge of cultural aspects, specifically the history, etiquette, and lifestyle of English-speaking countries. Similarly, they exhibit uncertainty in their skills of interpretation and relating, especially regarding sensitivity to intercultural differences and their language capabilities. However, they show confidence in their skills of discovery, interaction, and critical cultural awareness. For attitude, students display a willingness to engage in intercultural experiences, although they lack confidence in suspending their perspectives in conversations. Cultural awareness is apparent, but some students recognize the influence of their cultural identity on communication. The study also explores students' experiences and difficulties in learning English, such as language barriers, cultural gaps, and limited exposure to foreign cultures. Conclusions: The study concludes that while students have ICC potential, targeted interventions are necessary to improve their overall competence. Recommendations include enhancing language proficiency, cultural knowledge, and exposure to authentic language use and cultural references. Finally, students express their desire to improve listening skills, vocabulary, oral communication, grammar understanding, and intercultural competence, which should guide curriculum design and educational strategies.

A cycle model of intercultural learning: educating the global citizen

ABSTRACT This article presents a model of intercultural learning that may be used in the planning and implementation of citizenship education in foreign/second/world language teaching. The Cycle model of intercultural learning aims at the development of global citizenship and comprises four phases: noticing, comparing, reflecting and interaction. Among the central concepts are critical cultural awareness, perspective awareness, local and global contextualisation, and decentering. The article further shows how language learning and intercultural learning may be integrated by combining the Cycle model of intercultural learning with task-based language learning and language learning via chunks and keywords. The argument is illustrated by results from an action research project carried out in Denmark in the school year 2021/2022. Thematically, the project draws inspiration from The UN Global Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities, and addresses students of English, German, and French in grade 8 (15-year-olds). In this article, the focus is on one of the English classes, but the article concludes with reflections on the relevance of all languages.

온라인 활용 상호문화 프로젝트학습에 대한 영어학습자의 인식과 경험

This paper investigates tele-collaborative project learning in which Korean EFL learners perceived and experienced Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) based on Byram’s intercultural competence(1997) in foreign language learning. This study is follow-up research of “Development and Implementation of a Platform-based intercultural English Teaching and Learning Model.” Participants were paired to do the intercultural project utilizing Zoom and social media platforms during the pandemic period. We adopted Byram’s assessment guidelines to analyze the process and perceptions of the students’ learning experiences by ethnographic method. The data was collected from the learners’ self-reflection reports, zoom-meeting observation, learners’ video presentation, and interviews. By comparing the two cultures, the paired Korean-American participants delved into their chosen topics of Korean and American culture and society. This study addresses the following three points: The tele-collaborative culture project facilitated participants in gaining insights into specific aspects of American or Korean culture; the project helped raise the participants' intercultural awareness; and the participants had the critical cultural awareness on their own culture in the global societies. They also realized that they need to build up their practical English ability to appropriately explain their own culture. This study implies that foreign language teaching needs to be redesigned to draw the learner’s direct learning to improve learners’ intercultural competence with the use of advanced technology in the global society.

Understanding culture shock and its relationship to intercultural communicative competence

Culture shock has gained attention and been observed from multi-disciplinary perspectives in international education, such as from anthropology, psychology, cultural psychology, intercultural communication studies, linguistics, and many others. By synthesising the ABC’s theory and intercultural communicative competence with their savoirs, the present study offers a perspective to analyse three international students’ culture shock experiences. As an explorative case study, the data were collected through in-depth interviews to extract the sojourners’ narratives, which were then transcribed in the form of text or quotations. It was found that the affective, behavioural, and cognitive dimensions were identified and emerged in each respondent. In the affective, overwhelming emotions, language limitation, and feelings of isolation were felt in various intensities. From the data, the respondents claimed to have lacked intrapersonal skills to prepare themselves for the culture of the host country along with the socio-cultural aspects. In addition, they found social support by individuals or officials essential for reducing negative feelings. In the behavioural dimension, these respondents started to adapt to the situation though they still found it challenging to confirm and clarify any unfamiliar encounters. Finally, in the cognitive dimension, the respondents mingled and integrated into the locals, both in their academic and social lives. It is suggested that elements of intercultural communicative competence, namely intercultural attitude, knowledge of the host culture, skills of relating and discovery, and critical cultural awareness may have the potential to manage culture shock effectively. It should be incorporated into international higher education and EFL pedagogy.

Intercultural Communication Strategy for the Development of International Student Service Systems

The number of international students is an indicator of tertiary performance assessment, so each tertiary institution tries to attract prospective students from abroad with various program offers and services provided. This research was conducted using a qualitative descriptive approach with in-depth interviews with international student services staff with the aim of knowing and analyzing their communication strategies as well as the intercultural communication competencies that international student services staff need to possess. The study results were analyzed referring to the Theory of Communication Accommodation and Theory of Intercultural Communication, which then mapped out the findings based on Byram's Intercultural Communication Competence model (attitudes, knowledge, connecting skills, discovery and interaction skills, and critical cultural awareness). Knowing the intercultural communication strategies needed to serve international students is expected to improve the quality of services provided.

Students’ Perception on Using Storytelling in Developing Socio-Cultural Competence

The research aimed at finding out students’ perception of using storytelling as one of the techniques used in English class in order to develop students’ sociocultural competence. The research was conducted under mixed-method research. The sample of the research was English students at IAIN Bukittinggi who had taken storytelling classes and English students at UIN Imam Bonjol Padang who had joined an English activity (storytelling) held by the English students association of English study program. Data collection was done by distributing questionnarires and conducting interview. The instruments of the research were a questionnaire and an interview guide. The data were analyzed using quantitative analysis for the data from the questionnaire and qualitative analysis for the data from the interview. The research finding shows that the students agree that they have improved their ability in sociocultural competence, at least in five aspects. They state that they are good in these five elements; (1) students’ attitude toward sociocultural competence, (2) students’ knowledge of sociocultural competence, (3) students’ ability to interpret and relate cultural issues, (4) students’ ability in discovery and interaction, and (5) students’ ability of critical cultural awareness. Thus, it can be stated that storytelling is a good technique that can be used to develop students’ sociocultural competence based on students’ perceptions.

Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC): A Comparison of Thai and International Teachers of English in the Thai Vocational Context

This study aims to investigate English teachers’ levels of ICC within five components, which are knowledge, attitude, skills of interpretation and relating, skills of discovery and interaction, and critical cultural awareness, and to compare the differences between levels of ICC and its components between Thai and international teachers of English. This study also seeks to understand the influences of aspects of intercultural background, consisting of international travel experiences, international seminars/training experiences, and intercultural contact. The participants were 113 Thai and 36 international teachers of English who were chosen using a multi-stage sampling methodology. The research instruments consisted of ICC scales adapted from the Byram ICC model (2020) and an intercultural background survey. Descriptive statistics, a t-test, and a two-way ANOVA analysis were used to analyze the dataset. The results showed that international teachers had greater levels of ICC. Of the five components, the attitude component was found to be at the highest level in both groups. Critical cultural awareness was at the lowest level among Thai teachers, while international teachers’ skills of interpretation and relating were at the lowest level. Regarding international travel experiences, contact with international friends, social media contact, and frequency of co-worker contact were found to affect the ICC score of two groups; however, no effect on ICC score was found in regard to international seminars/training experiences. This study suggests that ICC components could be integrated into vocational education. Moreover, travel experiences and intercultural contact could contribute as extra activities for developing ICC in ELT.

Reconceptualizing critical cultural awareness for the context of FL literature education

The construct of critical cultural awareness (CCA) is often regarded as an element pertaining to intercultural communicative competence (Byram, 1997, 2021). In this model, CCA is defined as the ability to “evaluate, critically, and on the basis of a systematic process of reasoning, values in one’s own culture and other cultures” (Byram, 2021, p. 90). Although the potential of literature to develop learners’ CCA is widely accepted by intercultural education scholars, Byram’s definition has some limitations as a theoretical basis for teaching students how to “evaluate and reason critically” about literary texts, as it does not take into account certain aspects of literary reading and critical interculturality that are essential in contemporary foreign language (FL) teaching and learning. This study aims to redefine CCA for the specific context of secondary literature education in a bottom-up manner, based on an analysis of student texts about migratory literature. To this end, 97 students learning Spanish as a FL in the upper forms of pre-university education (aged 15-19) at four schools in the Netherlands were asked to write an evaluation of two literary texts they read in class. Via qualitative analysis of these texts with Atlas.ti, three content categories – social justice, emotions and conflict – and two evaluative categories ­- cultural representation and transformation – were identified for CCA. The findings of this study have implications for other FL literature teaching settings, as a generic rubric for assessment of student texts was developed based on the criteria that emerged from the data.

TRANSMISSSION OF CULTURE AS A GOAL OF MODERN LANGUAGE EDUCATION

The article deals with one of the modern global trends – the transition from a monocultural to a multicultural perspective in social interaction. It focuses on the reflection of this trend in language education (both in native and foreign language). The problem is to reintegrate the cultural dimension into learning languages. The author of the article argues that the purpose of intercultural language education lies in the construction of an intercultural awareness as the ability of language users to act as representatives of certain cultures, be ready to accept the "otherness" of each other, respect the right to cultural difference, exhibit tolerant attitude to other’s values and behaviour patterns, counteract stereotypes and bias, and to rethink their own cultural luggage. The study of a language is considered as an intercultural language education. The result of the intercultural approach in language education is viewed as the multicomponent intercultural competence – the unity of knowledge of one’s own and other cultures; skills of discovery, interaction, and interpreting; curious and open attitude to one’s own and another culture and country; critical cultural awareness. Dialogue of cultures is positioned as one of the key principles of intercultural foreign language education. It means readiness to listen to and understand multiple perspectives, products, practices, and cultural norms in one’s own and other countries, even those with which you disagree, to have critical attitude towards stereotypes and prejudice, to be open for exchange of ideas based on mutual understanding and respect for cultural diversity. The modern language textbooks should be multicultural in their content, and contain information about not only the target language culture, but also offer materials on other cultures for visual and mental perception, discussion and comparison.

Karakteristik Kompetensi Komunikasi Lintas Budaya Pada Konselor Sekolah

Intercultural competence is a very complex concept with many levels and perspectives. The role of cross-cultural communication competence in the school environment is very important. The existence of students from various cultural backgrounds complements cultural diversity. Cross-cultural communication competence in this study refers to the objectives of: 1) measuring students' cross-cultural communication skills in classical guidance services; and 2) knowing the level of cross-cultural communication skills possessed by students. Questionnaire measurement involves five important aspects, namely 1) Attitudes, when interacting with other people; 2) Knowledge; 3) Interpreting and associating skills; 4) Discovery and interaction skills; and 5) Critical cultural awareness. This research uses descriptive quantitative survey method. The implementation of this research at SMA/MAK Palembang city consisted of 528 subjects. The results of this study are a) cross-cultural communication competence of high school/MAK students in classical guidance services is measured using a questionnaire that has been tested for validity and reliability; and b) the level of cross-cultural communication competence of SMA/MAK students with a percentage of 57% is in the medium category.

Critical Understanding of English Learners: Experience and Practice of Educators in a Professional Development Course

AbstractStudies over the years emphasize the need to foster critical cultural awareness among teachers in U.S. classrooms. Using a critical theoretical approach, we examined the critical cultural awareness of practicing teachers and educators' experiences with English Learners (ELs) and their preparedness to meet the needs of ELs through actionable plans from a professional development (PD) module. We argue that PD courses on critical theoretical perspectives on ELs are essential not just for EL professionals but for all educators who work with ELs in one way or the other. Sixty‐eight educators (teachers and school directors) in a midwestern community participated in the PD modular course, where they were exposed to various critical theories. The data include discussion responses and educators' critical theoretical reflections on ELs. In this article, we iterate the need to include critical theoretical EL education in teacher training preparation and professional development programs to support pre‐service teachers, in‐service teachers, and principals. The findings show that the impact of such critical awareness transforms teachers' and educators' perceptions about their respective roles in effectively educating ELs.