Intercultural Language Teaching Research Articles

Developing a Critical Intercultural Perspective in Language Learning

Intercultural language teaching and learning is one manifestation of the critical turn in language education. Its critical dimension is characterised by a strong emphasis on self-reflexivity in both teaching and learning, and by a transformational agenda for language education (Liddicoat & Scarino, 2013). Within language education, the critical project requires that the focus of language learning is to develop social actors capable of using language repertoires in ways that provide for agency both over language (in the choices they make about how to use their language resources) and through language (in the social possibilities they realise for themselves through their language repertoires). Within such a view of education, critical reflection comes to play an important role. To consider language education in such a way requires reconceptualising some of the fundamental starting assumptions of language education, which provides a basis for creating new emphases in both theory and practice.

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

Methodological organization of the cultural component of the textbook of Russian language for bilingual children (Russian school abroad).

The article is devoted to the issue of developing a textbook of Russian language for the children of our compatriots abroad studying at a Russian school. The creation of such a textbook is primarily due to the need to preserve the Russian-speaking space in the countries of residence of our compatriots, especially in the socio-cultural and political environment today, as well as the needs of methodological theory, in which the textbook of Russian language has never been the object of research. The author reveals the features of the methodological organization of the cultural content of the target textbook by highlighting its main components and ways of presenting it, taking into account the specifics of intercultural language education in primary school.

Developing symbolic competence for intercultural learning of advanced EFL learners through critical incidents

ABSTRACT Symbolic competence is integral to intercultural teaching and learning, but limited research and teaching guidance exist in foreign language classrooms. This paper explores the use of critical incidents in developing the symbolic competence of advanced-level English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners at a Chinese university. Mixed methods analyses of critical incidents written by students reveal all dimensions of symbolic competence, with prominent themes of diversified intercultural understanding, effective narrative control depicting a positive self-image, and growing perspective-taking awareness though limited evidence of exercising symbolic power. The study thus highlights the symbolic value of intercultural language teaching and suggests the potential benefits of critical incident writing for developing the symbolic dimension of intercultural competence.

Bridging Cultures in College English Teaching: Challenges and Strategies for Intercultural Language Education in China

Bridging Cultures in College English Teaching: Challenges and Strategies for Intercultural Language Education in China

Navigating theory and practice in intercultural language teaching: Challenges faced by a pre-service language teacher in enacting an interpretive perspective in classroom interaction

This paper investigates the author’s classroom practice of implementing an interpretive perspective on intercultural language teaching and learning in two online intercultural workshops on the topic of face masks designed and delivered during the COVID-19 pandemic. It reflexively examines two critical incidents in classroom practice in terms of what these incidents reveal about the challenges faced by pre-service teachers in operationalizing an interpretive stance towards intercultural language teaching and learning in practice. Based on the epistemology of reflective practice, this self-study seeks to produce knowledge-of-practice by framing the author’s practical knowledge as language teacher in relation to theories of intercultural language teaching. Classroom discourse analysis of teaching and learning sequencies provides an emic lens on the enactment of an interpretive perspective on intercultural language teaching at the micro level in terms of two basic aspects of pedagogical practice: 1) Embedding interpretation in learning design and 2) Mediating learners’ interpretations in classroom interaction. The findings reveal that this author’s attempts to personalise intercultural language learning and elicit meaningful reflections from students were constrained by the limited semiotic richness of the material presented and the difficulty of going beyond a superficial interactional format to provide effective scaffolding and successfully realize a dialogic stance towards knowledge building. The paper considers the implications of these challenges for pre-service teacher education and offers suggestions for supporting teachers hoping to teach interculturally.

Unpacking Vietnamese L2 Students' Motivation for and Engagement in Intercultural Language Learning.

Intercultural language learning (ICLL) has become an important concept that drives English learners' attention to the understanding and application of cultural elements in their English learning process; however, the learning motivation for and engagement in the proliferation of culture in English language teaching vary from one context to another. This study aimed to unpack L2 students' motivation for and engagement in ICLL, and the correlation between the two research variables. A group of 198 L2 students, who were learning at a high school in Vietnam, were recruited based on a convenience sampling technique. A closed-ended questionnaire was employed for data collection. The sociolinguistic perspective was adopted for data analysis using the SPSS software. The findings unraveled that Vietnamese L2 students had a high level of motivation for ICLL, and they tended to get engaged in ICLL actively; however, their level of emotional engagement in ICLL seemed higher than their behavioral and cognitive engagement in ICLL. Additionally, a positive correlation between Vietnamese L2 students' motivation for and engagement in ICLL was significantly found. This study recommends pedagogical implications in an attempt to enhance the quality of intercultural language teaching and learning in the research context and other similar ones.

Interkulturowość w wybranych podręcznikach do nauki włoskiego i angielskiego języka biznesu i ekonomii. Studium porównawcze

This article attempts to characterize three textbooks for learning the language of business and economics in terms of the presence of elements developing intercultural competences. Two textbooks for learning Italian and one for learning English were analyzed: (1) Italiano per economisti, (2) L'italiano in azienda, (3) Market Leader. Intermediate business English. The above-mentioned titles were published in the years 2002-2003, which allowed to eliminate possible differences resulting from the changing over time approach to the phenomenon of intercultural language education. The aim of the study is to identify the elements developing intercultural competences, their qualitative and quantitative characteristics, to discuss the differences in the approach in Italian and English-language texts and to indicate the possibility of using selected solutions in the new teaching materials. This is important as research shows that contacts with foreign cultures alone do not naturally lead to the development of intercultural competence (Sobkowiak, 2015: 64, Budzanowska-Drzewiecka and Motyl-Adamczyk, 2016: 56). The analysis covered non-verbal communication (gestures), stereotypes, proverbs and sayings, rules of linguistic politeness. From the glottodidactic point of view, the proposed types of exercises and the connection of (inter)cultural competences with other communicative competences will be analyzed. The main hypothesis verified during the analyzes assumes that the concept of intercultural language education, although it does not appear as a notion on the pages of textbooks, is an important component of the didactic process in materials for learning the business language, and the approach to interculturality may differ depending on the target culture and status of the foreign language taught (Italian vs English, modern lingua franca).

Integrating intercultural communicative competence into an online EFL classroom: an empirical study of a secondary school in Thailand

Intercultural communicative competence (ICC) has been widely acknowledged as a core element of today’s foreign language education. However, even though the importance of intercultural language teaching is commonly recognized among adult learners and at the post-secondary level, teachers of adolescent English learners often find it hard to effectively incorporate culture into English learning because of the lack of an instructional model facilitating their students’ intercultural development and English learning experiences. Therefore, this study aims to investigate whether integrating intercultural learning into an online EFL curriculum can elevate teenage EFL students’ L2 motivation, intercultural communicative competence, and English proficiency. The researchers used a quasi-experimental design by randomly selecting two eighth-grade classes in a secondary school in northern Thailand, with one class designated as the experimental group (N = 31) and the other as the control group (N = 28). The effects of this teaching experiment were then examined using both quantitative and qualitative data. The findings demonstrated that the students in the experimental group showed a greater improvement compared with those of the students in the control group after an 8-week, interculturally embedded English curriculum. The results suggested that ICC is conducive to adolescent EFL students’ intercultural development as well as their English learning motivation and outcome. The applications of ICC-based EFL instruction in similar contexts are discussed.

Analyse de Virtual exchange for intercultural language learning and teaching: fostering communication for the digital age

Analyse de Virtual exchange for intercultural language learning and teaching: fostering communication for the digital age

Extended Model for Integrating Culture into Teaching EFL: A Context of Vietnam

Intercultural competence (IC) has gained a better positionality in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education in Vietnam to enable young people to become effective global citizens. Accordingly, the development of comprehensive IC is considered to be an officially stated objective of the reformed EFL curriculum, and a great body of intercultural issues reflecting the cultural diversity of countries has been added to the English course books of the upper secondary level. To help EFL teachers with the exploitation of the coursebooks, this perspective paper aims to propose a model for Intercultural Language Learning and Teaching (IcLLT) to shed light on how to integrate culture into teaching EFL in a Vietnamese pedagogical teaching context. This model can be a valuable guideline for EFL teachers to go beyond the language skill-based lesson in order to promote learners’ intercultural communicative competence.

Virtual Exchange for Intercultural Language Learning and Teaching: Fostering communication for the digital age. Edited by Anthippi Potolia and Martine Derivry‑Plard

Virtual Exchange for Intercultural Language Learning and Teaching: Fostering communication for the digital age. Edited by Anthippi Potolia and Martine Derivry‑Plard

The role of literature in intercultural language education

In this article we discuss how the design of a higher education language course can challenge the power of sentimentality in the classroom. In particular, the paper analyses the role of literature in intercultural language education through the lens of affect theory, while focusing on minimizing sentimentality in the classroom, especially when the literary texts used confront students with trauma-related content involving human rights abuse, death and suffering, and trigger discomforting emotions in students such as sadness, anguish, fear and more. We suggest that it is important for educators and students in higher education to recognize the affective and biopolitical dimensions of literature teaching in intercultural language education. This is illustrated through the design of an English language course syllabus in an Argentinian higher education setting. The paper concludes with a discussion of the curricular and pedagogical implications for intercultural language education.

Introduction to the Special Issue: Reimagining the role of literature in intercultural language education: New approaches and future perspectives

Introduction to the Special Issue: Reimagining the role of literature in intercultural language education: New approaches and future perspectives

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.

Developing intercultural competence in college business English students: A study of innovative teaching in China

Despite the increasing need to develop students' intercultural competence in China, the relationship between the approaches used to teach the English language and the cultivation of students' intercultural competence remains largely under-researched. Based on Byram's intercultural model and the intercultural language teaching framework, using action research we developed and implemented new teaching approaches to cultivate intercultural competence among students using a quasi-experimental design that combined qualitative and quantitative methods. Two classes of undergraduate students majoring in Business English were randomly selected, with one being assigned as the treatment group (n = 33) and the other as the control group (n = 32). The primary data consisted of questionnaires, journals, and interviews. After participating in a three-month intercultural speaking course where the treatment group students were guided through an intercultural learning process of noticing, comparing, and reflecting, findings revealed that they developed intercultural competence regarding their attitudes, knowledge, skills, and awareness. Implications for facilitating students' intercultural competence are discussed.

The role of literature in intercultural language education

The role of literature in intercultural language education

De los debates globales a las prácticas locales: pedagogías emergentes para el fomento de la interculturalidad en el aula de español para adultos migrantes

ABSTRACT Recent theoretical debates in the field of intercultural language education reveal a “cosmopolitan turn”, which implies a glocal, critical, and transformative perspective of interculturality as praxis. This article explores the promotion and development of interculturality from a critical cosmopolitan perspective and reports on the results of an empirical study carried out in a Spanish language classroom for adult migrants in Barcelona through a didactic intervention based on emergent pedagogies. The results enrich the conception of a “cosmopolitan agenda” for language teaching and contribute to bridging the methodological gap between global theoretical debates and local practices of intercultural language education.

Intercultural Language Education: Supportive Factors and Constraints on EFL Learners’ Intercultural Communicative Competence Development

This qualitative research aims to explore the supportive factors and constraints on the development of EFL learners’ intercultural communicative competence (ICC) in the EFL context of Vietnam. Forty-seven EFL learners who were learning General English at a foreign language center in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, were involved in this study. Two research instruments, namely diary and semi-structured group interview, were employed to garner data. The findings revealed that there were more supportive factors (active learners, inspirational teacher, interactive learning material and task, and dynamic context) than constraints (learner differences and task administration) that affected learners’ ICC development. This study recommends that different factors such as learners, teacher, learning material/task, and context, should be scrutinized so as to facilitate the development process of learners’ ICC.

English as a lingua franca and Intercultural Language Teaching in EFL Contexts

English as a lingua franca has many pedagogical implications for the field of foreign language teaching and teaching English as a foreign language, especially the deemphasize on the native-speaking cultural model. As a better alternative to the NS model, the present paper aims to discuss three key issues, the integration of non-native cultures into the EFL classroom to enrich EFL students’ cultural knowledge and to consider non-native speaking countries as a model, highlight the importance of the non-essentialist understanding of culture as a concept in such an integration, and, to consider a “glocal” cultural model as a second better alternative. Resources were gathered from previous literature and Byram’s model was considered while analyzing the resources gathered. The study makes propositions based on the findings of this study. Keywords: EFL; English; foreign language; glocal cultural model, intercultural language teaching; lingua franca.