Intercultural Speakers Research Articles

INTERCULTURAL ASPECTS IN TEACHING INDONESIAN AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (BIPA)

Learners should be intercultural speakers in foreign language teaching that promotes the intercultural dimension. In mastering the intercultural competencies, students are expected to be able to position themselves based on the background of their origin cultures and the culture that they learn in intercultural situations. This study aimed to find out how teaching the intercultural competencies was implemented in the course of Indonesian as a Foreign Language (BIPA), especially at the beginner level. This study investigated the intercultural teaching through textbooks, classroom observation, cultural program, and assessment used for the beginner course at the Institution X. The results of the analysis showed that the textbooks used contain themes of intercultural learning for the survival needs of novice students. The results of the classroom observation also showed that intercultural teaching was well executed. However, the results of the field trip observations that were part of the cultural program showed that the activities were not integrated with language learning. Besides, the results of the assessment analysis indicated that the exercise books and the tests used were not considered as the intercultural aspects. Therefore, this study is expected to provide input for intercultural teaching in BIPA courses, especially at the beginner level.

The intercultural speaker across time: a study of Tunisian EFL textbooks

ABSTRACT This paper examines the extent to which the intercultural speaker is promoted through intercultural contacts in five Tunisian EFL textbooks produced in five different periods in the history of English language teaching in Tunisia. Using content analysis, the study evaluated the textbooks’ representation of intercultural contacts in texts and activities. The results revealed that intercultural contacts were limited in frequency and variety in both contents and activities, and that textbooks were mainly meant to teach language forms and language skills. Despite being designed in different periods and using different teaching methods, textbooks did not differ in their representation of contacts and their potential to develop the intercultural speaker’s competencies in learners. It is suggested that more importance should be given to intercultural contacts in the current textbook series to make them more responsive to learners’ increasing needs for intercultural communication skills.

Teaching Anti-Utopian/Dystopian Fiction in RFL/EFL Classroom as Intercultural Awareness Raising Tool

The article sets out to explore and substantiate the effectiveness of using anti-Utopian and dystopian fiction in teaching intercultural communication. It is based on the lasting experience of teaching Russian and English languages and cultures to students from many European, Asian, and African countries trained as Russian and English philologists at the Kyiv National Linguistic University. Intercultural literacy is one of the conditions sine qua non for successful communications and career in the rapidly globalizing world. Intercultural awareness in the Foreign Language Classroom can be raised by incorporating literary texts written in target languages into the curriculum. In addition to being instrumental for acquiring linguistic prowess, they can also play a substantial part in fostering (inter)cultural competences in non-native speakers. The two texts by contemporary Russian and British writers (Tatiana Tolstaya’s The Slynx and Jeannette Winterson’s The Stone Gods) were selected as case studies due to their artistry in addressing familiar and relevant human concerns, while containing specific cultural codes to be deciphered and understood by the international students. It was established that the success of the teaching/learning process relies on the interactive dialogic qualities inherent in the texts under study and enabling comparative, interdisciplinary, and cross-cultural approaches to them, thus contributing to the formation of full-fledged intercultural speakers. As demonstrated by the article, current dystopian fiction may serve as an efficient tool in enhancing intercultural competence in international students.

Language Use and Language Attitudes of Sumbawanese Speakers in Bali

This study examines the language maintenance model for a local language in another language community, specifically to examine Sumbawanese language maintenance in the Balinese community. This study encompasses 1) the Sumbawanese speakers’ competence of Sumbawanese language; 2) Sumbawanese language use patterns in the Balinese community; 3) language attitudes of Sumbawanese speakers toward their language. This study focuses on Denpasar's several locations, where most of the language interaction occurred, and data were collected through observation, interviews, and questionnaires. Those data were analyzed by using a software program, namely an excel chart data series. The research subjects were both older and younger Sumbawanese speakers. An analysis of language attitudes also considered the roles of language choice and language change in maintaining cultural diversity and ethnic identity, which will psychologically provide a feeling of assurance in personal linguistic competence. In Sumbawanese speakers, the context of communicating in Balinese society will be thoroughly considered. The findings show that speakers of Sumbawa language have good competence towards Sumbawa language, rarely use Sumbawa language, and have more positive than negative attitudes towards their language. Speakers are stimulated to maintain the frequency of language use and their positive language attitudes to be competent intercultural speakers. Keywords: Balinese, language use, language attitude, language change, Sumbawanese

Intercultural communicative competence and Spanish heritage language speakers: an overview from the U.S., Australia and Europe

ABSTRACT Research on ‘heritage/community language education’ (HCLE) has a relatively recent trajectory, but it has generated a large number of scholarly publications, particularly in relation to Spanish in the United States (U.S.) where the growth of Spanish heritage language learners (HLL) has been exponential. However, to date, limited research attention has been given to the intersection between heritage language learning and the development of intercultural communicative competence (ICC). This may be attributed to the assumption that, on a daily basis, such learners are required to move and effectively operate between languages and cultures and, therefore, already possess adequate levels of ICC. With the development of ICC, now considered an integral component in language education, the time appears ripe to examine its implications within HCLE. This paper articulates the key similarities and differences in the trajectories of ICC research in relation to university level heritage learners of Spanish in three distinct geographical contexts: Australia, Europe, and the United States.

Assessing intercultural competence (IC) of state junior high school English teachers in Yogyakarta

Intercultural competence (IC) is a concept which has gained importance in recent years. It seems to be transparent, accepted as well as used both in formal and informal situations. This concept can be defined as an individual’s capability to communicate effectively and appropriately with other people who have different cultures, norms, and values. In order for a person to be labeled as an intercultural speaker with intercultural competence, s/he should have the competence of intercultural attitude, skill, and knowledge. However, this competence has not been noticed and assessed comprehensively inside and outside academia, particularly in the setting of English language teaching. Hence, this study aims to assess and determine the level of intercultural competence of state junior high school English teachers in Yogyakarta. This study involved 260 participants taken using cluster random sampling from the whole population of 790 state junior high school English teachers. Data were collected using a valid and reliable questionnaire. Afterward, the data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and Kruskal Wallis test along with prerequisite of normality. This study revealed that the level of IC of state junior high school English teachers in Yogyakarta was high. Moreover, it has been found that their level of intercultural attitude (IA), intercultural skill (IS), and intercultural knowledge (IK) were categorized as high. In other words, these results indicate that the state junior high school English teachers in Yogyakarta have a capability to mingle with diverse people using a language effectively and appropriately. Importantly, this study showed that there were no significant differences in their IC level according to where they teach in four districts and one city. These mean that the locations where they teach do not affect their level of intercultural competence.

The promotion of the good intercultural speaker through intercultural contacts in a Tunisian EFL textbook

ABSTRACTThis paper evaluates the potential of intercultural contacts portrayed in the content and tasks of a Tunisian EFL textbook for third-year secondary school students to develop the model of the intercultural speaker. The quantitative and qualitative analyses of the elements of intercultural contacts reveal that this portrayal is imbalanced in terms of frequency and variety and that their potential to help participants become good intercultural speakers is low. To compete with other sources of intercultural contacts, the textbook should include more frequent and varied contact situations where culturally different characters can interact and apply intercultural skills.

Building Empathy and Intercultural Citizenship through a Virtual Exchange Project

Building Empathy and Intercultural Citizenship through a Virtual Exchange Project

Reciprocal Images of Portuguese and Turkish University Students: Minding Intercultural Gaps in Foreign Language Education

ABSTRACTForeign language education needs to prepare learners to become intercultural speakers who can establish an intercultural dialogue with those whose languages are different from their own. Against this background, we present a study based on the diagnosis of the reciprocal images of Portuguese and Turkish university students learning each other’s language. Our aim is to show how the students’ reciprocal images relate to their attitudes towards their counterpart’s language, culture, and people, and, consequently, to intercultural communication itself. On this basis, we identify the existing gaps regarding an intercultural approach to foreign language education and propose a set of educational strategies aiming at the development of the students’ intercultural competence.

Teaching Chinese Culture in College English Classes in the Context of Outreaching Strategy

Although a consensus has been reached internationally on the importance of teaching home culture in foreign language education, this is still debated in China. By ignoring cultural factors, some regard English as simply a tool and believe linguistic skills to be the core of English teaching, especially in teaching English to non-English major students. Most, on the other hand, have recognized the intertwined relationship between language and culture, thus support intercultural language teaching. As Byram (1997) notes that both home culture and target culture are parts of the knowledge an “intercultural speaker” should possess. In spite of the growing emphasis that has been placed on intercultural communication competence (ICC) by policy makers in the context of “Chinese Culture Going Global Strategy”, it is neglected in practice and is still in secondary status. This phenomenon is especially widespread in integrating Chinese culture into college English courses and there are many problems and challenges in its implementing. Therefore, after discussing the rationales of involving Chinese culture in teaching college English, some suggestions are provided.

Using social networking technology to develop intercultural communicative competence: a case of GCSE Mandarin

ABSTRACT The research reported in this article aimed to explore how social networking technology might contribute to the development of intercultural communicative competence of learners of Chinese as a foreign language. The research involved a longitudinal exploratory case study, in which the case was a single General Certificate of Secondary Education Mandarin class of nine learners in a comprehensive secondary school in the Midlands of the UK. Methods of data collection included participant observation, field notes, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with students. A Community of Inquiry analysis framework was adapted and used as the basis of coding and analysis of students’ online behaviours. The findings of this study showed that Social Presence was the category of presence most often identified in the current Community of Inquiry, followed by Cognitive Presence, and then Teaching Presence. The social networking tools created a Community of Inquiry that provided extra input of Chinese language and culture that motivated learners to become global citizens and intercultural speakers. However, this study also found that although all students had full access to social networking technology, their uses of these tools were uneven.

Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC): What Should Indonesian EFL Teachers Have Related to ICC’s Elements?

<p><em>In the twenty-first century life, the demand to become an intercultural speaker becomes very crucial. It is seen through the incremental important attention of having an intercultural communicative competence (ICC) which is seen as one of the main key competencies in global world-wide. This condition urges any teacher to master the ICC completely as to assist their students to become intercultural speakers in multicultural situations. However, this competence has not been noticed thoroughly by Indonesian EFL teachers since most of them are reluctant to develop their competence in term of integrating the elements of ICC into their teaching-learning process. Hence, this present article recommends a number of competencies related to ICC’s elements in which the Indonesian EFL teachers should have, namely, the linguistic, sociolinguistic, discourse, and intercultural competence which are considered able to aid the Indonesian EFL teachers in enhancing the students’ ICC.</em></p>

Developing Russian Phd Students’ Academic Culture in EAP Courses for International Communication and Co-Operation

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Developing Russian Phd Students’ Academic Culture in EAP Courses for International Communication and Co-Operation

The paper gives a didactic insight into the concept of “intercultural academic communication” /IAC/ analyzing its types, forms, structure and bilingual input for the purposes of improving Russian advanced students’ communication skills as intercultural speakers and writers in English-speaking academic settings. On the basis of the 2015-2017 cross-cultural analysis of Russian Master’s Degree - PhD Students’ experiences of intercultural communication it provides a didactically-oriented and competency-based classification of communicative barriers to effective cross-cultural academic communication, describing such of them as linguistic, pragmatic, sociocultural, cognitive and visual communication barriers. The paper argues that the theoretical framework for designing tasks aiming at improving PhD students’ bilingual pluricultural competence to use English as a lingua franca in intercultural academic settings is to be based on L. Vygotsky’s cultural historical theory, A.N Leontiev’s activity theory, A.A. Leontiev’s psychological theory of communication, S. Hall’s theory of cultural factors and contexts and culturally-oriented FLT approaches to developing students’ bilingual academic competences on a multidisciplinary basis. The paper concludes with some recommendations on creating a hierarchical set of multidisciplinary problem-solving tasks and activities specifically designed to help PhD students meet new 21st century challenges of intercultural communication - co-operation, avoiding culture-bound academic pitfalls in today’s extremely complicated world. Among these tasks are those that involve PhD students’ into: a) observing and generalizing the similarities and differences of communicative and/or cognitive academic schemata in Russian and in English; b) classifying communicative barriers between intercultural speakers or writers (incl. English native - non-native speakers); c) interpreting the appropriacy of academic products in a FL from a global intercultural perspective; d) making suggestions for necessary pluricultural academic self-education in order to be able to foresee and/or identify communication barriers and find effective communicative tools to bridge intercultural academic gaps; e) doing thought-provoking case-studies in IAC; f) transforming interculturally inappropriate academic products in a FL into appropriate ones; g) group role-playing of IAC schema modes involving different academic roles that are typical of English-speaking international science co-operation settings; h) doing “Study - Innovate” projects.

Learner identity in EFL: An analysis of digital texts of identity in higher education

This study explores learner identity (LI) in digital texts of identity (DTI) produced by college learners in English as a foreign language (EFL). In so doing, it aims to shed light on learners’ connections of their learning experiences across time and settings, and their impact on the various learner identities that form their LI. It also intends to elucidate how learners construct powerful learner identities in and through their digital discourses. To this end, 51 DTI were collected and scrutinized, following studies on LI, critical and poststructuralist discourse analysis, and “thematic” and “dialogic/performative” analysis within narrative research. Learners established connections between their family and daily life spaces, school, and the foreign language community that account for, and shape their construction of their identities as learners in general, and language learners in particular. Students also empowered themselves by identifying with an intercultural speaker, using authority claims, and, in general, enhancing their authoritativeness in and through their texts. These findings underscore the potential of DTI to reinforce learners’ identities, and create more equitable learning spaces.

On Designing Lesson Plans for Improving Primary Intercultural Speakers’Multiple Intelligence and Cultural Intelligence

On Designing Lesson Plans for Improving Primary Intercultural Speakers’Multiple Intelligence and Cultural Intelligence

A Learner of the 20th Century Becoming a Teacher of the 21st Century: A Perspective on the Goals of ELT in Thailand

Studying English in one century but teaching English in another century requires a lot of willpower from teachers to understand changes and adjust their perceptions and practices. This paper reflects on the notion that the ultimate goal of teaching and learning English should be a native speaker-like command of the language. The question is whether or not this goal of being native-like is a reasonable, necessary and achievable goal. Effective cross-cultural communication requires not only language ability, but also intercultural competence. Therefore, this paper calls for a shift from using a native speaker as a model to using an intercultural speaker as a model in English language teaching. A perfect combination of developing Englishlanguage ability and intercultural competence would lead students to the proficiency of English in this new century. This intercultural approach can help learners to become effective users of English in the 21st century, in which most English users are non-native English speakers from a variety of sociolinguistic and cultural backgrounds.

On the Alignment of Dynamic Assessment and Instruction for Intercultural Speakers in Primary and Secondary English Classes

본 연구에서는 역동적 평가 기반 교수-학습 방법 및 평가를 통해 문화 간 화자의 의사소통 능력을 역동적으로 측정할 수 있는 방안을 제안하고자 하였다. 이를 위해 초ㆍ 중ㆍ고등학교 교사의 지도안 9개를 분석하여 문화 간 화자들의 의사소통 능력을 측정하고 있는 실태를 파악하고, 향후 문화 간 화자들의 의사소통 능력 성장 여부를 역동적으로 평가하고 있는지를 살펴보았다. 수업 지도안 분석 결과, 첫째, 표준화된 시험이나 다양한 분석 방법(SWOT분석, 포지션닝 맵 등)을 활용하여 좀 더 구체적으로 학습자를 진단하지 못했고, 학습자들이 향후 도달해야 할 성취목표의 수준에 적합한 평가문항을 제작하여 진단평가를 실시하지도 않았다. 둘째, 수업 전개 단계에서, 교사들은 수업 활동을 설명하면서 학습자들이 어려워할 수 있는 활동을 단계별로 구체적으로 지시하고, 제안하고, 시범 보이는 방법을 구현하지 않았고, 강화 및 피드백을 주고, 반론 및 모순을 지적하는 방법을 계획하고 있지 않았기 때문에 학습자들이 학습 목표를 실질적으로 달성하도록 하는 데에 한계가 있었다. 셋째, 수업의 정리단계에서 개인별, 집단별, 짝별 활동을 통해 학습자들의 학습 목표 달성 여부를 제대로 평가하지 못하였고, 다음 수업 활동을 위해 새로운 근접발달영 역을 설정하지 않았다. 이러한 문제점을 해결하기 위해 본 연구에서는 먼저 수업 계획 시, 역동적 평가의 케이크 유형을 바탕으로 학습자의 발달을 촉진해야 하고, 둘째, 교사는 문화 간 화자들 이 상호작용하는 과정에서 교사나 우수학력 수준의 동료들이 어떤 유형의 도움을 주며, 아울러 도움의 양, 횟수, 시간을 어떻게 구성할 지를 계획해야 하며, 셋째, 문화 간 화자들의 의사소통 능력을 함양하기 위해 평가자인 교사와 피험자인 문화 간 화자의 상호작용의 과정 속에서 조력의 정도를 바탕으로 그들의 성장과정을 평가해야 하고, 마지막으로 문화 간 화자들을 위해 처음에는 명시적 또는 암묵적으로 제시하는 교사의 통제적 도움(스캐폴딩, 오류수정 등)으로 목표언어를 표현하도록 지도하지만, 점진적으로 자신의 인지 능력이나 발화 속도 등에 맞게 자신의 생각을 스스로 표현할 수 있는 능력을 갖추도록 지도할 필요가 있음을 제안하였다.Dynamic assessment(DA) is an alternative method of conceptualizing the alignment of assessment and instruction based on Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of cognitive development. The purpose of this paper was to suggest the direction of the alignment of dynamic assessment and instruction for intercultural speakers in English classes considering DA strategies focused on scaffolding. For this, recent papers on the alignment of dynamic assessment and instruction were reviewed and investigated, and expert meetings were carried out to deliberate on the possibility of the alignment of dynamic assessment and instruction in English classes. Also, nine lesson plans presented to demonstrate a class for Teaching English in English(TEE)-ACE were analysed. From the findings, the lesson plans had difficulty in assessing intercultural speakers appropriately and systematically. In this study, it was suggested that the strategies of the alignment of dynamic assessment and instruction need to be applied to improve intercultural speakers’interactional competence and cultural knowledge in the process of doing cultural tasks implemented in the classes.

A Sociocultural Approach to Updating the Teaching of Reading and Listening in English

For many years ELT methodology has given considerable attention to the questions of teaching reading and listening /R & L/ in English as communicative language activities, focusing mostly on how to develop students’ comprehension skills that are necessary for their effective communication with native speakers. But what is still badly needed right now is to develop R & L pedagogy with a cross-cultural or pluricultural dimension that would help to create step-by-step relevant information basis for developing students as active intercultural listeners and readers. The paper argues that it is a good time to make a methodological shift in ELT from teaching R & L simply as language activities to teaching cross-cultural and/or pluricultural reading & listening for the purposes of helping students become positive (though not naïve), confident and flexible partners in intercultural communication in today’s though globalized, but still culturally diverse and turbulent world. The paper gives an overview of what has been done in the ELT field under consideration and outlines some key postulates of the sociocultural approach to teaching international languages and comments on how they can be applied to R & L in the context of the dialogue of cultures and civilisations. It discusses some basic principles of selecting aural, visual and audio-visual texts for creating an appropriate cross-cultural or pluricultural space in the English classroom (the principles of didactic appropriateness, communicative & sociocultural values for students’ as potential intercultural speakers). Besides, it also offers a set of ELT principles of teaching the art of R & L for the purposes of students’ intercultural communication worldwide.

Cultural Noticing, Language Learning, and Sources of Tension During a Study Abroad Experience Activity Systems Analysis

The study reported below traces the developing intercultural competence and foreign language communicative competence of a Polish sophomore student of chemical technology as she becomes a border crosser in Portugal. The theoretical perspective taken up in the present paper rests on Activity Theory (Leontiev 1976, Vygotsky 1984) and the research methodology is based on its outgrowth, namely the Activity Systems Analysis (Engeström 1987, 2001). The analysis of the accrued ethnographic data uncovered how the emerging tensions and contradictions experienced by the research participant helped her work towards minimising them, overcoming the disequilibrium and becoming a better, although still imperfect, intercultural speaker.