Intercultural Language Use and Language Learning - by Eva Alcón Soler and Maria Pilar Safont Jordà (original) (raw)
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Intercultural Aspects in Language Education
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Intercultural understanding essentiallybecomes a part of living with others in the diverse world of the twenty-first century. It assists people to become responsible local and global citizens through their education for living and working together in an interconnected world. Language is a major component and supporter of culture as well as a primary tool for transferring message, which is inextricably bound with culture. Language is a key component of culture. It is also a primary medium for transmitting the culture itself. Without language, culture would not be possible. Students learning their native language are learning their own culture. Meanwhile, learning a second language also involves learning a second culture to varying degrees. A language is influenced and shaped by culture. It reflects culture. Cultural differences are the most serious areas causing misunderstanding, unpleasantness and even conflict in cross-cultural communication. Both foreign language learners and te...
Report on intercultural language learning
This report addresses the interrelationship of languages and cultures in the learning, teaching, assessment, and evaluation of languages in Australian schools. That language cannot be separated from its social and cultural contexts of use is a critical dimension of understanding language in use. In this report the importance of this understanding is recognised. At the same time, intercultural language learning is highlighted as a goal since 'inter'-cultural implies engagement with, or back-and-forth movement across languages and cultures.
Language teaching and intercultural education: making critical connections
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Language and Culture: Taking a wider view
2011
Language learning has two distinct personas, an idealistic one and a real one. In some cases the two are very closely matched but more often than not they are very different. The ideal language learning experience might be argued to be a deeply personal one that takes the learner through a process of self-discovery and into the wider world with fresh eyes that are able to appreciate difference, recognise common ground and forge new understandings. However, it is often the case that the more functional motivations for which we learn a language intervene and detract from the idealistic nature of the experience making it a more mundane and limited one. So what is it that makes language more than a simple list of words and grammar rules?
Intercultural Language Teaching and Learning
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In Chapters 2, 3, and 4 we have considered an expanded view of language, culture, and learning and their interrelationship, which we see as necessary in teaching and learning languages within an intercultural perspective. In Chapters 5-9 we have described the way in which this expanded view influences the ecology of language teaching and learning: the tasks, interactions, and experiences, as microcosms of language learning; the resources selected, adapted, developed, and used; the technologies that mediate language learning; the nature and means for assessing and judging language learning; and how all these aspects are brought together in theorizing and planning programs of work-all within an intercultural perspective. To these aspects we now add the process of evaluating, which is the critical process that ensures the overall dynamism of the overall program, within an intercultural perspective in the ecology. Evaluation requires continuous informal, and at times formal, reflection on the functioning and quality of the language-learning program as a whole. The ecological metaphor is used here to highlight the interrelationship of all aspects and the inevitable influence of a change in any one aspect over all other aspects in the ecology (see Kramsch (2002) and van Lier (2002) for further discussion of ecological perspectives). It also highlights the notion presented in Chapter 1, of intercultural language learning as a stance, an overall perspective that permeates language teaching and learning as a whole, rather than just the methods employed. The stance that teachers and learners bring to the act of theorizing, conceptualizing, teaching, and learning languages comes from their own enculturation into primary and subsequent languages and cultures, their own situatedness in time and space, their own experiences and reflections on these experiences, and their beliefs, desires, motivations, commitments, and ethical values. These are part of their own dynamic framework of knowledge and understanding and their identities as teachers and learners (Scarino and Liddicoat, 2009). This stance also permeates the process of evaluation. In this chapter we consider evaluation as an integral aspect of the ecology of language teaching and learning. It is the aspect that ensures the system remains open to ongoing improvement and renewal (Clark, 1987). First, we discuss the nature and purpose of
The Journal of AsiaTEFL, 2020
Learning a second language (L2) provides a pathway to explore other worldviews and cultural values. However, most L2 learners cannot reach high levels of proficiency due to the lack of opportunities to reinforce what they have learned. Previous L2 studies have shown that if students have no opportunity to apply their knowledge, they forget over 50% of what they have learned within the first 24 hours, and 80% after a week (Gallon, 2016). Even those who achieve high scores in language assessment may not be fluent enough for intercultural communications, because most language textbooks focus on linguistic accuracy, rather than sociolinguistic rules. The gap between textbook discourse and authentic conversation prevents many students from applying what they have learned into practice (Gilmore, 2007). Addressing the above concerns, in this edited collection, Romanowski and Bandura adopted a sociocultural approach to learn and acquire L2 in multifaceted contexts through exploring different topics, such as L2 learning in multicultural classrooms, teacher education, L2 and telecommunication and virtual collaboration platforms. The learning cultures are highlighted as a key for linking L2 learning to practice. The book is comprised of 12 chapters written by language researchers based on their empirical research or first-hand professional experience. The authors not only come from English-speaking countries, but also from Eastern Europe, South America and East Asia. Their diverse backgrounds and experiences offer a global view of second/foreign language learning and addresses the concerns from both the teacher's and learner's perspectives. The chapters are organized in three sections. Section 1, titled "Challenges of Intercultural Encounters and Foreign Language Education", begins with a chapter by Éva Csillik, who shares her English teaching experience in a multicultural/multilingual classroom where a lingua franca is necessary to enable classroom communication. Chapter 2 provides a student's perspective through examining the L2 learning processes of 258 Syrian refugees in Turkey. The role of L2 learning is highlighted as the key to successful sociocultural adjustment, which brings benefits to both asylum seekers and the host community. Chapter 3 also focuses on the learner's view by examining how students dealt with intercultural clashes in their online communication. This chapter reveals the language differences in perceived norms of politeness between university staff and students. A seldom-researched issue, the gap between textbook language and authentic conversations in daily life, is also highlighted. The fourth chapter takes a more comprehensive view by explaining how culturally-based factors affect students' cross-/intercultural communication in different contexts. The author also makes profound suggestions about how students and teachers can develop cultural awareness. Section 2 focuses on curriculum development and gives suggestions for improving L2 intercultural learning. This section begins with Chapter 5, "Intercultural Language Teaching in an Era of Internationalization," which explains the conceptual difference between internationalization and internationalism. The author argues that L2 learning in university is not simply for seeking better career opportunities, but also for receiving an education in global values. It encourages students to have more international interactions to develop their intercultural competence. Chapter 6 uses a narrative approach
What culture? Which culture? Cross-cultural factors in language learning Downloaded from
The burgeoning bibliography on cross-cultural matters in language of English teaching is a symptom of wider social, political, and technological developments and in particular the increased mobility of people, and therefore of contact between people, brought about by modern communications, electronic media, and international organizations. Thus, there is potential for greater harmony or greater conflict. There is also an increasing awareness of a common global destiny, highlighted by nuclear and environmental disasters of an alarming variety.
Council of Europe, Strasbourg, 2002
It has been widely recognised in the language teaching profession that learners need not just knowledge and skill in the grammar of a language but also the ability to use the language in socially and culturally appropriate ways. This was the major innovation of 'communicative language teaching'. At the same time, the 'communicative approach' introduced changes in methods of teaching, the materials used, the description of what is to be learnt and assessment of learning. The Council of Europe's 'Common European Framework of Reference' embodies these innovations and also emphasises the importance of 'intercultural awareness', 'intercultural skills', and 'existential competence' (see Appendix 1). The 'Common European Framework', like other recent publications, thus introduces the 'Intercultural Dimension' into the aims of language teaching. Its essence of is to help language learners to interact with speakers of other languages on equal terms, and to be aware of their own identities and those of their interlocutors. It is the hope that language learners who thus become 'intercultural speakers' will be successful not only in communicating information but also in developing a human relationship with people of other languages and cultures.
Discovering intercultural communication: From language users to language use
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Kim, H., & Penry Williams, C. (2021). Discovering intercultural communication: From language users to language use. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76595-8 This textbook provides a succinct, contemporary introduction to intercultural communication with a focus on actual language use. With English as a lingua franca and Communicative Accommodation Theory as the underpinning concepts, it explores communication, language use, and culture in action. Each chapter includes discourse extracts so that students can apply what they have learned to real text examples, and supplementary instructor materials including suggestions for discussion points and activities are hosted on springer.com. The book will be key reading for students taking modules on Intercultural Communication or Language, Culture and Communication as part of a degree in Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, or English Language both at undergraduate and postgraduate level.