Intercultural communication Synthesis of the Year One Report

1. Definition Communication - the active relationship established between people through language Intercultural - communicative relationship between people of different cultures Culture - the structured manifestation of human behaviour in social life within specific national and local contexts: political, linguistic, economic, institutional, professional and so on.

intercultural communication (linguistic perspective ): a situated communication between individuals or groups of different linguistic and cultural origins

Focus – the acquisition of skills and human attributes likely to enhance intercultural communication is reviewed exclusively as a component of language programmes

intercultural competence - – knowledge –skills –attitudes

7 significant issues: i) IC’s relationship with language itself, ii) its integration into language teaching pedagogy iii) its identification or otherwise with nationhood, iv) its link with personal identity, v) the psychological principles underpinning the formation of attitudes and stereotypes, vi) the disciplinary structure of higher education (HE) in different countries and institutions, vii) more general economic and cultural aspects of academic environments, internal and external, in which learning takes place.

Intercultural communication – content – competence

Content –Autonomous courses – theoretical, not necessarily linked to languages –Cases of courses with: theory, practice, relationships between language- related aspects and language-independent aspects

Competence –Knowledge of language(s) and of the context –Skills to express oneself in language appropriate to rhe context concerned –Attitudes to deploy these skills

Intercultural competence is based on awareness (for example of the difference between oneself and others) Identity /identification how to behave and how to interpret the behaviour of others ?

2. Delivery an implicit element of most language courses delivered in different European HE environments or features as an autonomous subject in other disciplinary fields

as knowledge and a skill but also aims to promote an appropriate attitude / awareness as an integrated part of language learning: –TaLLICo (Tandem Language Learning for Intercultural Competence) Waterford Institute of Technology aims to promote meaningful intercultural dialogue to improve language and intercultural skills between Irish and visiting Erasmus students.

associated with translation (as in Spain) associated with intercultural knowledge dissemination (as in Århus). degrees combining business studies or organisational communication studies with foreign languages - University of Southern Denmark and Copenhagen Business School Linguaggi del turismo e comunicazione interculturale - University of Rome.

Most interesting cases are normally on specialised modern language degree courses which have a professional focus.

3. Assessment / evaluation of students Distinction between knowledge, skills and attitudes Knowledge component can, strictly speaking, be assessed in traditional ways. Skills and attitudes need to be assessed in other ways such as role- play, observation, self-assessment or reflection on critical incidents. Yet such assessment practices are not widespread within European HE language programmes. Skills evaluated by project work - students have to apply their theoretical knowledge to particular communicative situations or conducting small-scale ethnographic or case study research (U.S. Denmark)

- writing logbooks (UK) -Interculture Project -LOLIPOP portfolio -INCA Project:

4. QA mechanisms In all the countries, there are national quality agencies but quality assessment in language teaching/learning does not appear to be one of their primary concerns. Quality in intercultural communication in higher education as well as school education should not be reduced to ascertaining reliable methods for assessments and direct evaluation, but by opening up opportunities to students as well as teachers to participate in relevant programmes.

Perhaps the increase in numbers participating in mobility could be a way of defining the quality of language courses which are offering intercultural communication as part of their curriculum…

“the role of the language teacher is […]to develop skills, attitudes and awareness of values just as much as to develop knowledge of a particular culture or country” (Byram, Gripkova & Starkey: 2001)