Intercultural Language Learning

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Intercultural Language Learning
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Intercultural Language Learning

• provides a new purpose and pedagogical
  framework for teaching languages.
• is a significant development from traditional
  and current language teaching pedagogies.

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IcLL

• involves the fusing of language, culture and
  learning into a single educative approach
• underlying premise is that language, culture
  and learning are fundamentally interrelated
• places this interrelationship at the centre of
  the learning process
• See p 3 of National Statement for Languages
  Education

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In IcLL, learners

• develop an understanding of their own
  language(s) and cultures) in relation to an
  additional language and culture.
• move to an intercultural position between
  these languages and cultures where variable
  points of view are recognised, mediated and
  accepted.
• Report on Intercultural Language Learning
• Liddicoat, A, Papademtre, L, Scarino, A Kohler,
  M 2003
• Department of Education, Science and Training

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National Statement and Plan for Languages
Education in Australian Schools 2005 -2008

• Development of language skills and intercultural
  understanding is an investment in our national
  capability and a valuable resource.
• 21st century education needs to equip learners
  for successful participation and engagement
  within and across local, regional and global
  communities.
• Education in a global community brings with it an
  increasing need to focus on developing
  intercultural understanding.

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• So, what is the culture in
  intercultural?
• What do we currently understand by
  culture

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• Culture is a complex system of concepts,
  attitudes, values, beliefs, conventions,
  behaviours, practices, rituals and lifestyle of
  the people who make up a cultural group, as well
  as the artefacts they produce and the
  institutions they create.
  
  
• (Report on Intercultural Language Learning
  Commonwealth
  of Australia 2003 p 45)

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• Language plays a primary role in the
  transmission of cultural codes.
• Language forms the visible and the
  messages conveyed by them the invisible-
  provide cultural knowledge.
• Language and culture are inextricably linked.

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Culture is

• multifaceted
• variable
• dynamic

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• Culture is transmitted to members of a
  cultural group through the process of
  socialisation.
• Much of this transmission is not consciously
  acquired.
• Individuals grow up accepting the cultural
  codes of their community as usual, normal and
  natural.
• They accept these codes as the way the world
  is.

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Learning about culture means

• engaging with the linguistic and non-
  linguistic practices of the culture.
• gaining insights into the way of living in a
  particular cultural context.

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• Culture cannot be learnt independently of
  language nor can language be learnt
  independently from culture.
• Culture is learnt through language and
  through language use.
• ALPLP Getting Started with Intercultural
  Language Learning p8.

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Responding to compliments in Japan

• How do you respond
• to compliments?
• What do you notice
• here?
• What is similar?
• What is different?
• Why?
• How would you
• respond?

• You have a beautiful garden.
• Oh no, its full of weeds.
• Youre wearing pretty
• earrings today.
• Oh no, they are very cheap
• and old.
• Your husband looks very
• dignified.
• No, he doesnt. Hes fat.

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Four broad approaches to culture in language
teaching have been identified.

• 1. High Culture
• Area Studies
• Culture as Societal Norms
• 4. Culture as Practice

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High Culture Approach

• Cultural competence is viewed as control of an
  established canon of literature.
• There are minimal expectations of using the
  language for communication with native
  speakers.
• The relationship between language and culture
  may be quite tenuous as there can be an
  emphasis on the text itself rather than
  viewing it as a window onto broader aspects of
  culture.

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Area Studies Approach

• Here, culture learning is seen as learning
  about the history, geography and institutions
  of the target language country.
• Cultural competence is viewed as knowledge
  about the country.
• This knowledge can be acquired without the
  study of the target language.

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Culture as Societal Norms

• Cultural competence here is viewed as
• knowing about what people from a given
  cultural group are likely to do.
• understanding the cultural values placed upon
  certain ways of acting or upon certain
  beliefs.

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In the Societal Norms approach

• Culture is presented as being static and
  homogeneous.
• There is a strong chance this will lead
  to stereotyping.

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Culture as Practice

• Here, culture is viewed as sets of
  practices - as the lived experience of
  individuals.
• Actions are seen as context-sensitive,
  negotiated and highly variable.
• Cultural competence is seen as the ability to
  interact in the target culture in informed
  ways.

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Culture as Practice takes a dynamic view of
culture.

• Culture is recognised as being highly
  variable and constantly changing.
• Individual members of a culture enact the
  culture differently and pay different levels of
  attention to the cultural norms which operate
  in their society.

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In the Culture as Practice approach

• Cultural competence is seen as a process in
  which students engage right from the beginning
  of their language learning.
• It is not something that is done later on or as
  an add-on extra.
• It is not about learners being observers of
  facts that they are merely required to recall.

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In the Culture as Practice approach learners
develop an intercultural perspective

• where the culture and language in which they
  live
• the First place
• are made apparent alongside the target culture
  and language
• the Second place

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Using this knowledge, learners move to an
intercultural position which forms the basis for
the ongoing development of their intercultural
communication skills.

• This position is referred to as the
• Third Place

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• Moving to ones Third Place is a process
  which is
• dynamic
• developmental
• on-going
• It engages the learner
• cognitively
• behaviourally
• affectively.

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• The Third Place is not a fixed point common
  to all learners.
• Rather, the nature of the third place is
  negotiated by each individual learner as an
  intersection of the cultural perspectives of
  the self and the other.

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Leave-taking / Notions of friendliness in South
America

• A. I think Ill go home now.
• B. Oh, but you cant leave now.
• A. Well, I have to get up early tomorrow
  morning to catch my flight.
• B. That doesnt matter. Come and watch my latest
  video. Its a great movie.
• A. Thank you, but really I cant.
• B. No, you must I insist

• How would you feel in this kind of situation?
• Why does B say the things he does?
• What would you do?
• What solution would you suggest?

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• Learners need to make choices about what to
  hold on to and what to relinquish - what to
  adopt and what to let pass.Teachers need to
  respect the integrity of their students informed
  decisions.

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In IcLL, it is the role of teachers to help
students develop the strategies of

• observation
• exploration
• reflection
• mediation

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• The approach to culture
• that best supports
• Intercultural Language Learning
• is the
• Culture as Practice Approach.

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In summary, IcLL involves

• teaching students to look for the invisible
  cultural features of another language.
• teaching them about their own language and
  culture by contrasting it to the target
  language and culture.
• teaching them how to distance themselves
  from their own language and culture and see
  them for what are - just one possible world
  view but not the only world view.

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Ultimately, what does IcLL involve for teachers?

• For teachers, it means developing an
  overall stance, an orientation, a way of work
  as curriculum designers and teachers.
• Teachers need to address the ways in which
  culture learning will be practised by
  learners.

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What does it involve for students?

• For students, it involves encouraging them to
  develop a similar stance which will assist them
  towards the development of intercultural
  sensitivity.

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Sources for Intercultural Language Learning

• Report on Intercultural Language Learning
• Anthony Liddicoat, Leo Papademetre, Angela
  Scarino, Michelle Kohler July 2003
• Striving for the Third Place Intercultural
  Competence through Language Education
• Joseph Lo Bianco, Anthony Liddicoat, Chantal
  Crozet
• Teaching Invisible Culture Classroom practice
  and Theory
• Edited by Joseph Lo Bianco and Chantal Crozet