In Pursuit of Intercultural Communicative Competence in EFL Context: Exploring Iranian English Teachers’ Perceptions

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of English, Karaj, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran

2 Kharazmi University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

The current study attempted to cast light on the status quo of Iranian EFL teachers' perceptions of ICC. It further attempted to see if their experience would influence their conceptualizations of ICC. To this end, a total of 100 EFL teachers were asked to complete a questionnaire survey adapted from Han & Song's (2011) study. The results of both quantitative and qualitative analysis revealed a number of commonalities and discrepancies among the participants' conceptualizations of International Communication Competence (ICC) and its relevance to ELT considering their teaching experience. The findings point to the prominence of intercultural teacher education in the Iranian context.

Keywords

References

Aleksandrowich-Pedich, L., Lazar, L. and Skopinskaja, L. (Eds) (2003).Cross-national study on cross- cultural awareness network. Availableat:http://elt.britcoum.org.pl/forum/networkarch/archives/vo103/01Aleksandrowicz-Pedich et.al.
Byram, M. (1997).Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd.
Byram, M., and Zarate, G. (1994).Definitions, objectives and assessment of socio-cultural competence. Council of Europe: Strasbourg.
Byram, M. (2008).From Foreign Language Education to Education for Intercultural Citizenship.Essays and reflections.Clevedon: MultilingualMatters.
Corbett, J. (2003). An Intercultural Approach to English Language Teaching.Clevedon: Multilingual  Matters.
Fenner, A. (2006). Intercultural awareness as an integral part of foreign language learning. In Fenner, A.and Newby, D. (eds.). Coherence of principles, cohesion of competences: exploring theories anddesigning materials for teacher education,(pp. 40-58). Strasbourg-Graz: Council of Europe-   European Centre for Modern Languages.
Han, X, and Song, L. (2011). Teacher cognition of intercultural communicative competence in the Chinese ELT context.Intercultural Communication Studies, XX (1), 175-192.
Göble, K., &Helmke, A. (2010). Intercultural learning in English as foreign language instruction: The importance of teachers’ intercultural experience and the usefulness of precise instructional directives. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26 (8), 1571-1582.
Guilherme, M. (2000).Intercultural competence. In: Byram, M. (ed.). RoutledgeEncylopaediaof Language Teaching and Learning. London: Routledge, (pp. 297-300).
Karabinar, S., &Guler, C. Y. (2013). A review of intercultural competence from language teachers’  perspectives. Procedia- Social and Behavioral Sciences, 70, 1316-1328.
Kheng, C. C. S., &Baldauf, R. B. (2011). Global language: (De)Colonisation in the new era. In E.
Hinkkel (Ed.), Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning: Vol II, (pp. 952-
     969)New York, NY: Routledge.
Kramsch, C. (1993). Context and Culture in Language Teaching. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Lange, D. L. and Paige, R. M. (2003).Culture as the Core Perspectives on Language Learning.Information Age Publishing.
Lázár, I., Huber-Kriegler, M., Lussier, D., Matei, G. S., Peck, C. (eds.) (2007).Developing and assessing intercultural communicative competence.A guide for language teachers and teacher educators. Graz: European Centre for Modern Languages. Council of Europe
Liddicoat, J. A., Papademetre, L., Scarino, A., & Kohler, M. (Eds.). (2003). Report on interculturallanguage learning. Australia: Department of Education, Science and Training. Available at: http://www1.curriculum.edu.au/nalsas/pdf/intercultural.pdf
McKay, S. L. (2011). English as an international lingua franca pedagogy. In E. Hinkkel (Ed.), Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning: Vol II, ,( pp. 122- 139).New York, NY: Routledge.
Meyer, M. (1991).Developing Transcultural Competence: Case Studies of Advanced Foreign LanguageLearners.In Buttjes, D. and Byram, M. (Eds.).Mediating Languages and Cultures, (pp. 136-158). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Phipps, A. & Gonzalez, M. (2004) Modern Languages.Learning & Teaching in an Intercultural Field.London: Sage
Risager, K. (1998). Language teaching and the process of European integration.In Michael Byram&Michael Fleming (Eds.).Language learning in intercultural perspective: Approaches through drama andethnography, (pp. 242-254). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sercu, L., Bandura, E., & Castro, P. (Eds.). (2005). Foreign language teachers and intercultural competence: An international investigation. UK: The Cromwell Press Ltd.
Skopinskaja, L. (2003). The role of culture in foreign language teaching materials: An evaluation from anintercultural perspective. In I. Lázár (Ed.), Incorporating intercultural communicative competence in,lan-guage teacher education,(pp. 39–68). European Centre for Modern Languages: Council of Europe Pub-lishing.
 Valdes, J. M. (1986). Culture Bound: Bridging the cultural gap in language teaching, Cambridge University Press.
Wiseman, R. L. (2002). Intercultural communication competence. In W.B. Gudykunst, &  B. Mody (Eds.), Handbook of international and intercultural communication  (2nd ed.),(pp. 207-224) Thousand Oaks, CA:     Sage Publications.
Zarate, G., Gohard-Radenkovic, A., Luissier, D., Penz, H. (2004).Cultural mediation in language learning and teaching.European Centre for ModernLanguages. Strasbourg: Council of Europe
Journal of English Language Pedagogy and Practice
Volume 6, Issue 13
Summer and Autumn 2013
Pages 65-83

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics