Developing Intercultural Competence in Practice (Languages for Intercultural Communication and Education, 1) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1853595365 ISBN 13: 9781853595363

Publisher: Multilingual Matters, 2001

Synopsis

It is now widely recognised that learning a language should not just involve linguistic competence but also intercultural competence. It is also clear that intercultural competence can be developed through related subjects such as geography, history, mother tongue teaching. This book takes this as a given and provides practical help for teachers who wish to help their learners acquire intercultural competence in the ordinary classroom. It contains descriptions of lessons and materials from a wide range of classrooms in several countries and for beginners to advanced learners.

About this title

About the Author

Michael Byram is Professor Emeritus at Durham University, England. Having studied languages at Cambridge University, he taught French and  German in school and adult education and then did teacher education at Durham. He was adviser to the Language Policy Division of the Council of Europe and then on the expert group which produced the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture. His research has included the education of minorities, foreign language teaching and intercultural competence, and more recently on how the PhD is experienced and assessed in a range of different countries.

 

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Developing Intercultural Competence in Practice

By Michael Byram, Adam Nichols, David Stevens

Multilingual Matters

Copyright © 2001 Michael Byram, Adam Nichols, David Stevens and the authors of individual chapters
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-85359-536-3

Contents

Foreword Alison Phipps, 
Introduction Michael Byram, Adam Nichols and David Stevens, 
Part 1: In the Classroom, 
Beginners, 
1 The International Partnership Project Carol Morgan, 
Intermediate, 
2 Teaching Intercultural Communicative Competence through Literature Eva Burwitz-Melzer, 
3 'Up the Hills of Identity' Elena Tarasheva and Leah Davcheva, 
Advanced, 
4 Visual Codes and Modes of Presentation of Television News Broadcasts Maria Metodieva Genova, 
5 An Approach to Implementing a Cultural Studies Syllabus Iskra Georgieva, 
6 'Family life' and 'Regional Identity' – Comparative Studies while Learning French Sylvia Duffy and Janet Mayes, 
7 'It Must Be Cultural Because I Don't Do It': Cultural Awareness in Initial TESOL Teacher Education Mary Williams, 
Part 2: Beyond the Classroom, 
Using New Technologies, 
8 Virtual Intercultural Competence: A Programme for Japanese Elementary School Students Lynne Parmenter and Yuichi Tomita, 
9 Students as Virtual Ethnographers: Exploring the Language Culture-Connection Sheila Carel, 
10 Working in Tandem: an Anglo-French Project Clare Dodd, 
11 New Tools for Old Tricks: Information and Communication Technology in Teaching British Cultural Studies Paul Whittaker, 
In the Field, 
12 Tandem Learning as an Intercultural Activity Jane Woodin, 
13 'Why Do Danes Put Their Elderly in Nursing Homes?' – Working Outside the Classroom with Adult Second Language Learners Judith Parsons and Peter Junge, 
Part 3: Developing Resources, 
14 Cultural Understanding in Danish Schools Leon Aktor and Karen Risager, 
15 'I Thought My Teacher Fancied Me' Tanya Madjarova, Magdalena Botsmanova and Tanya Stamatova, 
16 British and Bulgarian Christmas Cards: A Research Project for Students Krassimira Topuzova, 
17 Study of Landscapes as an Approach to Openness to Others Françoise Vigneron, 
Further Reading, 
Index, 

CHAPTER 1

The International Partnership Project

CAROL MORGAN

This chapter describes a project in which children from two countries prepared materials to send to a partner class in another country. They were asked to focus on the topic of 'law and order' and what it means for them. The explanations and discussions during the preparation and on receipt of the package reveal a developing intercultural awareness and reflection on their own cultural world as well as learning about others.

Introduction

The 'effectiveness' of learning in a foreign language classroom is often seen in terms of the choice of materials which are 'good' with respect to their relevance, linguistic level, authenticity, interest and so on, and 'good' activities that promote interactivity, autonomy and challenge (Ur, 1996; Swarbrick, 1994). Even where learning is concerned with intercultural awareness, a materials/activities focus still appears to be dominant (Jones, 1995; Tomalin & Stempelski, 1993).

The project which is described in this chapter where students exchanged self-made materials takes a rather different perspective in focusing on the process and experience of decoding a culture. The two main aims of the project which we trialled were:

• to explore a particular cultural focus in depth, using both home and foreign cultures: in other words to provide an ethnographic experience;

• to mirror the interactive or dialogic experience of learning: in other words to learn with and from others.

The Context of the Project

Our project was trialled twice with two different student age-groups: in an Anglo-French partnership with 14-year-olds and in an Anglo-Austrian partnership with 17-year-olds. The detailed description that follows is of the first Anglo-French trial but thoughts from the other projects have also been included where appropriate. The first trial had several factors in its favour:

• as a researcher (and teacher) I had funding to cover time and travel to set up the project and to interview students as well as to observe them;

• the teacher in England who participated had worked with me previously on a Master's dissertation on cultural awareness teaching (see Braham, 1995); she and the students in her school were already trained and experienced in cultural awareness activities;

• we were able to locate an interested French partnership school relatively easily;

• a researcher in France worked with me during the project and afterwards as a 'cultural friend'.

(A discussion of how these benefits might be replicated is included in the final section of this chapter.)

Two secondary schools participated in this first trial: one in England and one in France, with one set of students from each school. Both schools were situated in small provincial towns and drew on a largely white middle-class catchment area. Both schools at that time catered for the 11–15/16 age-group and the schools and classes were of mixed ability.

The two age groups chosen were similar: 'Year 9' (13–14 year olds) in England and 'la troisième' (14–15 year olds) in France. The class of 'la troisième' may have enjoyed a slightly superior status, since it is the top year of the 'collège' lower secondary system in France. In England, 'Year 9' is in the middle of the lower secondary band. The difference in status of the two groups may have had some effect on their attitudes to the project. For example, the French students sometimes appeared more competitive. One pupil enquired: 'on enverra trois trucs ... aux anglais, ou alors, on choisira l'meilleur?' (shall we send three things to the English pupils or shall we choose the best one? – my translation).

The English students were following the National Curriculum guidelines for Key Stage 3 (ages 11–14) (DfEE, 1995) where teachers monitor linguistic ability according to prescribed levels. Culture awareness, though recommended as a desirable competence, is currently not assessed (see Morgan, 1995). The French students in following the collège teaching and learning guidelines were likewise encouraged to consider cultural aspects but without this being part of any formal assessment.

Each class was asked to prepare a package of materials to send to their partner classroom in the other country. These materials were to explain and illustrate a particular cultural topic (we chose 'law and order') in the students' own country and were to be written in the students' mother tongue. The same topic was chosen for both sets of students, and the packages were prepared at the same time. In addition 'help-sheets' were prepared in the mother tongue of the receiving classroom (i.e. in a foreign language for the sending classroom). These help-sheets highlighted and explained potential difficulties in the package materials, covering both language and culture problems. In this first trial, I produced these help-sheets myself, using the information I gained from interviewing the pupils about their materials. This activity would ideally be undertaken by the teacher in collaboration with the students.

The key features of the project which emerged were as follows:

• the students had to explore their own cultural context;

• they then had to present this cultural information in a format that would be accessible in the receiving classroom;

• each set of students both sent and received a package of materials focused on the same topic; these packages represented two different cultural approaches to the topic and were in different languages;

• students had much greater freedom than usual in a foreign language classroom because they were writing in their own language and choosing their own medium;

• the materials generated were truly authentic in that the communication was between students of roughly the same age, and the language and constructs being used were not 'filtered' through institutional media (the textbook or the teacher for example);

• the teacher acted as a facilitator in setting up the project, but did not decide on the content and format of the materials.

The choice of topic (law and order) linked into ideas explored in another project (see Duffy and Mayes, this volume) on how best to explore another culture. In this earlier project a list of twelve key areas was identified in sociology upper secondary syllabuses, including 'deviance' with the sub-areas of 'social order/social control' and 'law-enforcement agencies'.

In England the whole Year 9 class participated (27 students). Students worked for a week on preparing materials (two double lessons and one single lesson, three hours in total), and then spent two lessons discussing the package from France a week later. In France I took six students out of three of their normal English lessons (50 minutes each) to help them prepare the materials. Just over two weeks later, the English package was discussed by the whole French class with their teacher and myself and then in separate lesson time (50 minutes) with myself and the six students who had prepared the French package.

In the preparatory sessions and follow-up lessons a variety of linked activities took place and these are described in the appropriate sections below.

Preparing the Materials

Although the materials preparation stage took roughly the same period of time in both classrooms, the situations differed. In the English classroom, this kind of cultural awareness activity was relatively familiar, although students were breaking with their normal National Curriculum timetable. The whole class taking part availed themselves of a wide range of resources. In France for the six students taken out of their class, the activity was unfamiliar and resources were not so easily available.

I was not with the English class during their preparation stage, although I interviewed several students a few days later about what they had done. In France I helped and taught the six students in preparing their package.

In France the preparation stage seemed to divide itself into three different steps: orientation; self-organisation into groups and exploration of ideas and media; and execution of the materials and help-sheets. The whole of the preparation stage was also characterised by a growing awareness and reflexivity.

Orientation

The main orientation activities with the French group took place in the first 50-minute session and here there were three main activities.

Firstly we did an orientation exercise that alerted students to the topic content. We used the five-word ('cinq mots') associative technique pioneered by Cain (1990). Students were asked to write down the first five words they thought of linked to the topic of 'law and order'. The following key words were produced (individual lists are given in Appendix 1:1): police (5), justice (5), prison (4), discipline (2), legal (2) and single mentions of hierarchy, respect, courts of law, constitution, verdicts, trial, criminals, breaking and entering and chasing (after criminals).

Students were then given the opportunity to explore their own ideas or constructs and to 'get in the mood' for what they were going to do (what Cuff and Sharrock call 'pre-beginning activities', 1985). These lists also provided useful extra material for the receiving classroom to work with (see the following section). It is interesting that the students' constructs were evident in the texts that they produced later (all the texts featured the police, for example) and also that there was an interest in abstract ideas. Further comments by the French students in this first session confirmed these areas of interest: 'C'est l'ordre dans la vie générale ou dans le collège ou ...?'; 'Non, dans la vie générale, ça serait mieux'; 'on recherche dans les livres sur la justice et tout ça, et puis trouver ... faire des photocopies ...' ('Is it order in general or in school or ...?'; 'No, in general would be better'; 'we could look in books about justice and all that and find some ... make photocopies' – my translation).

As well as the topic orientation with the five-word technique, I also discussed at length the notion of school rules – what were the reasons for these and what rules would students make for themselves. Again this exercise alerted students to the topic content and the information was used later in the English classroom as part of the follow-up activities, once the French package had been received.

A third orientation perspective was that of getting pupils to think about their audience. One student commented for example: 'Avec les dessins ça va aller vachement les aider' (having pictures will really be a terrific help to them – my translation). When I talked to the English students later some of them also commented on how they had considered ways of writing for their audience: 'You had to change what you wrote down to make it more simple ... I suppose I thought about how the French must find it ... When I was writing it, I thought "Will they understand it?"'; 'I tried to make sure that nothing was too difficult and we didn't use too much slang because they [the French students] might not know some slang or difficult words'; 'We tried not to speak too quickly as well [on the audio tape]. I know if someone was speaking very quickly in French it would be hard to understand it.' I was not present with the English class when they were preparing their materials. However, one could say that these English students were already oriented towards the notion of cultural awareness because of the previous work they had done with their teacher.

Self-organisation and exploration of ideas and media

The six students in France quickly organised themselves into gender and friendship groups (one group of two girls and one group of four boys). This was also the case in the English classroom where there were eight single-gender groups ranging in size from two to four students. There is some wisdom in allowing students to work together in small groups (Morgan, 1996a): students can support each other and extend their ideas in discussion. The French students discussed various ideas (making a film of a court of law, finding songs about law and order, finding out information about the judicial system) before coming up with their final ideas:

• a series of cartoons which portrayed incidents relating to law and order;

• a caricature to demonstrate the opposite of law and order, in this case traffic chaos (see Appendix 1.2).

The students were allowed to make an entirely free choice of an aspect of law and order and of their preferred medium. This was also the case in England where the students produced nine items (one group making two texts). The English texts were:

• a questionnaire to be sent to the French pupils relating to all the other eight English texts, eliciting opinions and asking comprehension questions (Appendix 1.3);

• a video of a sketch portraying a series of traffic offences (Appendix 1.4);

• an audio-taped sketch relating tales of bullying and flouting of school rules;

• a picture-documentary of police uniforms and equipment (both English and American);

• an audio-tape of a series of sketches demonstrating different roles of the police;

• a photo-documentary of the English school demonstrating all the different rules operating there (school rules, rules for the school bus, the role of prefects, school uniform etc.);

• a board game of 'cops and robbers' with questions relating to laws on age-limits for smoking, drinking etc.;

• a photocopy of descriptions of television programmes featuring the police taken from a television guide;

• a word search puzzle with words relating to different kinds of television programmes.

It is noticeable that the English group produced very diverse products (see, for example, Appendices 1.3 and 1.4). It is also important to note that there was no teacher intervention and media other than information technology (IT) were used.

It would be very tempting for teachers to set up the materials exchange project with structured guidelines for the students (this after all is a useful basis for many other teaching and learning activities). This would block one of the major project objectives, though, namely that the pupils experience a sense of cultural awareness through having to make choices and difficult decisions.

The use of IT and particularly the internet already facilitates quick and easy communication between classrooms but there can also be limitations: there may be a limited range of options available and there is noticeable lack of physicality (the sound of the children's voices on tape, hand-written scripts, hand-drawn pictures, the paper and card used – the photo-documentary for example used a complicated folded format for its text where each section unfolded from the next).

Final production of materials

Perhaps the most important factor here is that students are given a sufficiently long period of time to explore ideas and create their materials. In both French and English classrooms, students had several days when they were involved. They also spent some time gathering materials outside the classroom. The French boys' group, for example, photocopied material from five different cartoon sources and brought these to the lesson (Mickey, Tuniques Bleues, Lucky Luke, Asterix and Gaston la Gaffe). Comments from the English group in interviews also give some flavour of the students' perception of their involvement: 'First of all we went round all the groups and asked them what their little bit of the project was about and then we adapted the questions to what would be good about it and then put them in sections about all the different things ... we thought we'd have "Did you enjoy your project?" first' (student producing questionnaire); 'We thought about doing jokes first of all, but we didn't know enough. Then we thought about doing a play and we couldn't think of enough things to do, so then we came up with a series of sketches about situations where police were needed' (student producing audio-tapes).

Students seemed to need a period of interim indecision and false starts in order to find their own voice. Intra-group discussions at this stage were highly valuable since this was the moment when students questioned what is culturally important and what are good modes of presentation.

As well as preparing the text, we also needed to produce explanatory help-sheets in the target language, as mentioned above.

Reflexivity

A key development in the preparatory stage is that students can become aware of a deeper level of significance of things within in their own culture, and in this way prepare themselves for understanding another culture. Throughout the time spent with the French and English students, I interviewed individual students (the six in France and 12 of the 27 in England) eliciting their views on the experience of the project and asking for explanations of different aspects of the texts. These views were then used to create the accompanying help-sheets. Comments from the interviews also give some indication of growing reflexivity and awareness.

(Continues...)

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Edition details

• Publisher: Multilingual Matters
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1853595365
• ISBN 13: 9781853595363
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 296
• Editor: Byram Prof. Michael, Nichols Adam, Stevens Dr. David