ICC acquired on a school exchange - Does it lead to a better understanding of the target culture?

Content

1. Acquiring Intercultural Communiative Competence on a school exchange programme
1.1 ICC
1.1.1 What is ICC?
1.1.2 Why do we need ICC in MFL Teaching?
1.1.3. Methods
1.1.3.1 Knowledge, skills, awareness and attitude
1.1.3.2 Awareness-raising activities
1.1.3.3 Ethnographic approach
1.1.3.4 Critical incidents
1.2 School exchange programs
1.2.1 Objectives
1.2.2 Criteria for a successful school exchange program

2. The school exchange – Evaluation
2.1 Setting and Profile
2.1.1 Schools and students
2.2. The exchange
2.2.1 Preparation
2.2.2 The stay
2.2.3 Post processing
2.4 Students’ expectations, fears and conclusion

3. Did ICC acquired on school exchange lead to better understanding of target culture?

Bibliography:

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1. Acquiring Intercultural Communiative Competence on a school exchange programme

1.1 ICC

1.1.1 What is ICC?

To be able to define Intercultural Communicative Competence it is necessary to mark off the terms and the ideas which are related to it. Soon we will understand that most of these terms don’t stand individually but define sometimes interchangeable ideas or complete each other.

Byram differentiates between ‘intercultural competence’, which refers to the ability to communicate with members of other cultures in one’s own language, and ‘intercultural communicative competence’ which implies the same ability but using a foreign language (cf. Byram 1997:71).^[1]

This raises the question why culture should be of such an importance for language learners anyway? First of all you have to consider that “language learning cannot be separated from culture learning as language manifests many of the social actions of a society and expresses the values and beliefs which underlie these actions”(O’Dowd 2006:62). Cultural Studies has not only found its way into MFL teaching but has become an important part of Intercultural Understanding.^[2] The central aim of Cultural Studies^[3] is therefore” [...] to understand [...] a particular culture and society and [...] to learn to understand cultures in general. At the same time, it is intended that the process of understanding a culture which differs from one’s own should also lead to a better understanding of one’s own culture as learners compare the home and target culture and reflect on their own” (Kramer 2000:42).

Further, Intercultural learning(or Cultural Studies) includes successful interaction and establishment of relationships with members of the other culture and “is therefore understood to be an interactive process which involves the development of skills, attitudes, cultural awareness as well as knowledge”(O’Dowd 2006:62).

These skills, attitudes and cultural awareness can be gained within the classroom and can be deepened by having direct contact with the target culture. All of these competences will support the learner when he or she meets other cultures-be it the target culture or any other culture. Cultural studies, which is normally limited to text analysis and bound to happen within the boarders of a classroom, “can be seen as one of a number of tools for developing ICC in foreign language learners”(O’Dowd 2006:54).

Of special importance has become Byram's model of the intercultural speaker, who first of all possesses factual knowledge about the target language and target culture. Secondly, he is able to communicate on a competent basis. Finally, he or she opens up for a new culture and is ready to reflect on other cultures and their values as well as he or she is prepared to question his own cultural understanding. The target of ICC is to combine all three competences: skills, knowledge and attitude (cf. Klippel/Doff 2007:37).

1.1.2 Why do we need ICC in MFL Teaching?

ICC has become more and more important in recent approaches of foreign language teaching (FLT) as it has been proved that teaching a language is more than simply providing facts or information about the target culture. Klippel/Doff describe „die Befähigung der Lernenden zu interkultureller Kommunikationskompetenz“ as „oberstes Leitziel des Englischunterrichts“(2007:56). They argue further that „ein Englischunterricht[…] darf sich nicht auf die Einübung sprachlicher Fertigkeiten beschränken, sondern muss[…] ebenso in der Auseinandersetzung mit fremder Kultur[…] erziehen und dadurch persönlichkeitsbildend wirken“(Klippel/Doff 2007:24).

The dependency of language and culture mentioned above leads us to the reason why acquiring ICC is of such an importance in second language acquisition (SLA).Whereas the former understanding of SLA included the mere knowledge of grammatical rules as well as a certain amount of vocabulary and - preferably - a good pronunciation of the target language, this would not be sufficient to become an intercultural speaker according to Byram.

Weskamp (2001:88) claims that communicative competence includes far more than the ability to communicate in a grammatical adequate way, to use a wide range of vocabulary and to speak with the right accent. As said above there is a dependency of language and culture with each language having its own rules and therefore being part of a particular culture. As long as the pupil stays within the safety of his or her classroom boarders he won’t probably have many problems in communicating: Students and teacher share a common mother tongue and therefore rely on the same basis of a common language, common rules of interaction and common knowledge of cultural facts. Problems most likely will occur as soon as the learner gets in real life contact with a native speaker. A widespread example is the form of politeness which is used in England or America. Whereas it’s a typical English thing to use modal verbs and special forms of address in a – for foreign people - almost excessive way, people in Germany tend to be more direct and shorter bound. Using the one or the other form can lead to misunderstanding or even annoyance (cf.Weskamp 2001:88).

This shows only one out of many possible situations where communication can be unsuccessful due to discourse misunderstanding. Therefore Weskamp finds it necessary for teachers to convey a more pragmatical knowledge in the foreign language classroom. Especially real life situations like congratulations, forms of address or complaints have to be dealt with authentically (cf.Weskamp 2001:90).

illustration not visible in this excerpt

(Taken from Ford/Legon 2003: 7)

The first step to understand a foreign culture is – according to Bredella/Delanoy – to see things from a different point of view and also reflect on one’s own culture. Developing tolerance and empathy are further targets in the MFL classroom. With them as a basis the learner can change his or her cultural understanding and starts developing positive relations towards the target culture (1999:11ff).

Weskamp (2001:92) distinguishes three ways of approach if it comes to teaching ICC in the MFL classroom: The first he calls “Begegnung und Wahrnehmung” where the pupils approach the foreign culture without a serious examination. The second is called “Sekundärerfahrung”: the students show intercultural interest and are concerned with the foreign culture in a cognitive and affective way. The media are texts or audio or visual media. Last but not least stands the “Primärerfahrung”: The pupils “meet” the target culture face to face. The teachers have to convey real life knowledge, as this is the basis for an examination with the foreign culture. This can be done in different ways such as Email-projects, school trips or school exchanges. Whereas the first two steps are part of the curriculum in the English classroom and represent the “normal” approach to convey cultural understanding, Intercultural Communicative Competence can best be reached and in the most effective way by meeting the target culture e.g. on a school exchange.

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^[1] Both terms will be used interchangeably as it depends on the point of view which competence is being developed

^[2] Further and more detailled reading on traditional and modern approaches to foreign language teaching see O’Dowd, p.62ff

^[3] Cultural Studies is intechangably used with Intercultural learning