Intercultural Language TeachingVU Teaching LOTE 2010Andrew Fergusonafconsulting@bigpond.com

What is culture?

1.Behaviours

2.Products

3.Ideas

What is culture?

Behaviours• Customs• Habits• Dress• Foods• Leisure

What is culture?

Products• Literature• Folklore• Art• Music• Artefacts

What is culture?

Ideas• Beliefs• Values• Institutions

from G. Robinson (1985)Cross Cultural Understanding

New York Prentice Hall

What is culture?

Identity!

What is culture?

Identity throughsocial interactions

Culture is not simply a body of facts that members of a group know, it is

a set of practices which are accomplished and realized by them in their daily lives and interactions.

(Liddicoat, 2000)

Language(s)!

Teaching Languages InterculturallyLanguage

is interpersonal (it’s used to communicate messages between people);

is embedded in a cultural context (by themselves the words don’t convey the message, it’s the words, their social meaning, the people speaking, their roles and relationships, which are important); and

understanding a language is not the same as understanding the words; it is seeing the deeper meanings created by the words when and where they are used.

Intercultural Language Teaching and Learning in Practice (ILTLP)

www.iltlp.unisa.edu.au Module 1

An intercultural personis able to see things from more than one perspective. He/she is able to see that his/her own assumptions are not universal and that similar messages or behaviours may mean different things to other people. He/she is able not only to see others from his/her own perspective, but is also able to reflect on his/her own culture from the perspective of others, seeing that the familiar may be strange; and

he/she is mindful, in the sense of bearing in mind the influences that come to bear in interaction to communicate and negotiate meanings, and actively brings this awareness into play in dealing with others.

Intercultural Language Teaching and Learning in Practice (ILTLP)

www.iltlp.unisa.edu.au Module 1

Teaching Languages Interculturally

Active constructionTeachers do not transmit information about the culture directly, but provide opportunities for students to see the culture through meaningful language in context.

Learners construct knowledge for themselves by engaging with language.

Teachers support students learning by providing diverse experiences of language and culture and by asking questions that encourage learners to seek their own answers.

Learning is personal.

Intercultural Language Teaching and Learning in Practice (ILTLP)

www.iltlp.unisa.edu.au Module 2

Teaching Languages Interculturally

Making connectionsLearning does not happen in a vacuum.

It is important to create links between existing knowledge and new knowledge.

There is a role for, and a need to focus on, both the learners’ own culture(s) and the culture(s) being learnt.

Learning is not learning about others, but learning about oneself in relation to others.

Teachers can support this by providing language experiences with which students can connect and by using questions to encourage learners to create their own connections.

Intercultural Language Teaching and Learning in Practice (ILTLP)

www.iltlp.unisa.edu.au Module 2

Teaching Languages Interculturally

IN PRACTICETeaching Languages Interculturally

Communication skills in a language other than English foster intercultural knowledge and awareness of language as a system. The Intercultural knowledge and language awareness dimension develops students’ knowledge of the connections between language and culture, and how culture is embedded throughout the communication system.

Progress through this dimension is demonstrated through performance in the language being studied. The understandings are universal and are gained by comparing languages, including English.

http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/lote/index.html

VELS Dimension 2: Intercultural Knowledge and Language Awareness

Students gain an awareness of the influence of culture in the learner’s own life and first language. Different languages and language communities organise social relations and information in different ways and values differ from one community to another.

Through cultural self-awareness, the ability to rationally discuss and compare cultural differences is developed. This dimension involves developing curiosity about and openness to a variety of values and practices, as well as acquiring in-depth knowledge of the diverse cultural traditions of the source societies.

http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/lote/index.html

VELS Dimension 2: Intercultural Knowledge and Language Awareness

Languages OnlineDomain: LOTEDimension: Intercultural knowledge and language awareness 2

Standards: How does Languages Online help students meet this standard?

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/languagesonline

Assessing Intercultural Knowledge and Language Awareness

Melbourne Declaration on Education Goals for Young Australians

http://www.mceecdya.edu.au/mceecdya/melbourne_declaration,25979.html

Education for Global and Multicultural Citizenship – A Strategy for Victorian Government Schools 2009-13

This new strategy … affirms the importance of overcoming ignorance and challenging prejudice. It will enable schools to equip all VIC Government school students with the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to live and work in a culturally, religiously and linguistically diverse society where the local is global and the global, local.

Intercultural ‘skills’ in the broader educational context

Education for Global and Multicultural Citizenship – A Strategy for Victorian Government Schools 2009-13Students will:

demonstrate the skills, knowledge and attitudes necessary for active global and multicultural citizenship, including intercultural communication skills, ICT skills, proficiency in English and competency in LOTE;

recognise their membership of, and responsibilities within, both a local and a global society and economy;

Intercultural ‘skills’ in the broader educational context

Education for Global and Multicultural Citizenship – A Strategy for Victorian Government Schools 2009-13Students will:

investigate and explore the social, cultural, religious and linguistic similarities and differences that characterise communities within Australia and around the world; and

collaborate, network, negotiate and empathise with people from different cultural, religious and linguistic backgrounds, locally and globally.

www.education.vic.gov.au/studentlearning/programs/multicultural/about.htm

Intercultural ‘skills’ in the broader educational context

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