The article outlines a number of principles that we believe play a fundamental role in introducing learners to a causal approach to meaning creation and desemantization, and some of the ways in which they are these principles can be put to use from a doctrinal point of view.
Ti u ban 4: Văn hóa ho t đ ng gi ng d y ngo i ng th i kỳ h i nh p DẠY VÀ HỌC NGÔN NGỮ DƯỚI GĨC ĐỘ LIÊN VĂN HỐ Nguy n Văn Đ Trường Đại học Hà Nội Tóm t t: Một số vấn đề ngơn ngữ, văn hố, Abstract: Some issues of language, culture, and học tập ñược ñề cập ñến viết khuôn ñịnh learning are drawn in this article, which frames our hiểu biết chúng tơi vấn đề liên văn hố understanding of the intercultural as it applies in ñược áp dụng giáo dục ngôn ngữ Trong viết language education In this article, we argue that the này, xin tranh biện liên văn hoá intercultural is a dynamic engagement with the gặp gỡ ñộng mối quan hệ ngơn ngữ, văn hố, việc học tập Nó hàm chứa thấu hiểu kiến trúc lĩnh hội giải thuyết văn hố điểm khởi đầu việc tạo ra, giao tiếp, giải thuyết ngữ nghĩa ngơn ngữ văn hố Đặc biệt là, muốn nhấn mạnh việc dạy học ngôn ngữ hướng liên văn hố việc đặt relationship between language, culture, and learning It involves recognition of the cultural constructedness of perception and interpretation as a starting point of making, communicating, and interpretating meanings about and across languages and cultures In particular, we argue that interculturally oriented language teaching người học vào trọng tâm giao kết liên văn hoá and learning places the learners themselves at the Điều địi hỏi thấu nhận ñặc trưng focus of intercultural engagement This requires a mà người học sở hữu tiếp xúc với ngôn recognition of the identities that language learners have ngôn ngữ văn hoá cách thức dạy học in their encounters with a new language and culture ngữ cảnh học tập, ñặt người học vào mối quan hệ and the ways the teaching and learning context với đặc trưng Sau đó, chúng tơi ñưa positions learners in relation to these identities We số nguyên tắc mà tin chúng đóng vai trị then articulate a number of principles that we believe to tảng việc ñưa người học vào cách tiếp be fundamental for engaging language learners in a cận mang tính nhân việc tạo nghĩa giải reflexive thuyết nghĩa, số cách mà ngun meanings, and some of the ways in which these tắc đưa vào sử dụng nhìn từ góc độ giáo học pháp approach to making and interpreting principles can be enacted pedagogically INTERCULTURAL LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING Introduction 1.1 Language, Culture, and Education The study of a new language is a way of coming to understand another culture and its people As the processes of globalization, increased mobility and technological development have come to shape ways of living and communicating, there has been a growing recognition of the fundamental importance of integrating intercultural capabilities into language teaching and learning One of the challenges facing this integration has been to move from recognition of the need for an intercultural focus in language education to the development of 540 practice Scholars like Zarate (1986), Byram (1991) argued that the teaching and learning of culture in education had been problematic because not enough sufficient attention had been given to considering what is to be taught and how Kramsch (2008) argues that in the teaching of any language the focus is not only on teaching a linguistic code but also on teaching meaning The focus on meaning involves important shift in understanding the fundamental concerns of language teaching and learning In particular, it means engaging in the theory and practice of language education: language, culture, and learning, and the relationships between them Chi n l c ngo i ng xu th h i nh p Tháng 11/2014 To provide a foundation for an intercultural perspective in language teaching and learning, it is imperative to discuss briefly about Languages, cultures, and the Intercultural complex performance of identity in which the individual communicates not only information, but also a social persona that exists in the act of communication (Sacks, 1975) Interlanguage teaching is fundamentally concerned with particular understandings of “language” and “culture” and the ways in which these relate to each other If language is viewed as a social practice of mean-making and interpretation, then it is not enough for language learners just to know grammar and vocabulary They also need to know how the language is used to create and present meaning and how to communicate with other and to engage with the communication of others This requires the development of awareness of the nature of language and its impact on the world (Svalberg, 2007) If language is learned as system of personal engagement with a new world, where learners necessarily engage with diversity at a personal level within a professional stance, we need to ensure students are provided with opportunities to go beyond what they already know and to learn to engage with unplanned and unpredictable aspects of language Understanding language Language is complex and multifaceted phenomenon It is widely known that the theories of language a teacher holds affect the process in language development and the assessment of achievement Language has been considered differently by language philosophers and researchers: (1) Language as a structural system, (2) Language as a communication system, and (3) Language as social practice In (1), language has been idealized as a set of structures that are acquired through education Language education has been closely attached to the prescriptive tradition, and language teaching has frequently been understood as the teaching of a prescriptively correct form of the language (Odlin, 1994) In (2), language is usually understood as a communicative system This is a more from viewing language as forms to understanding its purposes For Saussure (1916), language as the science of speech communication, and Davies (2005), for example, defines language as “the main human communication system” (p 69) However, many scholars like Fitch, Hauser, and Chomsky (2005) have argued that communication itself is incidental to grammar as an organizing principle Second language acquisition and language education have tended also to have developed understandings of the nature of communication (Eisenchlas, 2009) In fact, communication-oriented views of language may not differ much from structural views In (3), Communication is not simply a transmission of information, it is creative, cultural act in its own right through which social groups constitute themselves (Carey, 1989) Moreover, it is a Figure Understanding language as social practice does not replacing views of language as a structure system or as the communication of messages, as these are elements of the social practice of language use Instead, the idea of language practice can be seen as an overarching view of languages in which structural system and communication are given meaning and relationship to lived experience This means that the views of language presented here are not seen as alternates but as an integrated whole Language is understood as social practice that integrates other understanding of language, the relationships of language to other aspects of human society, 541 Ti u ban 4: Văn hóa ho t đ ng gi ng d y ngo i ng th i kỳ h i nh p such as culture Language therefore can be understood as in terms of a number of layers as represented in Figure The conceptualization of language for teaching and learning is integrated: linguistic structures provide elements for a communication system that, in turn, become the resource through which social practices are created and accomplished Language teaching and learning therefore needs to engage within the entire spectrum of possibilities for language and each layer of language affords opportunities for intercultural learning 1.2 Understanding culture We are not going to find all possible definitions of culture, but will consider some issues in understanding culture for language teaching and learning Culture as national attributes One way of understanding culture has been to see it as the particular attributes of a national group It is a view of culture that sees culture as existing only as a singular phenomenon for any group and such cultures are typically labeled in terms of national affiliations: American culture, understanding the nature of culture itself and constrains what is considered as the culture of any particular group This view has predominated in many approaches to the teaching of culture in language education (Holliday, 2010), and is manifested in textbooks in the form of cultural notes that present images of recognized cultural attributes of nations as cultural content This view of culture treats cultural learning as learning about the history, geography, and institutions of the country of the target language Cultural competence comes to be viewed as a body of knowledge about the country Culture as societal norms This paradigm became very strong in the 1980s as the results of works by anthropologists such as Gumperz (1982a, 1982b) and Hymes (1974, 1986) This approach seeks to describe culture in terms of practices and values that typify them This view of 542 cultural competence is a problem for language learning, because it leaves the learner primarily within his/her own cultural paradigm, observing and interpreting the words and actions of an interlocutor from another cultural paradigm Cultural as symbolic systems One important perspective in the literature about culture is the idea that cultures as represent systems of symbols that allow participants to construct meaning (Geertz, 1973, 1983) The focus of participation in cultures as symbolic systems is on acts of interpretation – that is, the use of symbols is seen as an element of meanmaking This means that in the context of language learning culture goes beyond its manifestation as behaviours, texts, artifacts, and information and examines the ways in which these things are accomplished discursively and interactionally within a context of use Culture learning, therefore, becomes a way to develop the interpretive resource needed to understand cultural practices rather than exposure to information about culture Culture as practices In a view of culture as practices, culture is a dialogic: it is a discursive rearticulation of embodied actions between individuals in particular contexts located in time and space (Bhabha, 1994), cultures are therefore dynamic and engagement – they are created through the actions of individuals and in particular through the ways in which they use the language This means that meanings are not simply shared, coherent constructions about experience but rather can be fragmented, contradictory, and contested within the practices of a social group because they are constituted in moment of interaction 1.3 Culture for language teaching and learning It is widely acknowledged that in approaching language education from an intercultural perspective, it is important that the view of culture be broad but also that it be seen as directly Chi n l c ngo i ng xu th h i nh p centered in the lived experiences of people In particular, the dichotomy that exists in anthropology between culture as symbol system and culture as practices becomes particularly problematic in language teaching and learning because it can create artificial divide between meaning and action Rather, as Sewell (1999, p 47) argues, symbols and practices are better understood as complementary: “to engage in culture practices means utilizing existing cultural symbols to accomplish some ends.” Moreover, symbolic systems exist only in the practices which instantiate, challenge, or change them We believe that to understand culture for language learning in a way that unites symbolic systems and practices across a range of contexts, it is necessary to go beyond a view of culture as a body of knowledge that people have about a particular society For us, culture is not simply a body of knowledge but a framework in which people live their lives, communicate and interpret shared meanings, and select possible actions to achieve goals Seen in this way, it becomes fundamentally necessary to engage with the variability inherent in any culture This involves a movement away from the idea of a national culture to recognition that culture varies with time, place, and social category, and for age, gender, religion, ethnicity, and sexuality (Norton, 2000) And, yet, culture in our understanding is a framework in which the individual achieves his/her sense of identity based on the way a cultural group understands the choices made by members, which become a resource for the presentation of the self within the cultural context (Taijfel and Turner, 1986) Although there will be some place for cultural facts in language curriculum, it is more important to study culture as process in which learners engage rather than a closed set of information she/he will be required to recall (Liddicoat, 2002) Viewing culture as a dynamic set of practices rather than as a body of shared information engages the idea of individual identity as a more Tháng 11/2014 central concept in understanding culture Culture is a framework in which the individual achieves his/her sense of identity based on the way a cultural group understands the choices made by members, which become a resource for the presentation of the self A view of culture as practices indicates that culture is complex and that the individual’s relationships with culture are complex Adding a language and culture to an individual’s repertoire expand the complexity, generate new possibilities, and creates a need for mediation between languages, cultures, and identities that they frame This means that language learning involves the development of an intercultural competence that facilitates such mediation Intercultural competence involves at least the following: • accepting that one’s practices are influenced by the cultures in which one participates and so are those of one’s interlocutors; • accepting that there is no one right way to things; • valuing one’s own culture and other cultures; • using language to explore culture; • finding personal ways of engaging in intercultural interaction; • using one’s existing knowledge of cultures as a resource for learning about new cultures; • finding a personal intercultural style and identity Intercultural competence means being aware that cultures are relative That is, being aware that there is no one “normal” way of doing things, but that all behaviours are culturally variable To learn about culture, it is necessary to engage with its linguistic and nonlinguistic practices and to gain insights into the way of living in a particular cultural context (Kramsch, 1993a; Liddicoat, 1997a) In a dynamic view of culture, cultural competence is seen, therefore, as intercultural performance and reflection on performance 543 Ti u ban 4: Văn hóa ho t đ ng gi ng d y ngo i ng th i kỳ h i nh p 1.4 The Intercultural: Understanding Language, Culture, and their Relationship The interrelationship between language and culture in communication will be discussed on the basis of the diagram presented in Figure Language mediates cultures; however, in perception of human practices there is a perception that some aspects of practice is more “cultural” and others are more “linguistic” Figure represents the language-culture interface as a continuum between aspects in which culture is the most apparent construct through to those in which language is the most apparent construct, but recognizes apparent construct that regardless of the superficial appearance, both language and culture are integrally involved across the continuum Figure represents a number of ways in which language and culture intersect in communication, from the macrolevel of world knowledge, which provides a context in which communication occurs and interprets to the microlevel of language forms At its most global level culture is a frame in which meanings are conveyed and interpreted and at this level apparently is least attached to language (Liddicoat, 2009) Culture as context comprises the knowledge speakers have about how the world works and how it is displayed and understood in act of communication (see e.g Fitzgerald, 2002; Levin and Adam, 2002) Figure 2: Points of articulation between culture and language in communication Culture Language most apparent most apparent World Spoken/ Norms of Norms of linguistic knowledge written genres Pragmatic norms interaction form ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ Culture as Culture in general Culture in the Culture in the context text structure meaning of positioning units utterances The linguistic dimension of world knowledge is often ignored, although such knowledge of the world is associated with and invoked by language (and other semiotic systems) This means that the message itself is not simply a sum of linguistic elements of which it is composed, but also includes additional elements For example, the English term “sacred site” at the lexical level indicates only a location that has a religious or spiritual association or where a religious activity is carried out In Australian English, however, it has a very specific association that is not inherent in its lexical meaning The term sacred site applies only to sites that have association with traditional indigenous religious beliefs 544 of language ↓ Culture in linguistic and paralinguistic structure The intersection of culture and communication is not simply one of the content or meaning of messages; it also applies to the form of messages, and the ways in which these forms are evaluated and understood Like other parts of language, texts are cultural activities and the act of communicating through speaking or writing is an act of encoding and interpreting culture (Kramsch, 1993a) Culture interacts with the forms of communication in three broad ways: • the (oral and written) genres which are recognized and used; • the properties of the textual features used in communication; Chi n l c ngo i ng xu th h i nh p • the purposes for which these textual structures are used (Liddicoat, 2009) In pragmatic norms and norms of interaction, the effect of culture on communication can be seen more immediately in intercultural communication than in text structures Pragmatic norms refer to norm of language use, especially to politeness They encompass knowledge of the ways in which particular utterances are evaluated by a culture For example, the French Donne-moi le livre and English “Give me the book” may mean the same thing, but they cannot be used in the same contexts The French version would be considered adequately polite in a broader range of contexts than the English version would be (Béal, 1990) Norms of interaction refer to what is appropriate to say at a particular point in a conversation, and what someone is expected to say at this point From an intercultural perspective, linguistic form is not simply a structural feature of language Instead, “every language embodies in its very structure a certain world view, a certain philosophy” (Wierzbicka, 1979, p 313) Acts of communication are made up of structural elements: lexicon, morphology, syntax, etc Each of these forms part of a particular cultural frame The influence of culture on linguistic forms is best recognized in the lexicon, in which words are seen as embodying culturally contexts conceptual systems Lexical items are used to organize a social and physical universe and to construct patterns of similarity and differences between categories For example, core words are full of cultural connotations, if not unique prototypical representations In Japanese, core words like zabuton (a cushion used on bamboo-mesh floors as a chair) or yunomi (a Japanese teacup) are full of societal connotations Zabuton are used in traditional ceremonies, old country homes, and formal social visits, among other cultural functions Yunomi are traditionally used for drinking Japanese green tea only, while other teas are served in Western-style kappu (from the Tháng 11/2014 English cup) In the dominant North American culture, bitch is a negative term, yet can be a term of affection between intimate friends in the African American community Pendejo is a contemptuous term used throughout Latin and South America, yet is a word expressing companionship in Costa Rica In language teaching it is possible to identify a distinction between a cultural perspective and an intercultural perspective (Liddicoat 2005b) A cultural perspective implies the development of knowledge about a culture, which remains external to the learner and is not intended to confront or transform the learner’s existing identi1y, practices, values, attitudes, beliefs, and worldview An intercultural perspective implies the transformational engagement of the learner in the act of learning The goal of learning is to decenter learners from their preexisting assumptions and practices and to develop an intercultural identity through engagement with an additional culture The borders between self and other are explored, problematized, and redrawn In taking an intercultural perspective in language teaching and learning, the central focus for culture learning involves more than developing knowledge of other people and places (Liddicoat 2005b) It involves learning that all human beings are shaped by their cultures and that communicating across cultures involves accepting that one’s own and one’s interlocutors’ assumptions and practices are formed within a cultural context and are influenced by the cultures in which they are formed, also acknowledging the diverse ways that assumptions and practices are at play in communication Learning another language can be like placing a mirror up to one’s culture and to one’s assumptions about how communication happens, what particular messages mean, and what assumptions one makes in daily life Effective intercultural learning therefore occurs as the student engages in the relationships between the cultures that are at play in the language classroom 545 Ti u ban 4: Văn hóa ho t đ ng gi ng d y ngo i ng th i kỳ h i nh p Language Teaching and Learning as an Intercultural Endeavor The intercultural in language learning An intercultural orientation focuses on languages and cultures as sites of interactive engagement in the act of meaning-making and implies a transformational engagement of the learner in the act of learning Here learning involves the student in a practice of confronting multiple interpretation, which seeks to decenter the learner and to develop a response to meaning as the result of engagement with another culture (Kramsch and Nolden, 1994) Here the border between self and other is explored, problematized and redrawn We strongly believe that language learning becomes a process of exploring the ways language and culture relate to lived realities – the learners’ as well as that of the target community Byram and Zarate (1994) have articulated aspects of the interculturality involved in language learning through the notion of savoir (knowledge) Savior refers to knowledge of self and others, of their products and practices and the general process of interaction Savior constitutes a body of knowledge on which other operations can be performed These further operations are described by Byram and Zarate (1994) as: • savoir ētre: an attitudinal disposition towards intercultural engagement manifested in approaching intercultural learning, with curiosity, openness, and reflexivity • savoir comprendre: learning how to explain texts, interactions and cultural practices and to compare them with aspects of one’s own culture • savoir apprendre: the ability to make discoveries through personal involvement in social interaction or in the use of texts Byram (1997) adds a further dimension, savoir s’engager, which refers to the ability to make informed critical evaluations of one’s own and other cultures It is the capacity for critical cultural awareness that includes investigating and 546 understanding one’s own ideological perspective in communication and engaging with others on the basis of this perspective The model of saviors has been influential, but some limitations have been identified in the way it constructs the intercultural Liddicoat and Scarino (2010) argue that the model of saviors does not elaborate on the important ways in which language affects culture and affects language, and how the learner understands this An intercultural ability includes awareness of the interrelationship between language and culture in the communication and interpretation of meanings Our understanding is always informed by the past and present of a particular language and culture and, in intercultural contacts, it is necessary to recognize the same in others (Liddicoat and Scanrino, 2010) This means that intercultural language learning calls for understanding the impact of such situatedness on the process of practices of communication and on social relationships between interlocutors Through experiences of engagement with languages and cultures, the intercultural learner can develop an increasingly complex sense of self as a user of language and a cultural being, acting on and in the world The intercultural is manifested through language in use, through interpreting and expressing meaning across cultural boundaries in dialog with self and others, drawing on awareness and knowledge gained through previous experience, and recognizing the possibility of multiple interpretations of messages and the culturally embedded nature of meanings (Liddicoat and Scanrino, 2010) 2.1 The Learner as Focus Language teaching and learning from an intercultural perspective places the learner at the meeting point of languages, cultures, and learning That is, intercultural understanding is not an abstract, but rather an embodied process Chi n l c ngo i ng xu th h i nh p 2.2 Language learner as learner and as language user The learner is involved in linguistic and cultural process of mediation of knowledge (Vygotsky, 1978): “Mediation is the process through which humans deploy culturally constructed artifacts, concepts, and actions to regulate (i.e gain voluntary control over and transform) the material world or their own and each other’s social and mental activity” (Lantolf and Thorne, 2006, p 79) The act of learning therefore, the teacher and learner use cultural products as tools to assimilate, create, or produce new knowledge and understanding The most significant of these cultural products is language, whether written or spoken Learning, then, is an interaction between language and culture for and within each learner In language learning, however, the positioning of the learner is more complex, as encultured understandings derived from the learner’s home culture encounter the encultured understandings of the target-language community All languages and cultures the learner encounters play a role in the mediation processes involved in learning, and in this way the learner is positioned in an intercultural space in which multiple languages and cultures are the tools through which learning is achieved A related positioning for the second or foreign language learner is as nonnative speaker of the new language This positioning as language learner effectively locates the learner being in some ways deficient in relation to his/her polar other – the native speaker (Davies, 1991; House and Kasper, 2000) In learning the second or foreign language, the learner is positioned in relation to the new culture in problematic ways – the dimension that is most clearly articulated is that of an outsider and as a less competent outsider at that The concept language learner as language user means understanding the learner as using and being able to use language for personal expression through which the learner has opportunities to Tháng 11/2014 develop a personal voice in the target language This positioning of the learner as language user focuses attention more clearly on the learners themselves and on what each learner brings to the act of learning and what the learner needs to attend as a user of a new language Understanding the language learner/user as intercultural speaker requires moving beyond the lens of the native speaker The intercultural speaker needs to be able to engage with, reconcile, and reflect on multiple languages and cultures Central to the concept of intercultural speaker is the idea by the monolingual of mediating between cultures (Byram, 2002; Gohard-Radenkovic et al., 2004) That is, the intercultural speaker is involved not only in participating in interactions with members of other cultures, but also in a process of interpretation 2.3 Principles for Teaching and Learning Languages from an Intercultural Perspective The discussion in this article so far give rise to a particular set of principles that underlie an intercultural perspective of language teaching and learning Five core principles can be considered as a base for language learning: active construction, making connections, social interaction, reflection, and responsibility (Liddcoat, 2008; Liddcoat et al., 2003) These principles are not themselves fundamentally intercultural, but they can be seen as preconditions for an intercultural perspective Active construction refers to a way of understanding how learning happens in language learning The teacher creates opportunities through which learners come to make sense of their encounters with language and culture and how they relate to each other Learning then involves from purposeful, active engagement in interpreting and creating meaning interaction with others, and continuously reflecting on one’s self and others in communication and mean-making in variable contexts Making connections is a principle that acknowledges that languages and cultures are not acquired or experienced in isolation In coming to 547 Ti u ban 4: Văn hóa ho t đ ng gi ng d y ngo i ng th i kỳ h i nh p engage with a new language and culture, a learner needs to connect the new to what is already known This means first articulating his/her own starting position for engaging with the new, including the intracultural experiences they bring to the learning, that are already developed within the individual’s existing linguistic and cultural frames and multiple memberships in a variety of social domains Social interaction is a principle that recognizes both that learning is a fundamentally interactive act and that interaction with others is the fundamental purpose of language use Learning and communicating interculturally means continuously developing one’s own understanding of the relationship between one’s own framework of language and culture and that of others Reflection is fundamental to any teaching and learning process that focuses on interpretation Learning from reflection arises from becoming aware of how we think, know, and learn about language, culture, knowing, understanding, and their relationships, as well as concepts as diversity, experience, and one’s own intercultural thoughts and feelings The process of reflection in intercultural learning is both affective and cognitive Responsibility is a principle that recognizes that learning depends on the learner’s attitudes, dispositions, and values, developed over time; in communication this is evident in accepting responsibility for one’s way of interacting with others within and across languages and for striving continuously to better understand self and others in the ongoing development of intercultural sensitivity and intercultural understanding Suggestions for teaching and learning activities 3.1 Quizzes Quizzes may be good in sharing in pairs the students’ existing knowledge and common sense, predicting information, and introducing differences and similarities across cultures Here, 548 getting the correct answer is less important than thinking about the two cultures Similarly, when watching a video or working with some other materials, students can be asked to identify particular features and note all the differences from their own culture 3.2 Movies via video Movies communicate a social reality via authentic materials or realia of a target speech community to language teachers to help students not only discuss the unique relationship of a language to the society studied but also establish the auditory, visual, and mental links students need for possible interaction with people from the speech community observed Bringing native materials in the form of movies into classes indeed developed students’ knowledge and skills for analysing and comparing key cultural elements in both their and foreign cultures Specifically, the students seemed to have developed not only a perspective on how language and culture affect or interact with each other but also sensitivity to cultural differences and intercultural negotiation 3.3 Guest speakers and discussions/panel discussions Inviting a/some guest speaker(s) from other countries and classroom discussions can help students contrast their own cultural orientation with the cultural orientation of the invited speaker(s) In the class, they compare and contrast, but are not encouraged to judge The guest(s) are asked to talk about their own experiences in their own countries and then discuss the cultural adaptation process when they first came to Vietnam They may talk about their experiences namely: the Vietnamese college structure and life; food and housing arrangements; the organisation of the town where they are staying; how friends treat each other; how nice “nem” and “phở” are (the most representative traditional Vietnamese food) They are encourage to talk about Vietnamese students’ verbal patterns in classrooms (that is, they hardly talk and discuss and raise a hand to question, so Vietnamese Chi n l c ngo i ng xu th h i nh p students are not active in conversation, especially female students); and Vietnamese students’ nonverbal patterns (that is, they don’t make any gestures when presenting their own ideas), or touch upon specific aspects of Vietnamese culture, for example local traditional festivals, water puppet etc This kind of experiences may help students in recognising stereotyping and the results of looking at others through one’s own cultural lens It is easier to recognise such behaviours in someone from another culture than in oneself; thus, this activity for classes was a real breakthrough 3.4 Role-plays and simulations Role-play or simulation, which has consistently been advocated by practitioners of communicative language teaching, can also become an effective classroom activity for teaching and learning from intercultural perspective By designing a task appropriate for this kind of teaching so that it provides opportunities for exploring unfamiliar perspectives, teachers can encourage learners to “de-centre” from their self-referenced criteria and see the world temporarily through their negotiated third place/eye, thereby, increasing intercultural insight The role-play called critical incident, as suggested by Corbett (2003) takes examples of communication breakdowns as a result of cultural misunderstanding In one example, a middle-aged British couple in Seoul, Korea is formally invited to dinner at their Korean woman friend’s house The Korean woman cooks some Korean food and orders a considerable amount of food, which is indeed more than she actually needs and nicely decorates the food on the kitchen table Her British friends manage to eat most of the food on the table After the British couple leaves, the Korean woman mentions to her son that the British people were nice and quite well dressed, but rather greedy Meanwhile, back home, the British couple tells their children that the Korean woman is so kind and sweet, but unreasonably lavish Students are set the following task: (1) Tháng 11/2014 Imagine you are the Korean woman’s son; how would you explain the British couple’s behaviour to her? In addition, (2) Imagine you are the British couple’s children; how would you explain the Korean woman’s behaviour to them? Here, learners are put into the position of occupying the “intercultural stance”, as coined by Ware and Kramsch (2005), that is, trying to see one person’s cultural behaviour from the perspective of another and attempting to interpret it For instance, one could explain that the Korean woman was demonstrating her hospitality by providing as much food as possible, even if that is more than necessity In fact, it is customary in Korea that when inviting guests and friends, hosts have to show their sincere welcome with the expansive preparation of food However, the British couple – as is true of the older generation like them who were brought up in the aftermath of Second World War – were so accustomed to being in frugal and disliking being thought of as wasteful, that they felt compelled to eat as much they could of what was presented to them This dinner is an effective representation of communication breakdown from cultural misunderstandings, in which the Korean host’s culturally determined behaviour can be misinterpreted by guests, and vice versa The critical incident activity indeed helps inform the relationship between people who might hold quite different opinions about the world and how they might behave in various circumstances 3.5 Virtual learning environments via the Internet Adopting an ethnographic lens and exploring different cultures and reflecting on one’s own takes rather a long time However, most learners of feign languages not have the opportunity to experience other cultures first-hand for a long period; instead, these times of globalisation via the Internet have enabled many learners individually or in class groups to make direct contact with people from other cultures This new advent of a virtual learning environment (that is, a variety of the Internet-based communication applications 549 Ti u ban 4: Văn hóa ho t đ ng gi ng d y ngo i ng th i kỳ h i nh p and e-mail) indeed offers exciting possibilities for exploring each other’s language and culture through ethnographic tasks across the world Conclusion Intercultural teaching and learning today is not just a trend; it is a must Both teachers and learners should bear in mind that only linguistic competence cannot always help communicators sufficiently achieve their goal(s) due to differences in languages and cultures between nations Language learners should become competent intercultural communicators as the world is shrinking at a high speed, and intercultural interactions are inevitable Globalization requires fully understanding both linguistic and cultural norms and values to enhance and strengthen relationships between nations Thus, cooperation and peace could be secured, and happiness can be prevail all over the Globalized World REFERENCES Béal, C (1990) It’s all in the asking: A perspective on cross-cultural communication between native speakers of French and native speakers of Australian English in the workplace A Pauwels (ed.), Crosscultural Communication in the Professions in Australia (pp 23-52) Melbourne: ALAA Bennett, J.M (1993) Cultural marginality: Identity issues in intercultural training R.M Paige (ed.), Education for Intercultural Experience (pp 109-135) Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press Bennett, J.M, Bennett, M.J., & Allen, W (1999) Developing intercultural competence in the language classroom R.M Paige, D.L Lange & Y.A Yershova (eds), Culture as the Core: Integrating Culture into the Language Curriculum (pp 13-46) Minneapolis: CARLA, University of Minnesota Bennett, M.J (1998) Overcoming the golden rule: Sympathy and empathy M.J Bennett (ed.), Basic Concepts of Intercultural Communication (pp 191214) Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press Bhabha, H.K (1994) The location of culture, Routledget, New York Byram, M (1997) Teaching Intercultural Communicative Multilingual Matters: Clevedon and Assessing Competence Byram, M., Esarte-Sarries, V., Taylor, E., & Allat 550 (1991) Young people’s perception of the other culture D Buttjes & M Byram (eds), Mediating Languages and Cultures (pp 103-119) Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Byram, M., & Zarate, G., (1994) Définitions, objectifs et evaluation de la compétence socioculturelle Strasbourg: Report for the Council of Europe Routledget, New York and London Carey, J.W (1989) Communication as culture: Essays in media and Society, 10 Chomsky, N (1965) Aspects of a Theory of Syntax Cambridge, MA: MIT Press 11 Davies, A (1991) The Native Speaker in Applied Linguistics Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press 12 Curnow, T.J (2009) Communication introductory linguistics Australian Journal linguistics, 29 (1): pp 27-44 in of 13 Davies, A (2005) A Glossary of Applied Linguistics Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 14 Eisenchlas, S (2009) Conceptualising “communication” in second language acquisition Australian Journal of linguistics, 29 (1): 45-58 15 Fitch, W.T., Hauser, M D., and Chomsky, N (2005) The evolution of the language faculty: Classifications and implications Cognition, 97 (2): pp 179-210 16 Fitzgerald, H (2002) How different are we? 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Evidence from Australian English Language in Society, 15:349-373 36 Liddicoat, A.J (2002) Static and dynamic views of culture and intercultural language acquisition Babel, 36 (3): 4-37 50 Wierzbicka, A (1991) Cross-cultural pragmatics: The semantics of human interaction Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter 37 Liddicoat, A.J (2005b) Culture for language learning in Australian language-in-education policy Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 28 (2): 1-28 51 Vygotsky, L.S (1978) Mind in Society The Development of Higher Psychological Process (trans M Cole), Harvard University Press, Cambridge, M.A 38 Liddicoat, A.J (2009) Communication as culturally contexted practice: A view from intercultural 52 Zarate, G (1986) Enseigner une culture étrangére, Hachette, Paris 551 ... i ng th i kỳ h i nh p Language Teaching and Learning as an Intercultural Endeavor The intercultural in language learning An intercultural orientation focuses on languages and cultures as sites... created and accomplished Language teaching and learning therefore needs to engage within the entire spectrum of possibilities for language and each layer of language affords opportunities for intercultural. .. continuously to better understand self and others in the ongoing development of intercultural sensitivity and intercultural understanding Suggestions for teaching and learning activities 3.1 Quizzes