ISBN: 87 7701 8346
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| ISSN: 0909 9328 ISBN: 87 7701 8346 No. 18, 2000: Theme: |
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Karen-Margrete Frederiksen, Lis Kornum. |
Foreword:
Intercultural competence - in full text
Chronicle: Bente Bakmand: Reason to worry? Danish language policy
under discussion
Michael Byram: Assessing intercultural competence - in full text
Karen Risager: The teacher's intercultural competence - in full text
Merete Vonsbæk: Teaching with a view - German teaching at
higher preparatory level
Conrad Kisch: Intercultural competence and study trips
Elsebeth Rise: The EU Language Year 2001 - Language opens doors
Tove Heidemann: Organisation culture and intercultural competence - full text
Nicoline & Bolette Kornum: A story from the warm countries
Kirsten Jæger: Intercultural learning: renewal of the intercultural field of
research - full text
Charlotte Jensen & Mari-Louise Buje: TV5 in French teaching
Karen Bjerg Petersen: Intercultural competence as a theme - a
description of a sequence of lessons
Open Pages
Erik Poulsen: Target-focused teaching - a new buzz word?
Good news
Return to overview of Sprogforum publications
This number focuses on the concept of 'intercultural competence', which has become indispensable within language teaching, as well as being widespread in other subjects - and in society in general. It is one of the modern concepts that has become inflated, with everyone using it for their own particular purposes. As an introduction to this number, we would like to present some of the considerations as to how the concept can be understood in our specific context.
When a female student with a Danish background meets a female student with a Chinese background, there is of course a need for intercultural competence on both sides - no matter what language they use. This does not mean that the Danish student tries to behave in a 'Chinese' way and the Chinese student in a 'Danish' way - for what could that no lead to in the way of astonishment and doubt? They behave in such a way that both are in a position to accommodate the other person's 'otherness' and to adopt a constructive and knowledgeable attitude towards it.
First and foremost, intercultural competence is a question of openness to differences and knowledge of their historical context. It is not a question of pretending to be someone else than one actually is.
In many situations, there will be quite a considerable difference between the Dane and the Chinese as regards perspectives and ways of doing things, even if they have roughly the same social status and are of the same sex. How much more complex will the situation not become if we bring different social groups together, e.g. a Danish female student and a Chinese male greengrocer? The point is that the social differences can be at least as important in a cultural respect as the national-cultural. Communication between social groups also calls for intercultural competence.
Every society is interwoven with social differences: both those that are the result of real difference in access to resources and objective status and those that are more the product of people's imagination. Living together in a society calls for intercultural competence on the part of all those involved. One could say that the democratisation of society, among other things, involves everyone developing as much intercultural competence as possible. And since we live to an increasing extent in an internationalised world-society, democratic development at a global level is also a question of all of us developing a broad intercultural competence, by means of which we can adopt a stance towards social, national-cultural and ethnic differences - not least in the struggle against racism.
In language subjects, we focus on the role of language in intercultural competence. That means that we are especially conscious of the cultural differences that have to do with the use of language: semantic distinctions in the vocabulary, linguistic patterns of action, connections between content and form in texts, etc. It is important to draw attention to these connections, not least in language teaching - and many teachers are sure to have done so for many years, without perhaps calling it the development of intercultural competence. But there is a great need of teaching materials that in particular focus on the cultural side of language, just as there is a great need of research within this area.
In a language-pedagogical context it is also important to maintain that intercultural competence goes far beyond what is expressed in the language concerned. The cultural context is constantly changing; internationalisation and globalisation are making themselves felt in i.a. Denmark, and not necessarily all changes in Denmark are expressed in terms of language, e.g. in the form of direct loans or loan translations, or in the form of new text genres.
A well-developed intercultural competence is always many-facetted - both culturally and socially. It comprises an ability to cooperate across many types of boundaries, both the real and the imagined. Intercultural competence always includes knowledge of the world - not only of the language community in question. This knowledge can be more or less comprehensive and more or less one-sided - but it is there.
The articles in this number deal with different ways of understanding intercultural competence in foreign and second language teaching.
How does one assess intercultural competence? What knowledge and what attitudes and skills are involved? These questions are discussed by Michael Byram in 'Assessing intercultural competence' based on the European Council's Common European Framework and European Language Portfolio. Two questionnaires are included for a self-assessment of intercultural competence at upper secondary or university level.
In 'The teacher's intercultural competence', Karen Risager deals with teaching this dimension, including the teacher's own intercultural competence, work in relation to the students' intercultural competence, and reflections on own practice.
In 'Teaching with a view - German teaching at higher preparatory level', Merete Vonsbæk gives examples of handling the intercultural aspect in a cross-cultural project with English and German on the theme 'Meeting a foreign culture'.
Many school folk will nod in recognition at the complications that can arise when on a study trip with upper secondary students, as described by Konrad Kisch in 'Intercultural competence and study trips'. The article provides a host of ideas for a successful study trip where the students get to meet the foreign culture.
In 'Organisation culture and intercultural competence', Tove Heidemann argues that values and prerequisites for intercultural competence as diversity, cooperation and mutual recognition are having a rough time of it in state schools, basic general education and upper secondary education.
Where, when and how does one acquire the ability to master a foreign culture? On the basis of their own experiences with 'cand. polit.- and cand. negot. degree courses' [internationally oriented university courses which combine a socio-economic/politico-economic basis with linguistic and cultural knowledge] Bolette and Nicoline Kornum, in their article 'A story from the warm countries', compare the ways in which the courses communicate intercultural competence in relation to cultures that differ widely from our own. The importance of the encounter with the foreign culture - here Islam in African countries - is stressed.
In 'Renewal of the intercultural field of research', Kirsten Jæger deals with intercultural research in Denmark and on the understanding of learning which she feels is insufficient in relation to the understanding of the learning connected to cultural exchange processes in complex modern societies.
Marie-Louise Buje and Charlotte Jensen suggest, in 'TV5 in French teaching', practical ways of teaching involving TV5 and the Internet.
In 'Intercultural competence as a theme', Karen Bjerg Petersen writes of her experiences with a culture communication course for adults with Danish as a second language. Via the work with theory, tasks and discussion described, the course participants experienced a highly satisfying development, in personal and cognitive terms as well as subject- and language-wise.
In the Open pages, Erik Poulsen, in 'Target-focused teaching - a new buzz word?', defines target-focused teaching as a form of teaching where subject assessment is an integral part of the teaching. This form of teaching has been concretised in an experimental project in English in the Folkeskole. It is emphasised that it will be able to be transferred to other languages and levels.
The Chronicle has been written by Bente Bakmand: 'Reason to worry? Danish language policy under discussion'. It provides an overview of positions in the Danish language policy debate, arguing that there should be room for other languages than Danish and English.
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