5. Steps in Assessing ICC We would like the reader to keep in mind the definition of intercultural communicative competence / which requires a range of "knowledge/savoirs", "know how/savoir-faire" in relation to linguistic, sociolinguistic and discourse communicative competence and "being/savoir-être" related to attitudes and perceptions of others and other cultures. This section covers the different moments of assessment (when to assess?), the subjects of assessment (what to assess?) and the different ways of assessing (how to assess?) the ICC profile. When to assess? Before starting to teach, it may be important to get information based on the students' experiences and backgrounds. Self-evaluation (culture-log) and a self-evaluation profile (profile diagram) are the two methods of assessment proposed as a pre-test to students. When going on to a new teaching unit, for example, Unit 5: All you need is love, a survey to assess attitudes on love can reveal students' perceptions. During the learning experience, the teacher's observation in reference to specific criteria specified in a grid and gathering work from discussions and productions in the student's portfolio are appropriate methods of assessment. At the end of a unit or learning sequence,
the teacher may need to know the different types of knowledge acquired
by students. Any indirect testing method is possible using multiple choice
items, matching items or short answers items. To evaluate "know-how/savoir-faire",
we need to develop tasks to be performed by students. Simulations and
role plays based on critical incidents would reveal the students' perceptions
mostly when they interact in pairs or in groups of three or four. What to assess? To answer this question, the teacher needs to identify the learning outcomes; those specified as learning outcomes for the course or as defined in the textbook, and those defined at the beginning of each unit or learning sequence. They should cover the three dimensions of ICC: knowledge, know-how and being. They should also take into consideration the learning process and progress. How to assess? Each dimension of ICC covers different aspects of learning. Consequently, the methods of assessment will vary accordingly in order to evaluate the students as efficiently as possible. "Knowledge" uses indirect testing procedures. "Know-how" is based on tasks. "Being" relies on self-evaluation, surveys on attitudes, teacher's grids and the student's portfolio. The following table gives a résumé of the three dimensions
assessed (what), the moments they are assessed (when) and the methods
of assessment selected to assess the learning of Unit 5 (how).
5.1 Before starting to teach (at the beginning of the course) This section intends to offer educators two ways of gathering information on students' ICC profile before they engage into specific teaching activities. The two instruments - the culture log and the profile diagram - are based on students' self-evaluation of their "Knowledge/savoirs" and "|Being/savoir-être". Educators can use them as pre-testing procedures. For the "Know-how/savoir-faire", it is important to explain to the students the content and the use of the portfolio as a tool to help them grow as a person and become aware of changes in their ICC. The "culture log" is a "journal de bord" in which the student records his thoughts and the acquired learning or facts on the target language and culture at regular intervals (before starting to teach, during the process of learning and at the end of the course) to keep track of his or her progress in intercultural knowledge, skills (know-how) and attitudes (being). It is a precious tool for the learner and the teacher to get valuable insights because it shows how students progress in their learning and if a change in their behaviours and attitudes, positive or negative, occurs as a result of the teaching/learning process. The "profile-diagram" refers to the self-evaluation of attitudes (being). It could also be considered as a pre- and post-testing procedure. Both instruments can become the first record in the students' portfolio. a) Self-evaluation of cultural knowledge and perceptions: Culture log The teacher can hand such a log to students at the beginning of the semester/year of study, to see their initial level of knowledge in a target culture; students can produce 'c-logs' for each target culture and they are instructed to add information to their logs during the semester, with the final task of evaluating, at end of the semester/year of study, their progress and change in attitudes and perception of the target culture. This self-evaluation is the first item to be integrated in the portfolio. It will help the students to build on and follow their progress in terms of the development of the three dimensions of ICC. Information on cultural knowledge and perceptions (civilisation, diversity in ways of living, socio-cultural context, collective memory)
b) Self-evaluation of being: Profile diagram (cultural awareness, empathy, respect for Otherness, knowledge discovery). This self-evaluation is similar to the one described before but it has been developed mostly to help the students' reflect on their own perceptions in terms of «Being/savoir-être». The scale shows five levels of perceptions from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree". Students should fill in this evaluation as pre-evaluation, before the learning process, and fill it again at the end of the learning process to compare their answers and reflect on their own progress.
c) Use of the portfolio The Portfolio of Intercultural Competence as presented by the Council
of Europe focuses on three dimensions which can be easily adapted when
assessing students' ICC. The portfolio not only explains who the students are and want to become but should also reveal how they got to the point where they are at the end of their learning. It is about experiences that confirm their knowledge, behaviours, attitudes and perceptions on ICC. Growing through the pages of their portfolio should help the students to grow as a person and become aware of changes in their ICC. It could include:
The portfolio enables students to keep records of, and reflect on, experiences
that have contributed to their progress. It would also enable them to
store in an organized way, any pieces of evidence to support the levels
of competence recorded. It provides a continuous internal assessment of
performance based on the three dimensions taken into account in the teaching
of ICC: "knowledge", "know-how" and "being"
(Lussier, 2001). In terms of "know-how", it could reflect students' performance in real life situations: how they function in different contexts, in plurilingual/pluricultural practices such as exchange programs, how they adjust to different cultural environment and how they interact in the target language and culture. In terms of "being", which is considered as the existential and affective domains, it reflects cultural awareness, critical appropriation of other cultures and identity, and transcultural valorisation of others. These different attitudes bring students to understanding, accepting and integrating the target culture and to internalizing, when given time, new values. N.B. The section on « During teaching» will be presented in the following section (6.5) with an example of methods of assessment taken from Unit 5: All you need is love from textbook Mirrors and windows. 5.2 After teaching In section 5.1, which refers to self-evaluation tasks to be used before
teaching there are three assessment tools that can be used as pre-testing
procedures: Self-evaluation (Culture log), Self evaluation (Profile diagram)
and the Portfolio. Here is an example of how one task can be organized to better help teachers with the final appreciation using the Self-evaluation (profile diagram) Step 1: students should fill in the same self-evaluation they next chapter: 6. Assessing ICC |