1. Introduction
2. Framework of reference
3. Three dimensions of ICC
4. Methods of assessment
5. Steps in assessing ICC 
6. Assessing ICC 
7. Levels of ICC proficiency  
8. Conclusion
9. References

6. Assessing ICC: an example through an authentic learning unit

Any textbook can be used for ICC assessment. We chose Mirrors and windows: an intercultural communication textbook (Huber-Kriegler, Lázár and Strange, 2003) published by the European Centre for Modern Languages because since its publication many teachers have used it as a resource material. Therefore, we refer to this textbook and we give the aim and content of the book, and the learning outcomes, the content and a brief summary of Unit 5: All you need is love.  It presents authentic evaluation of a learning sequence. The theme based on "love" introduces a variety of cultural differences in terms of romance, wedding customs, sex education, etc.

Mirrors and windows has been prepared with language teachers and intercultural communication trainers in mind, but it can be used by teacher trainers, teacher trainees, secondary school teachers of any subject. It can be used in teacher education as a practical coursebook on intercultural communication, or as supplementary material in language development and methodology courses. It can also be applied in upper-intermediate and advanced language classes, in the traditional way, but most activities can be adapted to lower levels as well. It is also suitable for individual self-study and as the basis for project work.

Aim and content of the book

Aim:   To help develop Intercultural Communicative Competence
          (ICC)

Content:
There are seven units, each one dealing with a different topic. The units are independent of each other and can be used in any order.
Unit 1: Rock around the clock
Unit 2: You are what you eat
Unit 3: Conversation and. .silence
Unit 4: Men and women, girls and boys / Gender identities
Unit 5: All you need is love
Unit 6: Bringing up baby
Unit 7: Up in the morning and off to school

Each unit is organised in this way:

Topic, learning outcomes and summary of Unit 5: All you need is love

It was beyond the scope of the present publication to produce assessment tasks for each of the units of Mirrors and windows (2003). Since all units follow the same structure and aim to serve more or less the same learning outcomes, the assessment tasks recommended for Unit 5: All you need is love can be adapted for all units. They provide examples on how ICC can be assessed in real classrooms.

Topic: Romantic love between men and women as an invention or
          a social-cultural construct developed in the early Middle
          Ages and accompanied with the notions of chivalry and
          knightly. So what is love?

Learning outcomes of the unit: At the end of this unit, the students
will be able to:

• become sensitive to cultural differences (sex education, romance, gay love, polygamy);
  
• become aware of and cope with ambiguities related to love and public displays of affection in different cultures, including their own;
  
• understand and correctly use different linguistic notions related to love;
  
• adopt an appropriate behaviour in love-related situations;
  
• find ways to deal with embarrassing situations that result from a lack of cultural understanding.

Summary of the unit

There are four sections in Unit 5. Each section contains questions to be discussed by students. These questions vary in terms of complexity. They intend to give the reader of this chapter a spectre of the learning activities to be taken into account when developing assessment tasks.

- Section 1: Reflecting on your own culture

1. Choose one of the mentioned quotations or cite another one about love. Explain why you agree or disagree.
   
2. How is romantic love seen in your culture? Think of famous pieces of art to have influenced public opinion and discourse.
   
3. What attitudes can you observe about the way people make judgments about relationships in your culture? Do you feel free to be with anybody, anywhere, at any time? What would you like to change?
   
4. Who, in your opinion, has the right to give young people advice or even to make decisions about their personal relationships?
   
5. Sex education is now taught in school. There is an assumption that parents will not approach the matter satisfactorily with their children. What are the assumptions in your culture?
   
6. How do young couples behave when they are in love in your culture? Is it made public?
   
7. What is your own culture's attitude to gay love?
   
8. What values does your culture place on marriage?

- Section 2: Discovering other cultures

Text 1: What is romance about?
The media and images of sexuality to represent sex as fun compared to eternal love, marriage -
Q1: Men to be genetically programmed . ?
Q2: Selling products with the help of pictures. ?
Q3: Is divorce legal in your culture?

Text 2: Dislocated polygamy
Q1:  Is there unofficial polygamy in your country?

Text 3: Intercultural relationships
The parents of a 19 year old immigrant student expel from their home their daughter who is dating a boy from the dominant culture.
Q1: What is more right or wrong in the conflict?
Q2: In pairs, collect arguments for each party in the conflict and
       try to find solutions
Q3: How do people make friends and develop romantic and/or
       sexual relationships in cultures you are familiar with?

- Section 3: Activities and projects

1. Conduct interviews among friends and acquaintances / Do they believe in love at first sight?
   
2. Analyze lyrics of popular love songs- What clues about the attitudes and values concerning love do you discover?
   
3. Analyze folk songs / Do they transmit a lot of cultural information about values, behaviours and traditional courting customs?
   
4. Do you know some bilingual and bicultural couples and families? Ask them about their cultural differences?      

- Section 4: Language work

Terminology
    Q1: Does your language have similar words to these terms?

Idioms
     Q1: Is there a famous couple or love story in your culture like
            Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet? What is their story?

Metaphors and similes
      Find a song with metaphors and try to explain these.   Ex :
      Love is a  splendored thing.

Writing
     Write a love story: create the beginning and invite the others
      to continue.

6.1 Before teaching unit 5 - Survey to assess students' ICC Profile

Unit 5 is about "romantic love" as it is seen in one's own and different cultures, about famous pieces of art, attitudes about relationships, etc.
Before starting to teach unit 5, it would be interesting to find out what students have in mind and to build teaching on the attitudes, the perceptions, apprehensions, etc. they expressed. Here is an example of a survey to be filled out by each student as self-evaluation. It will help teachers in observing the learning process and the students to realize the change that can occur during that process.

Attitudes concerning love: All you need is love

Sex:    female  o      male   o         Age: ____     Nationality:  ____

6.2 During teaching - Use of the portfolio

Guidelines for students:

The portfolio is designed to be a collection of your learning journey through this unit. As you work on your portfolio, you should be able to notice progress in your language, intercultural skills and attitudes. You will have physical evidence of your thoughts on topics covered in this unit about romantic love:  reflection, projects, and your personal interests.
Finally, the portfolio is a great way for you and your teacher to assess your improvement over this unit. You should write about interesting things you have learned, questions or concerns that are not answered or addressed in class or in the course book, how your opinions have changed, etc.

However, if you need some guidance there are questions below for this unit that you may choose to write about:

• What did you learn from interviewing people of other cultures about body language?
  
• Is there only one way of expressing feelings of love? If not, name some of the ways used to express such feelings.
  
• Reflect on your own country: How have you felt about people that express their feeling in other ways than you? Has your attitude changed? In what ways?
  
• What did you find the most interesting in this unit?

6.3 At the end of the unit

At the end of the unit, the three dimensions should be assessed separately or by pairs or all three together by using an integrated task. When defining tasks, we must remember that to demonstrate skills or abilities implies that the learner has the necessary knowledge, but the opposite is not true.

6.3.1 Assessing each dimension separately

(a)  Assessing  intercultural "Knowledge / Savoirs"
 
There are different levels of complexity that can vary in reference to the levels of learning (with beginners, intermediate or advanced students) when assessing knowledge. Therefore, most of the following examples present complexity in the assessment task in order to cover the three levels of competence (low, medium and high).

The following classification can be used to assess written or oral comprehension skills according to the different levels of complexity of the tasks.

1) To identify and describe explicit knowledge 
(Who is doing what, where, when and why)

2)  To regroup / to reorganize
(In the following text, group into one column words which
express openness to the other culture and into another column words which express antipathy between the two cultures).

3) To compare
(Read the three following short texts and find three elements that  distinguish love in England, France and Germany).

4) To infer / implicit knowledge
(What love relationship exists between the ethnic groups in the text you just read).

5) To appreciate
(Refer to the text you just read and answer in writing what their  feelings are about love. According to you, why do they feel like that?)

6) To make a synthesis
(Read the following text and propose an alternative to the reaction of ..........  concerning .............).

7) To evaluate
(Read the text and defend the reaction of ...........after being harassed by ............... on his behavior in public).    

The following eight examples provide assessment tasks of various complexities related to the above classification.

Example 1. / Interview

Context
Choose a target culture and get in touch with an informant (or more) that is willing to help and can answer two questions about love in their culture. Try to meet your informants several times if possible; you can also locate other bibliographical sources for general or specific information on your target culture. 

Task
After you have gathered the necessary information, in writing (no more than 250 words) identify cultural facts that are identical or different between the two cultures; compare similarities and differences and give reasons that can justify the differences described.

You can choose from the list below or you can come up with your own:

• Who does normally give advice to young people when it comes to love and relationships? Is it parents, friends, teachers, priests? Anyone else?
  
• Are you free to engage in a relationship with anybody you choose, without restrictions?
  
• When is sex education introduced in schools? Are parents involved in the process as well?
  
• How do young couples behave socially? Do they hold hands and kiss openly? Are public displays of affection generally regarded as embarrassing/indecent/normal?
  
• What is the cultural attitude towards gay couples in your country? Is this issue openly discussed in your culture?  
  
• Is body weight linked to concepts of beauty and sexual attractiveness?

Example 2: Famous couples

Context
Literature is full of famous couples, like Romeo and Juliet. Here are some examples:

Jack and Jill
Tristan and Isolde
Bonnie and Clyde
Darby and Joan
Frankie and Johnny
Punch and Judy     
Victoria and Albert 
Lancelot and Guinevere
Orpheus and Eurydice

Task
From the above list of couples, choose two.  In writing, identify at least three features that characterise their love and make it special. Compare the features of the two couples and give reasons for your choice.

You have one week to complete the task and you may use different sources of information.  

Example 3 - Dating customs

Context
We know that relationships can vary according to different customs. The six (6) statements below give information about the relationships between men and women in the UK and the US.

Task
First, read the six following statements. Then, state if these customs are the same or different in your country? If different, write a brief note to explain differences.

Example 4 / Getting married

Read the text "What is romance about?" (pp. 52-53 in "Mirrors and windows") and explain what reasons are given in favour of marrying.

Example 5 - Polygamy

Read  the text "Dislocated polygamy" (p.53 in "Mirrors and windows") and compare the example with the situation in your own country.

Example 6: Public display of affection

Context
Read the text(s) in Unit 5 related to public displays of affection.

Task
On a scale from one to five, classify the cultures discussed in terms of public displays of love/affection from 'the most open/tactile" (1) culture to 'the least open/tactile" (5). Then add situations from your own culture or another culture that you have been exposed to. You can develop your own parameters of a "love scale".

MINIMUM______________________________________MAXIMUM
OPEN                                                                                  OPEN

Example 7 - Giving definitions of the love

Every student should write in a sheet of paper three definitions for «love» as presented in Unit 5. After that in small groups read the written definitions and write down a joint list with definitions. Finally, produce a common definition.

Example 8: Writing a text based on proverbs 

Context
From the following list of proverbs, select three that can apply to your country; add one that is specific to your own culture and which is not included in the list.

LOVE PROVERBS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

• Love does wonders, but money makes marriages. (French Proverb)
• Men prefer the wife of another but love their own sons more. (Georgian Proverb)
• In love beggar and king are equal. (Indian Proverb)
• Debt severs love.  (Afghan Proverb)
• There is no physician who can cure the disease of love. (African Proverb)
• He who loves thinks that the others are blind; the others think that he is crazy. (Arabian Proverb)
• In order to really love someone you must love him as though he was going to die tomorrow. (Arabian Proverb)
• Love makes a man both blind and deaf. (Arabian Proverb)
• The one who loves you will also make you weep. (Argentine Proverb)
• Love did not grow any garlic. (Armenian Proverb)
• The woman who loves her husband corrects his faults; the man that loves his wife exaggerates them. (Armenian Proverb)
• Love is blind, so you have to feel your way. (Brazilian Proverb)
• Where there is love there is no darkness. (Burundi Proverb)
• If love is a sickness, patience is the remedy. (Cameroonian Proverb)
• Love is an eye that doesn't see anything. (Chinese Proverb
• Love is like a baby: it needs to be treated tenderly. (Congolese Proverb)
• Absence sharpens love; presence strengthens it. (English Proverb)
• Love is a garden full of flowers and marriage is a field of stinging nettles. (Finnish Proverb)
• Love kills time and time kills love. (Italian Proverb)
• To offer friendship to one who is looking for love, is like giving bread to someone dying of thirst. (Spanish Proverb)
• Love has produced some heroes but even more idiots. (Swedish Proverb)

Retrieved from:
http://creativeproverbs.com/cgi-bin/sql_search3cp.cgi?keyword=love&boolean
=and&field=all&frank=all&database=all

Task :
Describe cultural facts that are related to love, as understood from the proverbs.  Explain what conception of love is reflected.  How is this similar to or different from your own culture?

(b) Assessing intercultural "know-how / savoir-faire"

There are different levels of complexity that can vary in reference to the levels of learning (with beginners, intermediate or advanced students) when assessing intercultural skills (knowing-how/ savoir-faire). Therefore, most of the following five examples present degrees of complexity in the assessment task in order to cover the three levels of competence (low, medium and high).

The following classification can be used when assessing written or oral comprehension skills according to the different levels of complexity of the tasks.

1. To respond to events linguistically correctly but in a socially inappropriate manner
   
2. To adapt to events in response to input from  the interlocutors
   
3. To look for input and react appropriately in social encounters
   
4. To act using correct verbal and non-verbal behaviours
   
5. To interact successfully using different strategies
   
6. To take into account the sociocultural context and the interlocutors
   
7. To cope with misunderstandings and conflict-ridden situations

Role-playing, simulations, case studies and problem-solving are some of the techniques that can be used to assess the know-how / savoir-faire of students. The following five tasks take into account the above classification. 

Example 1 - Public talk to teenagers

Context
You are a councillor at a teenagers' summer camp. You are asked, somewhat tentatively, to break the topic of "safe sex" to a multinational group.

Task
(a) Decide on what is appropriate to say; (b) how you are going to discuss it (directly and bluntly; using euphemisms; to a single-sex or mixed group?) Write down the major issues you have to take into account. Make a presentation for your colleagues as you would deliver it in front of the teenagers.

Example 2 - Role play

Context
Your friends from a Muslim country/ the Middle East/ Far East are baffled by the amount of commercials and advertisements featuring half-naked bodies. 

Task
Act out a conversation. Use the language that will enable you to make your point effectively from an intercultural communicative competence perspective.

Student A (from a Western country) explains why it is a successful selling strategy in most Western countries to have advertisements featuring half-naked bodies - by mentioning at least three arguments.

Student B (from the Middle East, etc) expresses surprise and lists at least three arguments against.  

Example 3 / Misunderstanding

Context
Your Russian friend has married an American. One day she calls you in tears accusing her husband of being emotionally cold, unhelpful and unloving because he refused to drop a word for her to her boss whom he had known for a long time. What do you think is the reason for misunderstanding?

Task
Act out a conversation with your friend (approximately 5 minutes) where you should make her see her husband's point of view, from an intercultural perspective.

Example 4 / Finding agreement

Context
Work in groups of three or four. Decide which of the following statements you agree with and which statements you disagree with. Brainstorm these with the other members of your group for 20 minutes. Try to modify any statements you disagree with so that they represent the opinions of your group.

Children should only leave home after they are married.
You should always ask your parents for permission to marry.
Marriage is getting steadily less popular in the modern world than it was in the past.
People should be more tolerant of mixed marriages.
People should be more tolerant of homosexual couples.

Task
Orally report your discussion to the teacher (10 minutes) from an intercultural perspective.

Example 5:  Role play 

Context:
One of your friends met a woman from a different ethnic group and culture. She is a bit afraid of that relationship because she is convinced that her family and friends will not share her feelings of happiness and love. She decides to gather both families to get acquainted and in this way to overcome their differences.
(You may even decide on the origins of the families according of the students' culture in the group.)

Task:
Work in groups of four. Two will portrait the family of your friend and use convincing arguments against that relationship. The other two will portrait the other family and use convincing arguments in favour of the relationship. You make an appointment in a café to discuss the situation.
You have 15 minutes to prepare for your meeting and the defence of your position. Then you will engage conversation all together to discuss differences in culture and try to find an issue to the problem in the interest of your friend.

Observation by the assessor/evaluator:
During the role playing, the teacher/assessor observes and may take notes on the linguistic appropriateness of the message with the social interactions in order to find out if learners adjust or not their responses to the input of the interlocutors (low intercultural level);  if they take the initiative and if the interactions and answers to the input progress in a satisfactory manner by using different strategies (medium intercultural level);  and if students use correct verbal and non-verbal behaviours, taking into account the socio-cultural context and the interlocutors' culture and if they finally untangle their misunderstandings (high intercultural level).

N.B. This task can also be used to assess intercultural «being» because the teacher/assessor can observe the attitudes of the learners at the same time. To the language and linguistic aspects observed when assessing the skills «know-how/savoir-faire», it is possible to add the following criteria:  understanding of new beliefs and values and tolerance of the other culture (low intercultural level); acceptance of new beliefs and values, openness, being able to compare his own beliefs and values with those of the other culture (medium intercultural level); integration of new beliefs and values, showing empathy, mediating  misunderstandings and being able to justify different beliefs and values (high intercultural level).

(c) Assessment of intercultural "being / savoir-être"

The assessment of «Being/savoir-être» relies on three sub-dimensions (cultural awareness, critical awareness and transcultural internalization of values). The following examples take into account all sub-dimensions of the domain.

The following classification can be used in written or oral comprehension according to the different levels of complexity of the tasks.

1. To understand and be able to describe new beliefs, attitudes and values that differ from those favoured in one's own culture.
   
2. To be tolerant of others and other cultures
   
3. To accept other beliefs and values
   
4. To be open-minded, being able to compare and contrast own beliefs and values with your own
   
5. To respect others and other cultures
   
6. To change personal views
   
7. To demonstrate empathy and not only tolerance and sympathy
   
8. To manage misunderstanding, tensions and conflicts
   
9. To integrate new beliefs and values
   
10. To be able to justify other beliefs and values

Assessors can use pictures, posters or illustrations representing something that could be in conflict with values shared by people who do not come from the same culture. They can lead oral discussions or ask students to write essays or give their evaluation of a specific ambiguous situation. The following five tasks take into account the above classification. 

Example 1 - Public display of affection

Context
You are in an art gallery visiting an exhibit on romantic love.

Task
Look at the three pictures depicting different customs of public display of affection. Compare in writing these three types of behaviour and identify similarities or differences with your own culture.

low level of intercultural communicative competence

Example 2 - Roles in family life

Context
You have just finished discussing the roles in family life (father-mother-children, who makes decisions in the family, dependency or independency from the parents, dating someone from another culture, sex education, etc).
                                                                                                
Task
In an oral presentation (5 min), compare the roles in your own family to those in other families. Expand your comparison to other cultures that are strikingly different from your own.

medium level of intercultural communicative competence

Example 3 / Traditional wedding

Context
You have just attended a wedding ceremony of friends from a different religion and background.

Task
In no more than 250 words, write an essay about a traditional wedding in your country, taking into consideration the intercultural perspective. Describe and compare it with another culture which surprises or confuses you, giving convincing arguments.

high level of intercultural communicative competence

Example 4 / Critical incident

Context
James, an American student, met Zhiang, a Chinese student, at the university, and they decided to lunch together. On their way to the cafeteria, they met James' girl-friend Carol, who was to attend a lecture. James and Carol had a lively conversation and then James embraced Carol and gave her a long and passionate kiss. Meanwhile Zhiang turned away and walked off toward the cafeteria, alone. James couldn't understand his behaviour. (Cushner and Brislin, 1996)

Task
Read through the above critical incident and discuss the situation in small groups of three or four. Try to find the best explanations for the conflict and the right arguments to defend your opinion.
 
Possible explanations
How would you explain Zhiang's behaviour to James?
1. Zhiang was shocked by the public display of affection between 
    James and Carol.
2. Zhiang was offended that James didn't introduce him to Carol.
3. Zhiang was annoyed that he had to wait around while James
    at talking to Carol.
4. Zhiang wanted to give James and Carol some privacy.

Comments
1. This is the best answer. In China, public displays of affection between persons of opposite sexes are not permissible. Zhiang found James' behaviour extremely embarrassing.
2. It is possible, but there is a stronger reason for Zhiang's discomfort.
3. It is not likely, as James was causing a brief delay. Please make another selection.
4. It is possible, but there is a better reason for Zhiang's sudden departure.
            high level of intercultural communicative competence

Example 5 / Values in the film « Spanglish »
                
Context
You have just watched the film "Spanglish" (James Brooks, 2004).

Task
Compare the different values and attitudes to love and family expressed by the main characters to those common to your own culture. Next, justify the characters' attitudes according to their culture. Finally, explain what you would have done to avoid the misunderstanding. 
                high level of intercultural communicative competence

6.3.2 Assessing two intercultural dimensions  "Knowledge/Savoirs" and "Know-how/ Savoir-faire"

Example 1 / Communication problems

Context
Pay attention to a particular communication problem you ran into (in and/or out of the class) and discuss the pros and cons of the situation with one of your classmates. 

Task
You encountered a communication problem. First, describe the problem by answering the questions a),b),c),d) below. Be specific and include details about your situation described.  Second, you have to analyze the problem that you've recorded by answering question e). Finally, please write details about the future action(s) in terms of behaviour you intend to take in order to improve your communication skills in that particular area. Then, ask a classmate to answer the same questions and compare the answers with your own. Are they different? If so, how are the answers different?

FUTURE ACTION(S):

After this experience, what will you do next time to improve your communication?

Example 2: Dating someone from another culture

Context
Your younger sibling is dating someone from a different culture (as described in Unit 5). She/he isn't sure whether she/he fully understands her/his partner and/or your parents would approve of the relationship.

Task
As a student experienced in intercultural communication, write an informal letter of advice (appx. 250-300 words) explaining (a) the most striking cultural differences and possible pitfalls that might result from them; (b) how to persuade your parents to accept it.

6.3.3 Assessing by means of an integrative task

An integrative task is an assessment situation in which the learners are required to combine different skills or behaviours involving complex performance. In the following example, the learners need to define terms, support and clarify their point of view and discuss what intercultural communication means to them according to what they learned in the unit on romantic love.

Context:
You have just finished learning about different approaches to romantic love.

Task:
You have to answer the following questions in writing (approx 250 words):

1. What have you learned in this unit about romantic love as an intercultural communication element?
   
2. In what way have these new learning elements influenced your understanding of love and how can it be experienced?

Make sure that you integrate intercultural concepts from your unit, other readings, videos, exercises, other previous discussions. Be sure to define your terms clearly. You may also use personal experiences and observations (from your portfolio, for example) to support and clarify your learning outcomes.

As an example, you can start by discussing the idea of intercultural communication in a concise introduction; then you may choose several topics related to love and relationships, which will give you frameworks for integrating the various materials used, as well as your prior experiences and learning outcomes.

 next chapter: 7. Levels of ICC proficiency