8. Conclusion
This chapter intended to help teachers and educators who have already
integrated the development of ICC in their programme of studies
and their teaching. It brings new input in the evaluation of ICC. It does
not cover all the possibilities but it gives guidelines to pave the way
for all those who believe that education is an entry to culture. It has
its limitations. It also contains two surveys designed to assess teachers'
abilities to teach ICC.
8.1 Limitations We entered the domain of ICC assessment with cautiousness. Because
culture is a mediating factor that is not easily defined or understood,
there can be a large part of subjectivity in its teaching and even more
in its assessment. It is like approaching a field of research not well
defined. What is culture? What components can be assessed? Is everything
to be assessed? There are so many questions that still have to be clarified
and have not been addressed yet. We needed a conceptual framework of reference.
We based the assessment of ICC on the model developed and validated among
200 young adults (Lussier & al., 2004-2007). It could be used
as guidelines to educators, curriculum developers, textbook editors, teachers
in the classroom and evaluators. 8.2 Survey instruments to assess teachers' competence in ICC We know that language teachers are conveyors of cultural representations from various information sources: syllabuses, teaching materials, selection of texts and their own experiences. But do they use such sources to develop intercultural competence on the part of the learners? The teachers are the social actors as well as instructors, but do they see themselves as cultural mediators? Although all language teachers have some intercultural experiences, are they aware of them? Although they interpret intercultural communication situations in their classes, do they take into account the development of a new identity that the learner is confronted with? Do they adopt strategies to exploit, negotiate or even provide solutions when there are tensions or misunderstandings between groups of learners? We also know that by its very nature, the teaching and learning of a modern foreign language embodies the presence of another culture and contact with otherness in the development of cultural representations. Therefore, should it be as important to aim to enlarge the opening window onto other cultures as to develop linguistic competence? What is the teacher's role in pursuing such aims? Have they been trained for it? Can they play this role? Do they want to do it? What place do they give to the teaching of ICC? To obtain answers to such questions we need to question teachers. We can conduct interviews but they are time consuming when we want to question a large number of teachers. Most of the time a written questionnaire is the most efficient instrument to gather more information in a short period of time. We present two different survey instruments as guidelines to educators who would like to administer a survey to teachers or other educators involved in language teaching to assess their own ICC under the heading "Our research articles". Here is a short summary of the aims and contents of the two surveys. (a) Survey on "Representations of others and other cultures in the context of the initial and ongoing training of teachers". Lussier, D. & Urbanicova,V. et al. (2004), in Cultural mediation in language learning and teaching, European Centre for Modern Languages. Council of Europe Publishing, Strasbourg, Chapter 7: 181-214. Lussier, D. & Urbanicova,V. et al. (2004). Les représentations des Autres et des autres cultures dans le contexte de la formation initiale et continue des enseignants. In Médiation culturelle et didactique des langues. Centre européen pour les langues vivantes. Éditions du Conseil de l’Europe, Strasbourg, Chapitre 7 : 191-223. The survey was part of a research project funded by the European Centre for Modern Languages and the Council of Europe. The aim was to find out if teachers are able, given their training and cultural experiences, to be social actors in the development of intercultural competence, to act as cultural mediators or even attribute such a role to themselves in the way that they teach modern languages. It had been decided that a written questionnaire would be the most efficient instrument to gather all the information that was needed from different countries and in a short period of time. To develop such a questionnaire we needed a conceptual framework taking into consideration needs and interests of the different teachers and trainers involved. We held brainstorming sessions with them to voice their expectations and needs. The questions turned on the initial and ongoing training of teachers and the cultural representations teachers are able to develop through their plurilingual and pluricultural experiences. The framework chosen as a working basis (Lussier, 1997) comprises three
major dimensions. The first one is to obtain a knowledge profile in terms
of training, competence and actual experiences. The second gives a behavioural
profile adapted by teachers in their teaching approaches and methods,
learning activities and learning strategies. The last one aims at the
attitudinal profile of teachers taking into consideration their understanding
and acceptance of other cultures and of their role as helping learners
to negotiate and mediate conflict-ridden situations.
With this framework in mind, teacher trainers were able to produce questions/items. None of them were gratuitous, that is, every question was function of the conceptual aspects to be investigated. All were congruent and relevant to the framework. From the survey among Slovak teachers working in standard secondary level classes it was possible to sum up the linguistic and cultural practices in the following way: for example, they travel to get to know other cultures, half of them have travelled to a foreign country for at least a fortnight. They generally read foreign newspapers and watch television. We were able to make two observations: 1) the teachers appear to be already open to the teaching of culture and the development of intercultural competence; and 2) they are unable to say, in terms of pedagogical procedures and coherent logic, what means need to be given greater importance in order to embrace all the dimensions of the interacting concepts of ICC. (b) Survey on "Ways of assessing ICC
in the Russian The survey, as a written questionnaire, looked at the ways of assessing intercultural communicative competence in the Russian Federation. The questionnaire was administered to modern language teachers and teacher trainers at 33 educational establishments. The aim was to identify guidelines, instruments and tools currently used to assess ICC at secondary and tertiary levels of language instruction. The results reflected a wide range of professional opinions, personal reflections as well as pluricultural and plurilinguistic experiences. It gave a new input in terms of initial education and ongoing training to teachers and teacher trainers at various levels of instruction. (cf. copy of the written questionnaire and results are under the heading "Our research Articles/Golubina) 8.3 Websites, books and dictionaries and Encyclopaedias Educators who would like to get more information can also consult different sources of reference such as websites, books and dictionaries/encyclopaedias. For example, (a) Websites:
(b) Books
c) Dictionaries/Encyclopaedias
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