2.1 Defining culture and Culture
2.2 Cultural awareness
2.3 Intercultural communication
2.4 A review of research
2.5 References

2.4 A review of research on intercultural competence in language teaching

Despite current interest in teaching culture through language, there are relatively few empirical research projects conducted with the aim of establishing how frequently we incorporate the development of knowledge, skills and attitudes leading to intercultural competence in language teaching or teacher education. However, it is of great importance to learn more about how pre- and in-service teachers perceive the role of the cultural dimension in the language classroom (see also sections 6.3.1 and 6.3.2 of the present publication / Our Research Projects / Lussier, Golubina). For the detailed description of a statistical study on the frequency of culture-related activities in the English language classroom surveying 393 teachers in Estonia, Hungary, Iceland and Poland during the first medium-term programme of activities of the ECML, refer to section 6.3.3 of the present guide / Our Research Projects / Lázár).

Within the framework of the same ECML project a qualitative study (Aleksandrowicz-Pedich et al, 2003) examined the views of teachers of English and French in ten European countries on the place of culture in language teaching. Although none of the respondents had studied intercultural communication in a systematic manner, they all recognized the importance of ICC and agreed on the need to include the theoretical and practical elements of intercultural studies in language teacher training programs (p. 35).

Two other notable studies (Byram and Risager, 1999, Sercu, 2001) also underline a growing awareness amongst respondents of the significance of the cultural dimension in a multicultural Europe, and a clear readiness to teach both language and culture. Both studies seem to show that Danish and British teachers, like Flemish teachers, believe that their pupils basically hold traditional stereotypes, but are gradually developing more diversified ideas, as more and more of them have the opportunity to travel. Contrary to Danish and British teachers participating in Byram and Risager's research (1999), Flemish teachers in Sercu's study (2001) attach higher importance to tourism and travel, and to Culture with a capital C. In all countries, teachers seem to give low priority to topics, such as international relations and the target language culture's significance for the students' country, or cultural values and social norms.

The large majority of teachers in the above studies (Byram and Risager, 1999 and Sercu, 2001) do not have a systematic plan as to how to teach intercultural competence, or how to handle stereotypes and prejudice in the foreign language classroom. When asked about the details of incorporating culture into language teaching, respondents in both Denmark and the United Kingdom consider it important to promote the acquisition of knowledge, since more knowledge is considered to lead to more tolerant attitudes. With respect to the way in which the foreign culture should be presented, an interesting difference seems to surface between British and Danish teachers.

While British teachers think they should present a positive image of the foreign culture, Danish teachers opt for a more realistic presentation. Finally, like in the Belgian sample investigated in Sercu (2001), there is a tendency amongst foreign language teachers to give low priority to the encouragement of learners' reflection on their own cultural identity. Both Byram & Risager (1999) and Sercu (2001) conclude that foreign language teachers are clearly willing to teach intercultural competence, yet in their actual teaching practice they appear to favor a traditional knowledge-transfer approach.

In a recent and very significant volume summarizing the findings of a large-scale international empirical investigation on the role of intercultural communication in language teaching according to foreign language teachers' perceptions, Sercu (2005) explored the following questions: (1) How do secondary school foreign language teachers' current professional self-concepts relate to the envisaged profile of the intercultural foreign language teacher? (2) To what extent is current language teaching practice directed towards intercultural competence? (3) What factors influence language teachers' willingness to incorporate the intercultural dimension into foreign language education?

This extensive study (Sercu, 2005) was conducted on a sample of 424 language teachers in seven countries in 2001. The main findings reveal that the great majority of teachers regard themselves as being sufficiently familiar with the culture(s) of the foreign languages they teach despite the fact that teachers in Poland, Bulgaria and Mexico have fewer possibilities for travel and tourist contacts. Nevertheless, teachers' profile does not meet all expectations regarding the knowledge, skills and attitudes expected from a 'foreign language and intercultural competence teacher'. The objectives of foreign language teaching continue to be defined in linguistic terms by most teachers. The great majority of the respondents in Sercu's study focus primarily and almost exclusively on the acquisition of communicative competence in the foreign language. If and when they include culture in FLT, the activities they use primarily aim to enlarge learners' knowledge of the target culture (savoirs), and not to encourage learners to search for information or to analyze this information critically. A very large number of the teachers claimed to be willing to integrate intercultural competence teaching in foreign language education, but the data also showed that this willingness is neither reflected in their teaching practice, nor in their definitions of the goals of foreign language education (pp. 13-20).

According to Sercu (2005) the implications for teacher education are the following:

Understanding teachers' perceptions and the reasons why they embrace or reject intercultural competence teaching is crucial for teacher educators who want to design (international) teacher education programmes which can clarify and exemplify to foreign language teachers how they can promote the acquisition of intercultural competence in their classes. Our findings highlight important differences and commonalities in teachers' perceptions. Both national and international teacher education programmes can build on these commonalities and have teachers from different countries cooperate, knowing that they all share a common body of knowledge, skills and convictions. They can also exploit differences between teachers to enhance teachers' understanding of intercultural competence. (pp. 18-19)

With this in mind, and to avoid becoming "fluent fools" (Bennett, 1997) we recommend the present guide to all teachers and teacher educators who believe that the aim of second language acquisition is to enable learners to successfully communicate with people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds.

next chapter: 2.5 References