scholarly journals Promoting Intercultural Awareness Through Stories: A UAE Case

2021 ◽  
Vol 09 (02) ◽  
pp. 59-69
Author(s):  
Pinar Ozdemir Ayber ◽  
Zeina Hojeij ◽  
◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Intercultural Awareness

scholarly journals Exploring intercultural competence through an intercultural extracurricular activity in Taiwan

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-109
Author(s):  
Kai Li Liu
Keyword(s):  
Extracurricular Activities ◽  
Intercultural Competence ◽  
Foreign Students ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Foreign Student ◽  
Depth Information ◽  
Extracurricular Activity ◽  
Language Programs ◽  
Intercultural Awareness ◽  
Communication Difficulties

Abstract This study used interviews to explore how 10 Taiwanese college students' intercultural competence was developed after participating in an intercultural extracurricular activity designed with a purpose to facilitate foreign students’ study in Taiwan and to promote meaningful home-foreign student contacts. In-depth information and narratives from the interviews were collected as evidence of intercultural competence development. The results showed all the interviewees appreciated the experience and felt it to have been of value to them in terms of building international friendships, heightening their intercultural awareness and the benefits of intercultural competence, and having more appreciation and better understanding of Taiwanese culture. Students also realized that a lack of understanding of Taiwanese culture could exacerbate communication difficulties. Students thus became aware of the importance of describing Taiwanese cultural practices in English and realized that more language practice was necessary for smoother communication. Suggestions for both extracurricular activities and language programs improvement in the future were also provided in the conclusion.

Developing Intercultural Awareness and Language Speaking Proficiency for Foreign Language Learners through Cross–Cultural Voicemail Exchange

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 17-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amber Yayin Wang ◽  
Wan-Jeng Chang
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Intercultural Awareness ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Speaking Proficiency ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
English Speaking

To expand global and intercultural communication, the effectiveness of asynchronous online communication devices, especially email, have been discussed in the area of foreign language teaching. A lack of specific research exists that addresses the application of online voicemail. This paper reports on a five month period of voicemail exchanges between 53 EFL learners in Taiwan and 56 CFL learners in the United States. The authors examine the responses of EFL students to this cross–cultural voicemail project and assess their progress in intercultural awareness and English speaking proficiency before and after the project. This study concludes that the use of voicemail creates an impact on the English speaking performance and intercultural awareness of EFL students and increases the motivation of EFL students in using English to express ideas. Further implications for teaching are discussed.

scholarly journals Intercultural perceptions among undergraduate students in English for Business and Economics courses.

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 98 ◽  
Author(s):  
ELEFTHERIA NTELIOU ◽  
OLGA KEHAGIA
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Teaching Methods ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Intercultural Awareness ◽  
Cross Cultural Communication ◽  
Language For Specific Purposes ◽  
Second Year ◽  
Economics Courses

<p><em>The practice of intercultural communication should be a primary goal of Language for Specific Purposes (LSP) courses in tertiary education, because, through language instruction, future professionals can become aware of intercultural differences and develop strategies to deal with them, thus equipping themselves with necessary skills for effective cross-cultural communication in a globalized work environment. In this study, the intercultural awareness of first and second year undergraduate students attending an English for Business and Economics course was examined in relation to their interest in the economy and culture of other countries as well as to their preferred sources of information about current economic issues. Their preferences and perceptions regarding the intercultural elements incorporated in the methods and material used in the English course were also explored. The analysis of the Likert-type questionnaire revealed that intercultural awareness needs to be further practiced in class and led to important implications for the teaching methods and tasks used in the LSP courses.</em></p><p><strong><em> </em></strong></p>

scholarly journals NARRATIVE TEXTS IN THE TEACHING BULGARIAN TO FOREIGN STUDENTS AS A POSSIBILITY TO DEVELOP THE INTERCULTURAL AWARENESS AND COMPETENCE

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 1665-1669
Author(s):  
Mariya Genova ◽  
Lidiya Kavrakova
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Foreign Students ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Narrative Texts ◽  
Intercultural Awareness ◽  
Comprehension Skills ◽  
Adequate Understanding ◽  
The University

The main purpose of foreign university students during studying Bulgarian is reaching a level of communicative abilities, i.e. using the language successfully in different settings and situations. Achieving this purpose requires the use of effective teaching methods and teaching techniques which rely not only on the language skills of the university students, but also on their general knowledge of the world and knowledge in the area of human interactions.This article explores the possibility to include narrative texts from the modern Bulgarian literature in the teaching process as a tool to educate the students during the early stage of studying Bulgarian. Meeting certain narrative texts or abstracts from different genres is what helps the students feel emotionally and socially closer to the Bulgarian language. This creates a specific emotional atmosphere during improving one's skills in a foreign language and helps in the process of “discovering” the Bulgarian culture. This activates the thought pattern of understanding the basic and unavoidable cultural differences but also cultural similarities and also motivates the students from other countries to improve their language skills.The authors of this article share their experience: choosing a narrative text, preparing such texts from their successful use in the classroom, using certain techniques and interactive means for adequate understanding of such texts by foreign students. The results are also described, as far as learning and managing lexical material, syntax structures and intonation details in Bulgarian is concerned.We analyze our work with the short story “From Wednesday to Monday” by Maria Doneva, which aims to “provoke” the active language perception of the students (including both grammar and reading comprehension skills in learning the days of the week and improving the use of past tense).The second narrative included in the article is “A smaller bedtime story” by Ludmil Stanev is presented to the students in the form of role-playing reading. This happens during a national holiday of the Bulgarian alphabet.

scholarly journals Implementing Critical Thinking Tasks to Fostering English Learners’ Intercultural Communicative Competence in a Genre-based Learning Environment

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 154
Author(s):  
Luis Fernando Gómez-Rodríguez
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Foreign Language Education ◽  
Intercultural Communicative Competence ◽  
Intercultural Awareness ◽  
Two Samples ◽  
Significant Step ◽  
Deep Culture

The development of intercultural communicative competence in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) education in many countries is still a difficult goal to achieve. EFL teachers and learners require more tangible and concrete methodological approaches to foster this important competence in the classroom. Therefore, this reflection article aims at proposing the use of genre-based learning as a significant communicative language approach to foster English learners&rsquo; intercultural communicative competence (ICC) through a Sequence of Critical Thinking Tasks. Through two samples of genres, the article explains how the skills of discovery, of interpreting, and of relating, contained in the concept of ICC, can be articulated, complemented, and enhanced gradually through a set of more specific Critical Thinking Tasks. These mental skills can be useful to help learners understand, discover, interpret, and evaluate critically elements of deep culture that appear in different documents, genres, or texts produced by English-spoken cultures, other language communities, and learners&rsquo; own culture. Doing critical thinking tasks through genre-based approach can constitute a preliminary but significant step to enhance English learners&rsquo; critical intercultural awareness in EFL learning environments.

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