Chapter I. Theoretical backgrounds of forming intercultural competence of the young learners based dialogical texts 1

Object of the research:
Subject of the research:
Scientific novelty of the research:
Methodological basis:This research is based on works on methodology, pedagogy, psychology, .The research work is mainly based on the books of ,Jalolov J.J. Makhkamova G.T.
Theoretical and practical significance of our research:
The structure of the research work: The research work consists of introduction, the main three chapters, conclusion, references.and appendix The articles published are included at the end of the dissertation.
CHAPTER I. THEORETICAL BACKGROUNDS OF FORMING INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE OF THE YOUNG LEARNERS BASED DIALOGICAL TEXTS
1.1.Modern tendencies of forming intercultural competence as a part of the young learners’ foreign language communicative competence
The term interculturalindicates a notion of an engaged exploration of difference
between cultures. It implies a responsibility to recognize and reflect on the learner’s ‘home’ culture as much as on the target culture. It has conceptualised the successful intercultural language user’s identity as positioned in an independent ‘third place’², a vantage point of critical observation and understanding of both first and second (or target) cultures. The understanding of culture which underlies the intercultural literature is that of Williams’ description: ‘Culture is ordinary’³ – that is, the everyday lived experience.
The imprecise nature of definitions of intercultural language learning is a factor affecting effective communication of its goals to teachers. Intercultural language learning is a language learning which develops an insider perspective on the target culture⁴, through
• skills in contextual knowledge of the target language and culture
• a view of culture as embedded in the language
• reflective critical understanding of one’s own primary language(s) and culture(s).
In practice, this may be, for example, designing learning experiences where classroom time is spent in deliberate exploration of cultural values implied in spoken or written texts, and consideration of how these values may differ from the home culture. Language learning topic areas, such as homes, schools, leisure, food, festivals, social problems, are approached by considering the relevant practice of both the home culture and the target culture, making active connections in reflecting on similarities and differences in practice. Students are given opportunities to demonstrate their progressive understanding in language learning tasks. Their understanding is validated and rewarded in assessment strategies. In the English as a Foreign Language field, writers such as Corbett describe a wide range of intercultural teaching strategies such as developing critical visual literacy (the reflective interpretation of images and media), ethnographic approaches, awareness of genres and conversation modes⁵. Scarino situate intercultural language learning not as a new pedagogy, but as a new ‘stance’ or orientation in teachers. Through both demonstration of their own interculturality and deliberate program design, teachers facilitate critical thinking and development of perspective in their students. Scarino describes the innovations of intercultural language teaching as:
• positioning the student in authentic situations, not pseudo or ‘pretend’ roles
• the development of teacher questions which elicit student analysis of usage and of meaning⁶
• a shift from purely descriptive use of language to conceptual use⁷
The use of the term competenceimplies a concrete set of skills in what is, however, a complex personal growth process⁸.
The term intercultural competence refers to the elements of intercultural communication – that is, where knowledge of another language and culture enables a learner to interact effectively with people from that culture, and negotiate between that culture and his/her own⁹. Deardorff conducted a survey of academicdefinitions of intercultural competence which identified specific component skills. Deardorff found that skills identified included analysis and interpretation, and cognitive skills that included comparative thinking skills and cognitive flexibility¹⁰. Yershova, DeJeagbere and Mestenhauser argue that intercultural perspective and intellectual skills are both integral to developing intercultural competence. This study has chosen, from a study of the literature, three principal characteristics of intercultural competence¹¹. Various authors describe the learner as:
• being a purposeful interactive user of language with correct contextual use,being reflective about the relationship between learner’s cultures ¹²,
• being knowledgeable about target culture¹³,having an ability to notice, and reflect on different interactions with culture¹⁴, and developing a sense of an
intermediate ‘place’ in ownership of an independent identity¹⁵
• having metalinguistic skill and linguistic transfer skills¹⁶.
From Byram’s definition of intercultural competence¹⁷, we derived theknowledge, skills and attitudes, which a foreign language teacher should possess to beable to teach intercultural competence. We use the term ‘intercultural competence’and not ‘intercultural communicative competence’. It is, however, understood thatintercultural competence always implies ‘communicative competence’, and thereforealwaysalso has a linguistic, sociolinguistic and discourse component. Byram describes intercultural competence in terms of a number of savoirs. Hedefines the first savoir as ‘knowledge of social groups and their products and practicesin one’s own and in one’s interlocutor’s country, and of the general processes ofsocietal and individual interaction’. To this, it can be added thatsavoirs includes both culture-specific (of one’s own and foreign cultures) and culturegeneral knowledge, as well as the knowledge regarding the many ways in whichculture affects language and communication. Savoir-comprendre is defined as ‘the ability to interpret a document or event from another culture, to explain it and relate itto documents or events from one’s own’. Savoir-apprendre/faireis the ‘skill of discovery and interaction: ability to acquire new knowledge of a cultureand cultural practices and the ability to operate knowledge, attitudes and skills underthe constraints of real-time communication and interaction’.
Savoir s’engager is described as ‘critical cultural awareness/political education: an
ability to evaluate, critically and on the basis of explicit criteria, perspectives, practicesand products in one’s own and other cultures and countries’.Finally, savoir-être is defined as ‘curiosity and openness, readiness to suspend disbeliefabout other cultures and belief about one’s own’. It deserves pointing out here that many of the facets of intercultural competenceidentified in the literature regarding intercultural training are implied in Byram’sdefinition. Thus, Byram’s definition echoes, for example, conceptualisation of intercultural communication competence, including culturespecific understanding of other, culture-general understanding and positive regardfor other¹⁸, or the five dimensions of intercultural competence distinguished in Cuiand Awa, namely interpersonal skills, social interaction skills, culturalempathy, personality traits and managerial ability¹⁹.On the basis of this conceptual definition of intercultural competence, we specifiedthe knowledge, skills and attitudes that a foreign language teacher should possess tobe able to teach intercultural competence. As regards knowledge, we said that foreignlanguage teachers should be sufficiently familiar with the foreign cultures associatedwith the foreign language they teach and that the contacts they have with thesecultures should be both varied and frequent. In addition, teachers should know theirown culture well and possess culture-general knowledge that can help them to explainsimilarities and differences between cultures to learners. They should know both whatstereotypes pupils have and how to address these in the foreign language classroom.They should know how to select appropriate content, learning tasks and materialsthat can help learners become interculturally competent. With respect to skills, westated that teachers should be able to employ teaching techniques that promote theacquisition of savoirs, savoir-apprendre, savoir-comprendre, savoir-faire and savoir-être.Teachers should be able to help pupils relate their own culture to foreign cultures, tocompare cultures and to empathise with foreign cultures’ points of view. They shouldbe able to select appropriate teaching materials and to adjust these materials shouldthey not allow achieving the aims of intercultural competence teaching. In additionto being skilful classroom teachers, teachers should also be able to use experientialapproaches to language-and-culture teaching. With respect to attitudes, FL&ICteachers should be favourably disposed towards the integration of interculturalcompetence teaching in foreign language education and willing to actually worktowards achieving that goal. They should define the objectives of foreign languageeducation in terms of both language learning and intercultural competence acquisition. When selecting teaching materials, they should also consider to what extentthese materials can serve the purpose of promoting the acquisition of interculturalcompetence. FC&IC teachers are willing to take account of their pupils’ perceptionsand attitudes regarding foreign cultures, and to depart from these perceptions andattitudes when designing the learning process²⁰.Our definition mirrors insights put forward in the literature regarding interculturaltraining. Paige, for example, offers a conceptual model for trainer competencies, which is organized into four categories: knowledge, skills, personal qualities andethics. In our study, the focus was primarily on knowledge and skills, less on personalqualities or ethics. Thus, no data were collected with respect to teachers’ tolerance ofambiguity, cognitive or behavioural flexibility, cultural identity, patience, enthusiasmand commitment, interpersonal skills, openness to new experiences and people,empathy, respect, sense of humour or ethical behaviour²¹.
We have described what knowledge, attitudes and skills a FL&IC teacher should
possess in order to be able to promote the acquisition of intercultural competence inthe foreign language classroom.
Teachers’ knowledge
With respect to knowledge, we said that foreign language teachers should be sufficiently familiar with the foreign cultures associated with the foreign language theyteach and that the contacts they have with these cultures should be both varied andfrequent. In addition, teachers should know their own culture well and possessculture-general knowledge that can help them to explain similarities and differencesbetween cultures to learners. They know both what stereotypes pupils have and howto address these in the foreign language classroom. They know how to selectadequate contents, learning tasks and materials that can help learners becomeinterculturally competent.
Data with respect to teachers’ familiarity and contacts with the foreign cultures
and people associated with the foreign language they teach, as well as concerning
their perceptions of their pupils’ stereotypes regarding these cultures and people,
were collected by means of a series of closed and open questions directly investigating these issues. The other aspects of teachers’ knowledge were indirectly investigated by means of questions focusing on different facets of teachers’ teachingpractice. Our findings show that teachers considered themselves sufficiently familiar withthe foreign cultures associated with the foreign language they taught, that they hadfrequent media contacts with these cultures and travelled to the foreign countries astourists. Teachers felt theycould deal extensively with ‘daily life and routines’, ‘traditions, folklore and touristattractions’, ‘youth culture’, ‘education’ or ‘history, geography, the political system’in the foreign language classroom, and that they could say at least something aboutfor example ‘values and beliefs’, ‘other cultural expressions (dance, art, architecture,etc.)’, ‘different ethnic and social groups’ or ‘international relations’.
Our findings also suggested that teachers knew what stereotypes their pupils held.
In answer to an open question, they proved to be able to list the main ideas their
pupils associated with each of the foreign cultures and peoples associated with the
foreign language they were learning, mentioning both positive and negative stereotypes pertaining to a large variety of cultural aspects.
Today’s foreign language teachers may indeed be sufficiently knowledgeable when
teaching within the context of the traditional ‘foreign cultural approach’²². Their knowledge might, however, fall short of expectations if they were toteach towards the attainment of intercultural competence. In the area of skills, we stated that teachers should be able to employ teaching techniques that promote the acquisition of savoirs, savoir-apprendre, savoir-comprendre,savoir-faire and savoir-être. Teachers should be able to address pupils’ stereotypes,help pupils relate their own culture to foreign cultures, compare cultures andempathise with foreign cultures’ points of view. They should be able to select appropriate teaching materials and to adjust these materials’ contents and pedagogicalapproaches should they not allow achieving the aims of intercultural competenceteaching. Next to being skilful classroom teachers, teachers should also be able touse experiential approaches to language-and-culture teaching.The different components distinguished as indicators of a teacher’s teachingpractice in this research were: (1) the frequency with which teachers touched uponparticular cultural topics during classroom teaching; (2) the frequency with whichthey practised particular kinds of culture teaching activities (e.g. ‘I ask my pupils to
compare an aspect of their own culture with that aspect in the foreign culture’; ‘I talkwith my pupils about stereotypes regarding particular cultures and countries or
regarding the inhabitants of particular countries’; I ask my pupils to independently
explore an aspect of the foreign culture’; ‘I tell my pupils why I find something fascinating or strange about the foreign culture(s)’); (3) the way in which they distributedtheir teaching time over language teaching and culture teaching; (4) the time theydevoted to preparatory and follow-up work in connection with school trips andexchange programmes, in instances where the school organised such experientiallearning activities; and (5), the extent to which cultural aspects were consideredwhen selecting teaching materials.
The different data sets collected with respect to teachers’ culture teaching practice
were found to confirm each other. Therefore, we shall confine ourselves here to
reporting on one indicator of teaching practice only, namely the frequency with
which teachers practised particular kinds of culture teaching activities. From the
kinds of teaching activities most frequently practised in the foreign language classroom, we can derive that teachers tended to employ techniques that aimed to
enlarge learners’ knowledge of the foreign culture, and not to encourage learners to
search for information in different sources, analyse it independently and present
their findings in order to discuss them with others. Though ‘comparison of cultures’appeared to be an activity frequently practised, other activities aiming at the acquisition of intercultural skills, such as ‘reflect critically on one’s sources of information’,‘explore an aspect of the foreign culture’, ‘practise skills useful in interculturalcontact situations’ were not. With respect to the demand that FL&IC teachers should be able to select teaching materials appropriate for intercultural competence teaching, our data suggest that teachers were definitely able to comment critically on the cultural contents of foreignlanguage teaching materials, pointing out good and less satisfactory sides. Care has to be taken, however, not to equate this ability with the ability to assess teachingmaterials with respect to their potential for teaching intercultural competence. Theteachers who commented on the cultural dimension of their teaching materials didso from the perspective of the traditional ‘foreign cultural approach’, pointing outwhere the information regarding the foreign culture had been incorrectly selected orrepresented. Individual teachers also pointed to the need to revise the textbook’sapproach to the teaching of culture, and demand for more intercultural tasks. Thenumber of teachers doing so was very small, and did not allow the conclusion thatteachers were able to assess the culture teaching approaches adopted by theirtextbooks from an intercultural perspective. We stated earlier that, in addition to being skilful classroom teachers and able assessors of foreign language teaching materials, FL&IC teachers should also be ableto use out-of-classroom experiential approaches to language-and-culture teaching. Our data reveal that school trips and exchange programmes tended not to be considered activities that take place in the context of foreign language education. Only aminority of the teachers devoted time to preparing or following-up on this kind ofactivity in the foreign language classroom. Despite teachers’ beliefs in the positiveeffects of such activities on learners, teachers thought of them as the responsibility ofthe school, other teachers or all teachers. Teachers who did devote teaching time tofollowing-up on experiential learning activities appeared to use activities typical ofintercultural approaches to foreign language education, and which assist learners toreflect on their experiences and on cultural differences between their own and theforeign culture. From this, one can conclude that teachers appeared sufficiently skilled to teach within the ‘foreign culture approach’, but may have lacked the skills necessary to teach towards the full attainment of intercultural competence.
With respect to attitudes, FL&IC teachers should be favourably disposed towards the integration of intercultural competence teaching in foreign language education and actually willing towork towards achieving that goal. They should define the objectives of foreignlanguage education in terms of both language learning and intercultural competenceacquisition. FC&IC teachers should be willing to take account of their pupils’perceptions and attitudes regarding foreign cultures, and to depart from theseperceptions and attitudes when designing the learning process.
At different stages in the questionnaire, questions were included that inquired into
the degree of teachers’ overall support for the teaching of intercultural competence in foreign language education²³.
Communication mechanism moves the process of adopting the values and value orientations and traditions of a community, its culture, and the culture of others. Communication activity encourages and creates opportunities for personal development, independent, autonomous and authentic person. The person in communication activities adopts the behavior, rules and values, because through the process of socialization is preparing to participate in the social and cultural life²⁴.
Intercultural communication is defined as situated communication between individuals or groups of different linguistic and cultural origins. This is derived from the following fundamental definitions: communication is the active relationship established between people through language, and intercultural means that this communicative relationship is between people of different cultures, where culture is the structured manifestation of human behavior in social life within specific national and local contexts, e.g. political, linguistic, economic, institutional, and professional.
Intercultural competence is an integral part of intercultural communication. It refers to the active possession by individuals of qualities which contribute to effective intercultural communication and can be defined in terms of three primary attributes: knowledge, skills and attitudes²⁵.
The culture is the reason for many misunderstandings, feelings of hostility and difficult interpersonal interactions in our everyday life. If we truly want to succeed in a globalized society, we need to open our eyes and take a look at culture and how it affects our lives²⁶.
The components of intercultural competence are knowledge, skills and attitudes, complemented by the values one holds because of one's belonging to a number of social groups. These values are part of one's social identities.
Intercultural attitudes curiosity and openness, readiness to suspend disbelief about other cultures and belief about one’s own This means a willingness to relativize one's own values, beliefs and behaviors, not to assume that they are the only possible and naturally correct ones, and to be able to see how they might look from an outsider's perspective who has a different set of values, beliefs and behaviors.
Another crucial factor is knowledge, not primarily knowledge about a specific culture, but rather knowledge of how social groups and identities function and what is involved in intercultural interaction. Knowledge of social groups and their practices in one’s own and in one’s interlocutor’s country, and of the general processes of societal and individual interaction So knowledge can be defined as having two major components: knowledge of social processes, and illustrations of those processes; knowledge about how other people are likely to perceive you, as well as some knowledge about other people.
To be able to say that students possess intercultural competences they need to obtain:

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  knowledge of the cultures, histories and ways of life of different communities and the ability to recognize their impact on behavioral norms in given fields of communication
  
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  understanding of the relationship between culture and the contexts of communication
  
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  critical awareness of their own and others’ beliefs and values
  

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  sensitivity towards cultural stereotypes and related obstacles to successful intercultural communication²⁷
  

Students who have acquired such knowledge and understanding will be expected to demonstrate the capacity for:

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  effective communication with their interlocutor
  
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  application of the knowledge of culture and cultural values in intercultural contexts
  
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  adaptation of their behavior according to the demands of different intercultural situations
  
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  identification and critical analysis of the cultural components of the communication
  
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  reflection on the cultural factors influence²⁶
  

About the new culture Students also can gather knowledge about their:

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  festivals and rituals
  
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  dress codes
  
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  food, cuisine, shopping
  
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  forms of address and greetings
  
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  local language
  
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  gestures and body language
  
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  attitudes towards smoking, alcohol, and drugs
  
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  gift-giving and neighborliness
  
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  daily schedules
  
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  political system and organization
  

Communicating is essential for understanding the attitudes, value systems, behaviors, points of view, the entire cultural context of one’s interlocutor. One must be able to decipher his message correctly and know what stance to adopt in relation to him, referring to one’s own cultural context. In order to communicate, people have to understand each other, exchange and interact, not only on the linguistic level. The success of intercultural communication does not depend only on the level of linguistic skill acquired. Without intercultural skills, the simplest communication sometimes proves impossible²⁸. The teacher's task is to develop attitudes and skills as much as knowledge, and teachers can acquire information about other countries together with their learners; they do not need to be the sole or major source of information. Skills are just as important as attitudes and knowledge, and teachers can concentrate as much on skills as upon knowledge.
In intercultural communication of great importance are the following skills:

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  Skills of interpreting and relating: ability to interpret a document or event from another culture, to explain it and relate it to documents or events from one’s own
  
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  Skills of discovery and interaction: ability to acquire new knowledge of a culture and cultural practices and the ability to operate knowledge, attitudes and skills under the constraints of real-time communication and interaction²⁶.