Intercultural competence in teaching esl students…

Thestructureof the researchconsists of 29 pages including introduction, twomain chapters, conclusion, rezyumeand the list of used literature.
CHAPTER I. THE IDENTIFICATION AND ASSESSMENT OF INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE
1.1 The notion of intercultural competence
The increased movement of diverse global populations in the twenty-first century has become more complex than we may have imagined even five years ago. Lee claims that “developments in transportation and communication technology have been rapidly removing geographical boundaries”¹ and that people also move across cultural boundaries. As migrant populations seek employment, investment opportunities and new geographical spaces to enjoy better security and peaceful coexistence, the goal of building a global community that can work in harmony will remain a very significant phase of our lives this century. As global communities come together to live, to learn and to work in all regions of the world where they become active participants in public life, building global community values will remain a challenging task. Global community refers to people of national and international origin who form a community within and outside of a physical space and who subscribe to a diverse range of norms and values that inform their visions and perspectives about the world around them. The notion of building a global community refers to a willingness by individuals and groups to integrate acceptable cultural norms and values in a meaningful and respectful way into their everyday lives. Implementation of the goal of building global communities within an identified context—corporate organization, educational institution, as well as corporate and community services, for example—encourages a favourable partnership in which social responsibility and accountability for actions are situated within the framework of the broader participating community that engages in that intercultural communication event in any way whatsoever. All societies have in common a deeply ingrained integrity and compassion that allow them to create and to nurture a harmonious relationship.
Insights are offered into various concepts that have been the pillars of intercultural communication literature over decades. Particularly, concepts are discussed and illustrated from the authors’ standpoints and are based on how they came to receive the intercultural messages that were embodied in a range of perspectives. For example, the concepts stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination may have commonalities for the authors on a general level, but their specific experiences and perceptions of these concepts were situated in different cultural contexts. It is their unique experiences as people of colour, minorities and non-white people, that make this book stand apart from other perspectives on intercultural communication. The basic concepts are recognized as important pieces of the cultural mosaic of human life, and how they come together as a whole or not are crucial to the understanding of how they are perceived and experienced. Shapes and colour, for example, are perceived in creative, unique and different ways.
Intercultural competence has figured very prominently in the debate about ‘global citizenship’ as a graduate attribute for many years. A great deal of research has been undertaken in the field which has led to many different definitions and understandings. Given that the GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES Project supports colleagues in their efforts to prepare their students for global citizenship, we would like to propose a definition that can inform our debate about internationalizing the curriculum at GCU.
Culture can be defined as the sum of a way of life, including expected behavior, beliefs, values, language and living practices shared by members of a society. It consists of both explicit and implicit rules through which experience is interpreted.
1. Geert Hofstede, the most famous researcher in the field, refers to culture as a “programming of the mind”.²
2. Intercultural competence is the ability to develop targeted knowledge, skills and attitudes that lead to visible behavior and communication that are both effective and appropriate in intercultural interactions.