Intercultural Competence Excerpts.docx

INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE “It requires people to revise their social identity, to reconsider the ideas they have held about outgroups since they have now themselves become members of the out-group.” (p. 2). Three components of Intercultural Competence 

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Knowledge (saviors): It has been defined as ‘knowledge about social groups and their cultures in one’s own country, and similar knowledge of the interlocutor’s country on the one hand, and similar knowledge of the processes and interaction at individual and societal levels, on the other hand’ (Byram, 1997, 35). The words and gestures which people use, the behaviors they display, the values they believe in, the symbols they cherish, etc. are always culture-bound and carry meaning within a particular cultural frame of reference. Skills/behavior (savoir-apprendre / savoir-comprendre): It refers to ‘the capacity to learn cultures and assign meaning to cultural phenomena in an independent way’ (Byram & Zarate, 1997, p. 241). Savoir-faire: refers to overall ability to act in an interculturally competent way in intercultural contact situations, to take into account the specific cultural identity of one’s interlocutor and to act in a respectful and co-operative way. Savoir-être and savoir-s’ engager: are best considered together since they refer to a general disposition that is characterized by ‘a critical engagement with the foreign culture under consideration and one’s own’ (saboir-s’ engager) (Byram, 1997, p. 54) and ‘the capacity and willingness to abandon ethnocentric attitudes and perceptions and the ability to establish and maintain a relationship between one’s own and the foreign culture (savoirêtre)’.

We see a clear preference for language learning objectives. Teachers who prioritise linguistic competence aim to promote in their pupils the acquisition of a level of proficiency in the foreign language so they can use it for practical purposes (p. 20) With respect to culture learning objectives, teachers relate the idea of culture teaching and learning primarily to the teaching civilization, that is, to increasing learners’ knowledge of the facts and events of the target culture (p. 20). What target language community should be addressed? How to integrate cultural anthropology, cultural learning theory and intercultural communication? (p. 6) Questioning the foreign culture approach