Language Education as Intercultural Practice

Note: This course unit is usually abbreviated to LEIP and has the same identifying code in all study modes: EDUC70040. 

Sample unit of materials (Unit 0: General Introduction to the Course Unit)

The world seen through new eyes — Foreign language education – and TESOL – in particular involves interaction with ‘otherness’ as learners engage with the how the world looks using the ‘eyes’ of another language (in our case, in English). This engagement represents the cultural awareness function of foreign language education / TESOL.

Interpersonal communication involving cultural difference — Additionally, for most learners, the objective (sooner or later) is to use the language being learned, i.e. to use it to communication with ‘others’. Such communication also represents engagement with otherness through the learners’ resulting interactions in the foreign language concerned, i.e. for us, in English. Intercultural communication can take place in one’s own language(s) but it is a defining characteristic of almost all communication using a foreign language.

TESOL classrooms as sites of interculturality — Many English language classrooms are also sites of otherness, perhaps through the varied linguistic and cultural backgrounds of the learners, and/or through the involvement of an expatriate teacher, and/or through the use of materials and methods developed elsewhere, and through the otherness encountered through the worlds of English / the world through English.

For all of the above reasons, this course unit encourages the TESOL practitioner to reflect on their professional experience and roles in terms of ‘intercultural practice’.

Four focal areas — To do so, it organises the intercultural territory for TESOL practitioners in terms of four areas:

• Focus on cultural content – where practitioners are invited to think about what the cultural content of their lessons is and should be and how it is and could be taught. For example, they might consider the move from teaching topics related to the ‘target culture’ to the skills (e.g. ethnography, critical reading) for engaging in English with cultural phenomena from anywhere.
• Focus on intercultural communication – where practitioners are invited to reflect on how their learners can be better supported with regard to communicating interculturally in English interculturally. For example, what skills are needed for intercultural communication and how can these be added to the more linguistic aspects of an English language class?
• Focus on context and methodological appropriacy – where practitioners are invited to reflect on about their own methodological preferences and practices in relation to the particularities of the social context in which they are teaching. For example, are methods developed in the English-speaking private sector world of TEFL associated with native-speaker teachers suited to state sector classes in other parts of the world? Also, what teaching paradigm – e.g. TEFL, TESL, TEIL etc – might be most appropriate?
• Focus on multicultural considerations - where practitioners are invited to consider what role English might play in societies where multiculturalism is increasingly important. For example, might English be fulfilling some kind of intranational lingua franca function? If so, what are the implications for TESOL practitioners?

If any of the above sounds of interest, then maybe this is the course unit for you.

Some examples of recent assignments written for this course unit are attached as a subpage to this page (see drop down menu).

An extensive list of intercultural links is similarly provided as a subpage.

Written by: Richard Fay on 27, December 2009.
Last revised by: Richard Fay on 10, April 2011.