According to Byram’s (1997) statement, S1b is the ability to ‘identify areas of misunderstanding and dysfunction in an interaction and explain them in terms of each of the cultural systems present (p. 61)’. In order to achieve this competence, two conditions are essential. Firstly, students should be provided with a real-time interactional opportunity; then, they are cultured, enlightened and sophisticated enough to implement the intercultural interaction task.
For the IEC course, the first condition ‘to have a real-time interaction opportunity’ is generally not feasible, although ‘the interaction experience’ can be to some extent fictionally realized through classroom tasks like role-plays or scenario simulations. As to the second condition to achieve S1b, it is unrealistic to expect
every IEC learner to be greatly cultivated successfully fulfilling all the intercultural tasks. On the one hand, the ‘cultural system’ is a comparatively abstract and complex concept for the majority of IEC participants and their understanding are also unevenly distributed. This can be caused by various reasons like their previous teachers’ exam-oriented teaching approach and inadequate language curriculum. From another perspective the insufficiency could also be attributed to the IEC course design, i.e. the course teaching objectives are more inclined to develop learners’ mediation skills rather than interpreting and analyzing ones.
Although there is no strongly convincing evidence identified in S1b, some instances from learners’ feedback can represent the elementary level of this skill, which is categorized by the researcher as ‘the developed ethno-relative views via reflection’. The following examples are IEC learners’ related feedback:
‘I always think foreigners have stereotype of Chinese, however, we should not have this thought.’ (PQ-3, G2-9-FA)
‘And, first impression (inherent image) is not always right.’ (PQ-4, G2-9-FA) ‘I also have some stereotyping views on foreigners before. But now, I understand that we shouldn’t judge a person by the first impression (inherent image).’ (PQ-4, G3-1-FT)
The above instances are recognized from students’ responses in post-course questionnaires (PQ), which show their ICC development after the whole course. Together with evidence from their focus group interviews, students have made progress in developing their intercultural ethno-relative views, or in Byram’s words ‘identify(ing) causes of misunderstanding and dysfunctions (e.g. over-generalisation from examples; mistaken assumptions about representativeness of views expressed)’. Before undertaking the course, students admitted that they had ‘some stereotyping views on foreigners’, and as a result of the IEC teacher’s guided assistance conducted via intercultural critical incident analysis, they modified their preconceived ideas through continuous reflections
and realized that it is not proper to ‘have stereotyping views on others by the first impression’. Hence, this enlightened outcome in ‘misunderstanding and dysfunction identification’ was regarded as IEC learners’ potential development in Skills of interpreting and relating.
6.1.3.2 ‘Keeping neutral’ as the beginning stage of mediation
Learning objective c) under Skills of interpreting and relating (S1c) is elaborated in Byram’s (1997) work as the ability to ‘mediate between conflicting interpretations of phenomena’ and the intercultural speakers are supposed to ‘use their explanations of sources of misunderstanding and dysfunction to help interlocutors overcome conflicting perspectives’; ‘explain the perspective of each and the origins of those perspectives in terms accessible to the other’ and ‘help interlocutors to identify common ground and unresolvable difference’ (p. 61). In spite of four instances recognized as IEC learners’ S1 development (in 5.2.3.2), majority of students’ comments are not perfect examples for this dimension. Considering question 13 in Teaching Session Three ‘Food and Eating Habits’, namely, ‘If one of your friends who is from America criticizes Chinese cuisine, what is your possible reaction to his comment?’ The question encourages students to analyse their responses when they encounter misunderstandings of their own culture. However, the following examples reflect learners’ tendency of ‘keeping neutral’, which is only the initial stage of ‘mediation of conflicting interpretations’.
‘I will respect them and don’t eat those things when I stay with them. But I will keep neutral.’ (TS3, G2-4-MB)
‘I’ll explain to them our traditional culture, but also not offend them. I will keep a
neutral attitude towards it.’ (TS3, G3-3-FE)
The neutral attitudes represented in learners’ feedback while confronting misunderstandings can be traced back to Chinese spiritual essence of ‘harmonious society’, i.e. reluctance to break the consonance and efforts in keeping the balance (6.1.2.2). However, ‘keeping neutral’ is merely a passive way for mediation, and there is still a gap between ‘neutrality’ and ‘successful mediation’. IEC learners’ inadequate response within this dimension illustrates that it is a comparatively demanding task for Chinese EFL learners to interpret the sources of misunderstanding, analyse the differences and solve the problem. Hence, it is important for the teacher to integrate more mediation activities in the future course design, which can properly stimulate learners’ thoughts and provide them with effective guidance as to how to solve the misunderstanding. More discussions on this aspect are expanded in the Conclusion chapter.
In summary, as to IEC learners’ ICC development in Skills of interpreting and relating, two prominent themes are diagnosed: ‘developed ethno-relative view via reflection’ (6.1.3.1) and ‘keeping neutral as the beginning stage of mediation’ (6.1.3.2). These additional themes are significant when fulfilling an ICC model suitable for Chinese EFL learners, and also valuable in instructing teaching practices. In the next section, I will examine IEC learners’ highlighted features in their responses related to ‘Skills of discovery and interaction’.
6.1.4 Skills of discovery and interaction
According to Byram’s (1997) statement in the ICC Model, Skills of discovery and interaction refers to the ‘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 interaction’ (p.61). In terms of the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U)‘intercultural
knowledge and competence’ rubric (AAC&U,
http://www.aacu.org/value/rubrics/), the correspondent skill is entitled as ‘verbal
and nonverbal communication’ that expects learners to ‘articulate a complex understanding of cultural differences in verbal and nonverbal communication’ and ‘skillfully negotiate a shared understanding based on those differences’. Both
statements are concerned with the skill of effective real-time mediation and interaction. Byram (1997) emphasizes ‘acquiring new knowledge of a culture and cultural practices’, while AAC&U focuses on aspects such as ‘cultural differences in verbal and nonverbal communication’.
As discussed in the previous chapter regarding ‘ICC learning objectives Skills of discovery and interaction’ (5.2.4), 78 instances are identified as IEC learners’ development, and the evidence concentrates on two Skills-2 dimensions – S2c and S2e, with responses of 85% and 15% respectively. On the other hand, there is no related feedback recognized as S2a, S2b, S2d, S2f or S2g from students’ responses. Next, I will examine strengths and weakness in IEC learners’ development from the Chinese EFL learners’ point of view.
6.1.4.1 Underdeveloped ability to acquire new knowledge of a culture (S2a