Tasks to enhance the intercultural communicative competence of english language students with a second foreign language (french) at UCLV

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(1)Faculty of Humanities Department of English Language Studies. Diploma Paper Title: Tasks to Enhance the Intercultural Communicative Competence of English Language Students with a Second Foreign Language (French) at UCLV. Author: Neusa Olinda Varela Spínola Supervisor : Dr.Mayra Rodríguez Ruiz Santa Clara June 2012 i.

(2) We certify that the present Diploma Paper was carried out at the Universidad Central ―Marta Abreu‖ de Las Villas in order to finish the curricula for the training of Bachelors in English Language with a Second Foreign Language (French). We give our approval for it to be partially or totally used by the institution for educational purposes. This Diploma Paper can be neither published nor discussed in any forum without the approval of the University.. Neusa Olinda Varela Spínola _____________________________. Signature of the Author The signatures from above certify that the present Diploma Paper has all the necessary requisites and has been carried out under the agreements of the institution authorities.. ___________________________. ____________________________. Signature of the Supervisor. Signature of the Head of Department. ii.

(3) Thought “From every wound there is a scar and every scar tells a story,. A story that says: I have survived and now I’m even stronger”. Awareness. iii.

(4) Dedication  To my Mom for her unconditional love and for believing in me;  To my dear family, especially my sisters and brothers for always being there for me, through the good and bad times, you all are the reason for my victory;  To myself for all my dedication and efforts;. iv.

(5) Acknowledgements  To God for showing me the best way and for always giving me strength to keep going on even in my worst moments;  To my mom Angelina Furtado Varela for always being there for me and for all the sacrifices;  To all my family especially, my sisters and brothers: Adilson, Ivanilda, Evna Ivan, Emanuel, Alicia, Helga and in particular to Samuel for his great effort to help;  To the Cuban government for this great opportunity and my Embassy for its assistance during my time in Cuba;  To my advisor Dr. Mayra Rodríguez Ruiz for trusting and helping me through all this time;  To all my professors for making me a better person, especially to Dianaleis Maza Amores;  To all my classmates in particular to Elys, Diana, Marlis Leslie and Linet for helping me always;  To the Foreign Students Office of the UCLV. (DAEEDirección de Atención a Estudiantes Extranjeros) for their concern, especially to Engineer MSc. Luis Romero Castillo;  To my country mates who have made my days better during these almost 7 years: Rosaria, Jandira, Carlos, Nancy, Nilza, Jo, Titi, Kuka, Neusa, Evy, Dunea, Claudia, Sandra, Sandrinha , Artemisa and Rui; v.

(6)  To my Cuban family in Ciego de Avila- Clara, Evelio, Zoila and Aida for allowing me being part of them;  To all my friends from other nationalities for sharing all these moments together. Especially:  Chinh (Vietnam)- my dearest daughter, my best friend;  Lady (Nicaragua)-one of my best friends, thanks for always making me smile;  Juliana (Brasil)- one of my best friends, thanks for your kindness;  Youssouf (Republic of Guinea)- my brother and classmate through all this time;  Minerva (Suriname), Kamecia (Antigua and Barbuda) and Aminata (Gabon) - my three sisters from Preparatoria.  My friends from Sao Tome and Principe-Marisa, Dilza, Ednita, Heng, Cici, Candida, Izaite, Lourdes, Beny and Wildmark.  Harun Nderitu (Hakuna) (Kenya) - one of my best friends, thanks for driving me crazy all the time;  Ravi Anthony LaMontagne (Saint Lucia) – my love, thanks for allowing me be the real Neusa, you always have a special place in my heart.  And to all those people who were willing to cooperate and made possible this work. vi.

(7) Abstract Nowadays Foreign Language Teaching entails greatly norms of social interaction in sociocultural communities and concerns to understand differences in interactional norms between sociocultural groups. Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC) is an important tool in this process which reinforces the teaching of skills and abilities to create a frame of mutually understood meanings across cultural boundaries. Therefore, the main goal of this diploma paper is to propose tasks to enhance ICC in the English Language Teaching at UCLV. In so doing, the diploma paper provides theoretical foundations of concepts related to the topic of research. Based on the theoretical framework and taking into account cross-cultural communication as point of departure, tasks are presented for teaching and improving Intercultural Communicative Competence at UCLV. The tasks proposed were evaluated using the assessment of specialists.. Key Words Culture, Communicative Competence, Foreign Language Teaching, Intercultural Awareness, Intercultural Communication, Intercultural Communicative competence. vii.

(8) Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1. Theoretical Foundations about Intercultural Communicative Competence ................................................................................................................... 6 1.1. Culture........................................................................................................................................... 6. 1.2 Communicative Competence ............................................................................................................ 11 1.2.1 The Components of Communicative Competence ........................................................................ 13 1.3 Intercultural Communication ............................................................................................................ 18 1.3.1 Approaches to help interpret the basis of Intercultural Communication ..................................... 20 1.3.2 Misunderstandings derived from Intercultural Communication ................................................... 21 1.3.3 Minimizing misunderstandings derived from Intercultural Communication ................................ 23 1.3.4 The importance of English in Intercultural Communication .......................................................... 25 1.4 Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence ...................................................................... 27 1.4.1 Theories behind Intercultural Communicative Competence......................................................... 28 1.4.2 The Components of Intercultural Communicative Competence ................................................... 29 1.4.3 Developing students’ Cultural Awareness through Foreign Language Teaching ........................ 36 1.4.4 Importance of Intercultural Communicative Competence ............................................................ 37. Chapter 2. Determining Necessities for the Enhancement of Intercultural Communicative Competence in the English Language Career with Second Language French at UCLV ......................................................................................... 40 2.1 Methodology and stages of research ............................................................................................... 40 2.2. Sample and context of research ...................................................................................................... 40 2.3 Methods ............................................................................................................................................ 42 2.3.1 Analysis of documents ................................................................................................................... 42 2.3.2 Professors´ survey .......................................................................................................................... 44 2.3.3 Foreign Affairs Specialists Interview .............................................................................................. 45 2.3.4 English Language Students’ survey ................................................................................................ 46 2.3.5 Foreign Students’ survey ............................................................................................................... 49 2.4 Regularities obtained ........................................................................................................................ 50. Chapter 3. Tasks to Enhance the Intercultural Communicative Competence of English Language Students with Second Language French at UCLV ................... 53 3.1 Foundations of the proposal: ............................................................................................................ 53 viii.

(9) 3.2 Characteristics of the proposal ......................................................................................................... 53 3.3 Evaluation of the proposal by specialists .......................................................................................... 56. Conclusions ................................................................................................................. 57 Recommendations ...................................................................................................... 59 Bibliography ................................................................................................................ 60 Appendixes .................................................................................................................. 64. ix.

(10) Introduction More people than ever before are involved in interactions with foreigners, communities are becoming increasingly multilingual and multicultural day by day and demands for Intercultural Communication skills are increasing as more and more businesses go global or international. People realize that without the help of Intercultural Communication there are barriers and limitations when they enter foreign territory and due to this they can unknowingly cause confusion and misunderstandings. When stepping into foreign grounds it is vital to fully understand the cultural differences that exist so as to prevent damaging relationships due to Intercultural Communication gaps. We must always be aware that the norms, beliefs, practices and language of any group are not static but dynamic; in other words, a group is constantly negotiating and renegotiating its norms and values among its membership.. Valdes (1990) argues that any method of language teaching and learning is inevitably cultural and in language teaching cultural contents are already implicitly in the lessons. From the first day of class, culture is at the forefront, whatever approach, method or technique is used. Greetings are usually first on the agenda; the differences in formal greetings, casual greetings, in greetings of young to old and vice versa, lead inevitability the cultural content in language teaching as an argument for making it an explicit part of the language teaching lesson.. Since culture is implicitly built into language teaching courses, the author of this paper consider that Intercultural Communicative Competence skills in the English Language Teaching course at Universidad Central ―Marta Abreu‖ de Las Villas (UCLV) should be enhanced, in order to prepare students for a better interaction or communication with people from other cultural backgrounds, taking into account that achieving an effective communication through language teaching is more than a matter of language proficiency and enhancing communicative competence, but also enhancing cultural competence, which offers a way of enriching the language learning experience 1.

(11) and contributing to the wider educational goals of better understanding one‘s own community as well as those of others. It is very important to point out that this institution is an international university which according to its Foreign Affairs Office, welcomes each year approximately 40 foreign undergraduate students as scholarship students, Master Degree and PhD students, and also professionals from different educational institutions around the world who come for fruitful interchange. Therefore, this is. what makes it an outstanding. intercultural society, where inevitable processes like cultural clashes and interactions, teaching and learning from other cultures occur frequently.. According to previous analysis of available documents (Curriculum C and Curriculum D) of the English Language with a Second Foreign Language (French) course at this institution, the author of this paper has reached to the conclusion that despite the great progress, the English Language Teaching (education) at UCLV places more emphasis on teaching competence in what Hall (1976) calls. macroskills (speaking, listening,. reading, and writing), and microskills (vocabulary and grammar), without much emphasis on the development of intercultural skills. The proposal of language teaching with an intercultural dimension helps learners to acquire the linguistic competence needed to communicate in macro and micro skills, to formulate what they want to say and write in correct and appropriate ways. But it also develops their intercultural competence, for example their ability to ensure a shared understanding by people of different social identities, and their ability to interact with people as complex human beings with multiple identities and their own individuality.. Consequently, the previously described situation led to the following scientific problem: . Which tasks could be used to develop the Intercultural Communicative Competence of English Language students with a Second Foreign Language (French) at UCLV? Thus the scientific object of this paper is Intercultural Communicative Competence, being the field of action the development of Intercultural Communicative Competence of English Language students with a Second Foreign Language (French) at UCLV. 2.

(12) The general aim of this diploma paper is: . To propose a set of tasks to enhance the development of Intercultural Communicative Competence of English Language Students with a Second Foreign Language (French) at UCLV. In order to accomplish the previous aim, the scientific questions stated below were answered throughout this research: . What are the theoretical foundations to support the proposal of tasks to enhance Intercultural Communicative Competence of English Language Students with a Second Foreign Language (French) at UCLV?. . What is the current situation of the Intercultural Communicative Competence in the English Language Course at UCLV?. . What. tasks. could. be. implemented. in. order. to. enhance. Intercultural. Communicative Competence in the English language studies at UCLV? . What are specialists' opinions about the tasks proposed?. In order to answer these questions, the following scientific tasks were accomplished: . Setting the theoretical foundations to support the proposal of tasks to enhance Intercultural Communicative Competence of English Language Students with a Second Foreign Language (French) at UCLV.. . Assessing the current situation of the Intercultural Communicative Competence in the English Language Course at UCLV.. . Proposing tasks in order to enhance Intercultural Communicative Competence in the English Language Course at UCLV.. . Assessing the proposed tasks by specialists.. 3.

(13) Methods: For the accomplishment of the previously mentioned tasks, different methods were used: . Historical and logical method, which made possible the analysis of concepts related to communicative competence, intercultural communication, culture, intercultural awareness and intercultural communicative competence.. . Theoretical methods, including both the analytical and synthetical methods and the inductive and deductive method. They were used to establish the research process foundations.. . Empirical methods, such as analysis of official documents and surveys in order to determine professionals and students opinion about the topic and also the usefulness of the proposal.. . Statistical and mathematical methods such as the percentage analysis were also applied to process data obtained from surveys.. The sample chosen for the current research involved 25 students of the English Language with a Second Foreign Language (French) and 10 professionals from the Department of English Language Studies, Faculty of Humanities of UCLV for specific interviews and the groups of each academic years of the same course for the diagnostic tests.. Also two outsider professionals were taken for the interview, the Provincial. Delegate of ICAP (Instituto Cubano de Amistad con los Pueblos) in Villa Clara and the Head of Foreign Students Office in UCLV – DAEE (Departamento de Atención a Estudiantes Extrangeros).. To choose the sample, some aspects were taken into consideration: . Students’ academic level: Students of first, second, third, fourth and fifth years of English Language Studies with a Second Foreign Language (French), because the author observed that there is a need to introduce and make more emphasis on the topic Intercultural Communication in the course as such, which embraces all the academic years.. 4.

(14) . Professionals’ academic and scientific degrees: These professionals hold scientific degrees of bachelor, PhD and MSC and academic degrees of assistant professor, associate professor or full professor and some of them are pursuing their MSC or PhD studies.. . Willingness: All the students and professionals surveyed were willing to collaborate in the interviews and diagnostic tests, those from the Department of English Language as well the others from outside.. This diploma paper is necessary because it may contribute to the raise of awareness of both students and professionals of the center about the importance of the improvement of Intercultural Communication and its impact on the English Language Course, the Faculty of Humanities and also on the university as a whole. This diploma paper is structured into three chapters. Chapter 1 deals with the theoretical foundations to support the proposal of tasks to enhance Intercultural Communicative Competence of English Language students with a Second Foreign Language (French) at UCLV.. Chapter 2 implies the assessment of the current situation of the Intercultural Communicative Competence in the English Language Course at UCLV, based on the interviews of students and professionals, the characterization of the sample, main methods and instruments used, as well as the analysis of the results obtained from the diagnostic tests. And Chapter 3 consists of tasks in order to enhance Intercultural Communicative Competence in the English Language Course at UCLV. Finally conclusions, recommendations and appendixes are also provided.. 5.

(15) Chapter. 1.. Theoretical. Foundations. about. Intercultural. Communicative. Competence. How language works, how we make sense in language, how we mean things to each other – all take place within specific contexts. And in these contexts, cultures are in play as habitual patterns of interaction, routine forms of social practice, recurrent uses of symbols, values and beliefs.. The Intercultural Communicative Competence plays an important role within language teaching in order to meet the needs of the contemporary world. In other words, when people are talking to each other their social identities are inevitably part of the social interaction between them. In language teaching, the concept of Intercultural Communicative Competence takes this into account by emphasizing that language learners need to acquire not just linguistic competence but also the knowledge of what is 'appropriate' language, it means they need not just knowledge and skill in the grammar of a language but also the ability to use the language in socially and culturally appropriate ways.. Intercultural Communicative Competence is considerably a vast topic, hence to go through this field, we should first take into consideration some of its key issues that are vital in successful current understanding of it such as: Culture, Communicative Competence, Intercultural Communication and then reach this remarkable topic: Intercultural Communicative Competence as the whole process with its components and specifics characteristics.. 1.1 Culture Taking ‗Culture‘ as a topic, it has the advantage of direct relevance to the learning of another language, and the motivational factor of simultaneously encouraging enquiry into and review of one‘s own cultural habits. According to Corbett (2003), Culture is the object of study of a range of different research disciplines. For example, anthropology which investigates in general how 6.

(16) membership of a particular social group is related to particular sets of behavior; ethnography that seeks, partly through structured exposure to other cultures, to explore and describe how the speech systems and behaviors of groups are related to their social structures and beliefs; and cultural studies seeks to understand and interpret the way that members of a group represent themselves through their cultural products (whether those products are poems, songs, dances, graffiti, or sports events). The definition of ―culture‖ has been very complex throughout centuries, since it manifests itself both in patterns of language, thoughts and in forms of activity and behaviour which is not constant but variable within different ethnic groups, geographical environments and the existence of different views of reality. Loveday‘s (1981) definition of culture incorporates a number of key concerns: ‗an entire way of life‘. According to him ―culture involves the implicit norms and conventions of a society, its methods of ‗going about doing things‘, its historically transmitted but also adaptive and creative ethos, its symbols and its organization of experience.‖ He suggests that it should be clear that the concept of ‗culture‘ is not necessarily related – or even best related – to nationalities, but of communities characterized by a range of factors, including age, gender, class, ethnicity and even such things as leisure pursuits. For example, Kenya is an African country with approximately 43 ethnic groups; although they all are Kenyans we can find great cultural differences among these groups. Another example is that in the foreign students residence U9 at UCLV there are three female students from Djibouti who belong to the Islamic religion, but the three of them dress completely different, but at the same time expressing their religion: one wears jeans and blouses, she can wear shorts and dresses, she never covers her hair with the veil; another wears veil, but wrapped around her head, she never uncovers her hair, she wears blouses but normally long-sleeved, she wears long skirts that cover her up to the toes. And the other always wears long and large robes, called ―hijab” and big veils that cover part of her face, normally the cheeks, and the back part of the veils fall on her shoulders. When you observe people from a certain culture, some characteristics such as dressing and greetings are easy to see. Others are not so easy. Culture is sometimes 7.

(17) compared to an iceberg, some of which is visible, but much of it is difficult to see, or invisible. In 1976, Hall developed the iceberg analogy of culture. If the culture of a society was the iceberg, Hall reasoned, than there are some aspects visible, above the water, but there is a larger portion hidden beneath the surface. (Figure 1). Fig. 1 Edward T. Hall’s Cultural Iceberg Model. What does that mean? The external or conscious part of culture is what we can see and is the tip of the iceberg; it includes behaviors and some beliefs. The internal or subconscious part of culture is below the surface of a society and includes some beliefs, values and thoughts and patterns that underlie behavior. This model teaches us that we cannot judge a new culture based only on what we see when we first enter it. We must take the time to get to know individuals from that culture and interact with them. Only by doing so can we uncover the values and beliefs that underlie the behavior of that society.. Culture is a crucial concept in language teaching. Consequently, linguists point out within culture some processes that have impact upon intercultural language education: acculturation, enculturation and sociopolitical education. Byram (1997) defines ‗Acculturation‘ as the process by which learners are encouraged to function within the new culture, while maintaining their own identity. Hirsch (1987) gave steps to a new coined term, ‗Enculturation‘, which Leavis (2001) defines as the assimilation of learners. 8.

(18) into the host culture; it involves teaching learners in a ‗common culture‘ consisting of facts and myths which have the power of binding the nation into one. And Harrison mentions the Social and Political education and its effect on the content of language teaching programs, and how adequately teaching materials reflect, or how they distort the culture they purport to represent in the construction of a nation or group identity. So there have been and still raising questions about culture itself for example: Where does culture fit? What discipline does culture belong to? As mentioned above, Culture has many mothers‘ academic disciplines that have influenced its development. Linguistics is also one of them, which has provided the concepts of language analysis that are the basis of Intercultural Communication. Another is psychology, which has provided many of the concepts we use in understanding people‘s motivation and behavior. Also two other disciplines, sociology and anthropology, have both influenced our study of behavior and also the influences that form social values in different communities.. Hence, introducing Culture in a more integral way into the language classroom would have a profound impact on the overall goals of the language curriculum, which is a motivation to reconsider why learners are taught to communicate in a foreign language at all. According to linguists, for most of the history of English Language Teaching, there has been the largely unquestioned assumption that learners are trained to become as close to native speakers as possible, in the gloomy knowledge that few will reach that particular goal. Corbett (2003) stands out that the three previous mentioned processes: acculturation, enculturation and sociopolitical education should be taken into consideration within the sphere of language learning, in order that learners can extend their proficiency as language users and cultural beings, which serve as a launchingpoint for their further education much more beyond approaching native speakers‘ language proficiency. Tomalin (2008) considers Culture as the fifth language skill, in addition to listening, speaking, reading and writing; he assumes we could argue that the teaching of Culture in English Language Teaching should include: 9.

(19) . Cultural knowledge: The knowledge of the culture‘s institutions, the ―Capital C‖(civilization) includes history, geography, literature, art, music, politics and so on, as it‘s described by Tomalin and Stempleski (1993) in their book ‗Cultural Awareness‘.. . Cultural values: The ‗psyche‘ of the country, what people think is important; it includes things like family, hospitality, patriotism, fairness etc.. . Cultural behavior: The knowledge of routines and behavior, the ―lower-case c‖—the behavioral patterns, speech patterns, attitudes, values, body language, social skills and lifestyles of everyday people. This culture is set in the framework of history and of social, political, and economic structures, as Tomalin and Stempleski (1993) describe it.. . Cultural skills: The development of intercultural sensitivity and awareness, using the English language as the medium of interaction.. So the raising questions are why should we consider the teaching of this cultural skill set as part of English Language Teaching? And why should we consider Culture as the fifth language skill? According to Tomalin (2008) there are two reasons: . One is the international role of the English language: Many now argue that the role of the English language in the curriculum is a life skill and should be taught as a core curriculum subject like mathematics, the mother tongue or other subjects. The reason for this is globalization and the fact that to operate internationally people will need to be able to use a lingua franca. For the next twenty to thirty years at least, that language is likely to be English.. . The second argument is globalization itself: ‗We are all internationalists now‘, he asserts. ‗We are or will be dealing with foreigners in our community, going abroad more, dealing at a distance with foreigners through outsourcing or email, phone and video-conferencing. We can learn a lot of cultural features but it doesn‘t teach us sensitivity and awareness or even how to behave in certain situations. What the fifth language skill teaches us is the mindset and techniques to adapt our use of English to learn about, understand and appreciate the values, 10.

(20) ways of doing things and unique qualities of other cultures. It involves understanding how to use language to accept difference, to be flexible and tolerant of ways of doing things which might be different to ours. It is an attitudinal change that is expressed through the use of language. We have to adapt and tolerate other behavior styles, and language is the mean to manage it. Culture must be taught as the fifth language skill, outside the lecture room too, cultural awareness should improve integration into university life‘.. In conclusion, it is possible to describe Culture as a shared set of basic assumptions and values, with resultant behavioral norms, attitudes and beliefs which manifest themselves in systems and institutions as well as behavioral patterns and nonbehavioral items. There are various levels to culture, ranging from the easily observable outer layers (such as behavioral conventions) to the increasingly more difficult to grasp inner layers (such as assumptions and values). Culture is shared among members of one group or society, and has an interpretative function for the members of that group. Culture is situated between the human nature on the one hand and the individual personality on the other. In other words it means that culture is not inheritable or genetic, but culture is learned. Although all members of a society share their culture, expressions of culture-resultant behavior are modified by the individuals‘ personality.. 1.2 Communicative Competence The idea of Communicative Competence is originally derived from Chomsky‘s distinction between competence and performance. By competence, Chomsky (1965) means, the shared knowledge of ideal speaker-listener set in a completely homogeneous speech community. On the other hand, performance is concerned with the process of applying the fundamental knowledge to the actual language use. In other words Competence and Performance conflict, from Chomsky‘s point of view reduce to the obvious fact that people, when speaking in the real world, often make linguistic errors (e.g., starting a sentence and then abandoning it midway through) and these. 11.

(21) errors in linguistic performance were irrelevant to the study of linguistic competence (the knowledge that allows people to construct and understand grammatical sentences).. Hymes (1972) asserts that performance cannot be relevant to a linguistic theory for descriptive linguists, because it can never directly reflect competence except under ideal circumstances (the idea speaker-listener know and use language perfectly without making any mistakes). Therefore he believes that the most salient connotation of performance is ―that of imperfect manifestation of underlying system‖. Hymes(1972), finds Chomsky‘s distinction of competence and performance too narrow to describe language behavior as a whole. He claims that a linguistic theory must be able to deal with a heterogeneous speech community, differential competence and the role of sociocultural features. We should be concerned with performance, which he defines as the actual use of language in a concrete situation, not an idealized speaker-listener situation in a completely homogeneous speech community as Chomsky‘s theory (1965) describes. Hymes (1972), points out the necessity to distinguish two kinds of competence: . Linguistic. competence. that. deals. with. producing. and. understanding. grammatically correct sentences; . Communicative competence that deals with producing and understanding sentences that are appropriate and acceptable to a particular situation;. Therefore, it has been said that Communicative Competence is a concept introduced by Hymes (1972), and discussed and redefined by many authors. Hymes's original idea was that speakers of a language have to have more than grammatical competence in order to be able to communicate effectively in a language; they also need to know how language is used by members of a speech community to accomplish their purposes. He defines it as ―knowledge of the rules for understanding and producing both the referential and social meaning of language‖.. 12.

(22) According to him, here it is identified eight aspects of communicative competence which they are grouped together in two groups of four: . Linguistic aspects: Phonology and orthography, grammar, vocabulary and discourse (textual). . Pragmatic aspects: Functions, variations, interactional skills and cultural framework.. 1.2.1 The Components of Communicative Competence The notion of Communicative Competence is one of the theories that underlie the communicative approach to Foreign Language Teaching. As mentioned before, so many others linguists redefines Hymes‘s theory (1972), for example, Canale and Swain (1980), defined Communicative Competence in terms of four components:. 1. Grammatical Competence: it refers to the degree to which the language user has mastered the linguistic code. It includes knowledge of vocabulary, rules of pronunciation and spelling, word formation, and sentence structure. Such competence is an essential concern for any communicative approach that is oriented toward the eventual attainment of higher levels of proficiency, in which accuracy of understanding and expressions are important goals. Thus, this component consists of the basic elements of communication: sentence patterns, morphological inflections, lexical resources, and phonological or orthographic systems.. 2. Sociolinguistic Competence: Addresses the extent to which grammatical forms can be used or understood appropriately in various contexts to convey specific communicative functions, such as persuading, describing, narrating, and giving commands. Such factors as topic, role of the participants, and setting will determine the appropriateness of the attitude conveyed by the speaker and his choice of style or register. This competence consists of the social and cultural knowledge required to use language appropriately with reference to formality, politeness, and other contextually defined choices.. 13.

(23) 3. Discourse Competence: It involves the ability to combine ideas to achieve cohesion in form and coherence in thought. A person who has a highly developed degree of discourse competence will know how to use cohesive devices, such as pronouns and grammatical connectors (i.e., conjunctions, adverbs, and transitional phrases and expressions), to achieve unity of thought and continuity in a text. Discourse competence involves the selection, sequencing, and arrangement of words, structures, and sentences/utterances to achieve a unified spoken or written whole with reference to a particular message and context.. 4. Strategic Competence: It involves the use of verbal and nonverbal communication strategies to compensate for gaps in the language user‘s knowledge of the code or for a breakdown in communication for other reasons. This component is qualitatively different from the other three in that the more proficient or communicatively competent an individual becomes, the less he or she needs to draw on strategic competence. However everyone sometimes experiences breakdowns in a communication, so we must rely on this component for the successful transmission of messages. It means this competence includes the strategies and procedures relevant to language learning, language processing, and language production. It activates knowledge of the other competencies and helps the language users compensate for gaps or deficiencies in knowledge when they communicate. This component is defined as the ability to cope in an authentic communicative situation and to keep the communicative channel open.. The core or central competency in the Canale and Swain framework, (1980) is discourse competence since this is where everything else comes together: It is discourse and through discourse that all the other competencies are realized. And it is discourse and through discourse that the manifestation of the other competencies can best be observed, researched, and assessed. Following Canale and Swain‘s theory (1980), Bachman (1990) and Celce-Murcia et al. (1995), also attempted to define the specific components of the construct of communicative competence. Bachman‘s (1990) model of communicative language 14.

(24) ability included three elements: Language Competence, Strategic Competence and Physiological Mechanisms. . Language Competence includes two additional components: Organizational competence which consists of grammatical and textual competence (parallels to Canale and Swain (1980) Discourse and Pragmatic Competence, which consists of illocutionary competence (language functions and speech acts) and sociolinguistic competence (how to use language functions appropriately in a given context).. . Strategic competence refers to mental capacity to implement language competence appropriately in the situation in which communication take place.. . Physiological mechanisms, this component refers to the neurological and psychological processes that are involved in language use.. Bachman‘s (1990) model identifies pragmatic competence as a main component of the construct of communicative competence that is coordinated with grammatical and textual competence.. Celce-Murcia et al. (1995) further divided communicative competence into Linguistic, Sociocultural, Strategic, Discourse and Actional competencies. They affirm that Linguistic (parallel to Canale and Swain‘s (1980), Gramatical Competence), sociocultural and actional (involves the understanding of the speakers‘ communicative intent by performing and interpreting speech act sets) competencies shape Discourse Competence, which in turn, also shapes each of the three components. Through this model they provide us a clear picture of the interrelationship among all these components, but reinforcing the function to the Strategic Competence. Finally, the four mentioned components are influenced by the last one, strategic competence, which is concerned with the knowledge of communication strategies and how to use them.. Taking into account Hymes theory (1972), Widdowson (1980) also states that six years of instruction in English does not guarantee normal language communication, he 15.

(25) suggests that communicative abilities have to be developed at the same time as the linguistic skills; otherwise the mere acquisition of linguistic skills may inhibit the development of communicative abilities. By suggesting the teaching of both linguistic and communicative competence, he distinguishes two aspect of performance: ―usage‖ and ―use‖. He explains ―usage‖ makes evident the extent to which the language user demonstrates his knowledge of linguistic rules, whereas ―use‖ makes evident the extent to which language user demonstrates his ability to use his knowledge of linguistic rules for effective communication. As well he distinguishes two aspects of meaning: ―significance‖ and ―value‖. Significance is the meaning that sentences have in isolation from the particular situation in which the sentence is produced. Value is the meaning that sentences take on when they are used to communicate. Thus, Widdowson (1980) asserts that linguistic context focuses on ―usage‖ to enable the students to select which form of sentences is contextually appropriate while communicative context focuses on ―use‖ to enable the students to recognize the type of communicative function their sentences fulfill.. Later, Usó-Juan and Martínez-Flor (2006) claim that Celce-Murcia et al. (1995) theory should place Strategic Competence at the same level as the rest of the competencies, since its goal is that of building discourse competence while allowing communicative ability to develop in a parallel way to the other components. Therefore they present their framework model of communicative competence, which includes five components which appear inside rectangular boxes of the same size, namely, discourse, linguistic pragmatic, intercultural competence and strategic. The main aim of the framework is to show how the four language skills serve to build discourse competence for communicative purposes, while also highlights the importance of the intercultural component which is represented as a circle enclosing all five components. 16.

(26) Fig 2: Communicative Competence Components. (Usó-Juan and Martínez-Flor, 2006).. The authors argued that the five components are interrelated in the sense that an increase in one of them interacts with the other components to produce an overall increase in the whole construct of communicative competence. The capital letters stand for the four skills: L=Listening; S=Speaking; R=Reading; W=Writing.. Adapted from Hymes‘s (1972), Corbett (2003) points out that the term ‗Communicative Competence‘ became common currency among English Language Teaching professionals in the 1970s; but despite this, cultural aspects of Communicative Competence had been relatively neglected. In the late 1970s, the idea of ‗rules of use, without which rules of grammar would be useless‘ (Hymes, 1972) gave a powerful intellectual respectability to classroom practices which looked beyond grammatical accuracy as the primary goal of language teaching and learning. A concern for Communicative Competence prompted teachers and materials designers to contextualize the target language by placing it in ‗real-world‘ situations, in the hope of making it ‗authentic‘.. 17.

(27) Through the influence of Communicative Language Teaching, it has become widely accepted that Communicative Competence should be the goal of language education and central to good classroom practice. But, also studies and observations accomplished by linguists point out another aspect important that complement this determinant goal- Intercultural Communication Skills.. 1.3 Intercultural Communication Intercultural Communication is considered by many linguists as a form of global communication, it is also known as cross-cultural communication in a sense that it seeks to understand how people from different countries and cultures act, communicate and perceive the world around them, as well as their languages, social attributes and thought patterns. Besides, it examines how people from different cultures, beliefs and religions come together to work and communicate with each other. Intercultural Communication has a challenging nature for the communicative process among people from different cultural backgrounds, especially languages, which leads so many times to confusion and misunderstandings. Lack of knowledge of another culture can lead, at the best, to embarrassing or amusing mistakes in communication. At the worst, such mistakes may confuse or even offend the people we wish to communicate with, making the conclusion of business deals or international agreements difficult or impossible. The following anecdote highlights a little bit the importance of Intercultural Communicative Competence not only for English language learners but for everyone who is in or is about to be in an intercultural environment. It is a real story that happened almost two years ago, in the foreign students building, (U9) at UCLV.. It was approximately 8:00 p.m. in the third floor, four friends from different countries were chatting, a boy from Uganda, a girl from Saint Lucia, a girl from Sri-Lanka, and another one from Cape Verde (me). There was another girl from Vietnam on the phone. Uganda has English as official language and many other dialects, Saint Lucia has English as official language and Creole (from French) as mother tongue, Sri-Lanka has. 18.

(28) also English as official language and Tamil and Sinhala, both as mother tongue but also as official language and, Cape Verde has Portuguese as official Language and Crioulo (from Portuguese) as mother tongue, and Vietnam has Vietnamese as mother tongue and official language. So since we were totally from different countries, we decided to chat in English. Suddenly a boy from Nepal passed by and greeted us, by saying good night and shaking hands. By any chance the girl from Sri-Lanka couldn‟t reach her hand and the boy just passed his hand by her head and went upstairs. Suddenly the girl called him back and just slapped him twice in his face, started crying and ran away to her room. There was a silence, no one could move for a few seconds, including the boy. Then he just claimed:”What did I do?”Nobody knew the answer; some started talking, others were laughing and then each one went back to the respective rooms. Only the day after we came to find out that in her culture boys are not allowed to touch girls‟ hairs unless he is the fiancee or the husband. It was a big misunderstanding that after two years of living together none of us knew.. Thus, besides that Intercultural Communication explores the impact of culture on human communication, it also examines the patterns of verbal and nonverbal communication that are exhibited by social, cultural and ethnic groups. It seeks to play a positive and constructive role in these encounters by continuously inviting us to reflect on our own lives and our relationships with each other, and also taking into account those actions and reactions that often are placed only in a context without regarding cultural aspects.. A number of mostly behavioral concepts has been identified that can be used to distinguish between cultures. These include, for example, the differences in the usage of kinesics (body movements), proxemics (space organization), oculesics (eye movement), haptics (touching behaviour), as well as paralinguistic concepts, such as accents, intonation, speed of talking and so on. Not surprisingly each of these concepts plays an important role in Intercultural Communication, particularly in communication where the context plays an important role. Most people will either consciously, or subconsciously look for affirmative action or reaction by their counterparts when 19.

(29) speaking to them face to face, for example to signal that what is being said is understood. In those cases the affirmative action is, not surprisingly, often directly linked to cultural context. Failure to provide the correct affirmative action may well be interpreted as undermining the spoken word. Depending on the context, this may lead to a complete communication breakdown. These processes are important parts of nonverbal communication or paralanguage. The movement of the body, or separate parts, conveys many specific meanings and the interpretations may be culture bound. As many movements are carried out at a subconscious or at least a low-awareness level, the movements of these processes carry a significant risk of being misinterpreted in an intercultural communications situation. (Birdwhistell 1970; Knapp1972).. The basic skills of Intercultural Communication are fundamentally general communication skills that can be used universally by all cultures and races. To fulfill the cross-cultural aspects these skills are simply taken in a direction that takes the cultural limitation into consideration, it means the boundaries of each culture at the point to understand each other without getting into conflicts.. 1.3.1 Approaches to help interpret the basis of Intercultural Communication There are many theories that set principles to help interpret the basis of Intercultural Communication, (Gudykunst, 2003). These theories help to overcome possible misunderstandings by giving a basic guideline on how to address situations and help also to prevent clashes between different cultures or groups caused by misperceptions. Among them here are some such as:. Theories focusing on effective outcomes: . Cultural Convergence: In a relatively closed social system, the system will tend to diverge toward diversity when communication is restricted;. . Anxiety/Uncertainty Management: focuses on management of uncertainty (e.g., the inability to predict or explain others attitudes, behaviors, or feelings) and anxiety (e.g., feelings of being uneasy, tense, worried, or apprehensive). 20.

(30) . Effective Group Decision Making: This theory is about decision making within groups and differences on point of views.. Theories focusing on accommodation or adaption: . Communication Accommodation Theory: focuses on linguistic strategies to decrease or increase communicative distances;. . Intercultural Adaption: is designed to explain how communicators adapt to each other in "purpose-related encounters";. . Co-cultural Theory: looks at the strategic ways in which co-cultural group members communicate with others.. Theories focusing on acculturation and adjustment: . Communication Acculturation: attempts to portray "cross-cultural adaption in which a stranger and the receiving environment are engaged in a joint effort.. . Assimilation, Deviance, and Alienation States: Assimilation and adaption are temporary outcomes of the communication process between hosts and immigrants. Alienation therefore is an outcome of the relationship between deviant behavior and neglectful communication.. As it is assumed here, Intercultural Communication principles guide the process of exchanging meaningful and unambiguous information across cultural boundaries, in a way that it preserves mutual respect and minimizes antagonism. For example when a tourist seeks help, where two well-established independent corporations attempt to merge their operations, and where politicians attempt to negotiate world peace.. 1.3.2 Misunderstandings derived from Intercultural Communication People from different cultures encode and decode messages differently, increasing in this way, the chances of misunderstanding, so the safety-first consequence of recognizing cultural differences should be to assume that everyone's thoughts and. 21.

(31) actions are not just like ours. Ignorance can lead to much frustration for members of both cultures, e.g.: the assumption your own culture is correct. According to Dahl(1998); Dahl(2004); Holenstein(1985), there are some areas where misunderstandings are more prominent. The main types of misunderstanding are concerning rights, values and needs; assumptions and situations: . Rights, values, and needs: Many rights are assumed, values are implied, and needs are unspoken, (e.g. for safety, security, love, a sense of belonging to a group, self-esteem, and the ability to attain one's goals). Similarly, there may be problems of respect when a person from a rigidly class-based culture meets a meritocratic, or where there is racism, sexism or religious intolerance in play. Sometimes there is a mutual competition that may be affected by economic jealousy. Stereotyping can aggravate these problems and prevent people from realizing that there is another way to interpret a situation.. . Assumptions: People may misinterpret each other's motives. For example, one group may assume that they are simply exchanging information about what they believe, but the other believes that they are negotiating a change in behavior. Individuals may wish to protect their privacy, corporations may be concerned about industrial espionage, and politicians may be bound by requirements of secrecy in the national interest.. . The situation: If time is not a factor and those interacting approach their meetings with good will and patience, effective communication is more likely. But, if the parties are under pressure (whether generated by external circumstances or internal needs), emotions may color the exchange. In a crisis, fear and anger may trigger more aggressive tactics, particularly if the meeting is being staged under the gaze of the news media.. The presence of Intercultural Communication in the English Language Teaching leads to new notions of transnational and intercultural literacy which recognize that communication with others who do not share our background and contact with other modes of thinking are becoming more common in our lives. Emphasis should be laid upon the issue of Intercultural Communication as most of the exchanges in the world 22.

(32) today take place between people from different culture and realities, which is undoubtedly linked to the phenomenon of globalization, the impact of new technologies and new advancements, which in great sense open doors to new professional, academic, and cultural opportunities and beyond.. 1.3.3 Minimizing misunderstandings derived from Intercultural Communication One of the primary challenges of the twenty-first century is to manage the increasing contact among the cultures of our big planet. Greater mobility, diversity, and complexity are the hallmarks of every workplace and community, demanding intercultural skills as never before. It is essential to improve Intercultural Communication in order to minimize the risk of making the elementary mistakes. It is also prudent so that everyone understands the nature and purpose of the interaction, because when there are differences in languages and ideologies, clarifying one's meaning will improve certainly the communication. Since every culture has its own cultural norms for conversation and these norms differ from one culture to another, some of the norms can be completely different and collide with other cultures norms.. Consequently, communication problems may arise among speakers who do not know or share the norms of another culture. To solve these problems we (learners) need to be aware of the target culture within the syllabus of the Foreign Language Teaching, because it is considered that cultural mistakes are worse than linguistic ones because they tend to cause misjudgments, or ill feelings between a native and foreign speakers. Bennett therefore strongly suggests that ―it is necessary to understand more deeply and completely the cultural contents and dimensions of the language in order to not be a fluent fool. People need to know, be aware of, and understand cultures of other people.. 23.

(33) They at least need to recognize differences among cultures or in a better case can compare them with their own cultures. Normally, people who always live in their own culture and only speak their own native language do not realize that their behavior is culturally-induced and are not aware of their own culture value. It is necessary to understand the way of life or culture of foreign people in order to survive in the world full of conflicting ideas and value systems, which excludes those with different ideas.‖. It is essential that people research the cultures and communication conventions of those whom they propose to meet. This will minimize the risk of making the elementary mistakes. It is also prudent to set a clear agenda so that everyone understands the nature and purpose of the interaction. According to Dahl(1998); Dahl(2004); and Holenstein(1985), when language skills are unequal, clarifying one's meaning in five ways will improve communication: . Avoid using slang and idioms, choosing words that will convey only the most specific denotative meaning;. . Listen carefully and, if in doubt, ask for confirmation of understanding (particularly important if local accents and pronunciation are a problem);. . Recognize that accenting and intonation can cause meaning to vary significantly;. . Respect the local communication formalities and styles, and watch for any changes in body language.. . Investigate their culture's perception of your culture by reading literature about your culture through their eyes before entering into communication with them.. Tomalin and Stempleski (1993b) added some other Examples of communication skills to improve Intercultural Communication: . To listen without judging;. . Repeat what you understand;. . Confirm meanings;. . Give suggestions;. . And acknowledge a mutual understanding;. 24.

(34) It is very difficult to avoid all mistakes derived from Intercultural Communication, however, these conflicts and contrasts will provide learning, since, as soon as one learns another language we will encounter differences and challenges. These drive learning, if the environment is one where language learning is seen as more than gathering information. The contrasts and reasons behind purposes, appropriacy and different language functions are the area to which, one should be aware of, to at least minimize the clashes among cultures.. 1.3.4 The importance of English in Intercultural Communication English language is increasingly being used in public domains of communication around the world. In particular, it is very important to make prominent that learning English nowadays is not simply about acquiring knowledge of its grammatical patterns but, more appropriately, emphasizing and learning a new language as a means of communication with others, as well as improving understanding of cultures with which learners were previously unfamiliar. The growing importance given to the social culture realities in contact with other cultures in different regions of the world, internal and external migration as well as globalization and the development of new technologies are making Intercultural Communication progressively more an important feature of social life, as well as the development of Intercultural Competence. Here is where the English as a lingua franca is accommodated, leading to its status as English as International Language (EIL).. There has been a growing interest in the development of English as International Language (EIL). It implies a new way of communication across different nationalities and cultures through the medium of a common language. The motives for this initiative are several, among them we can see that as English has become the global language, more and more people have been using it, so as today, most of the global scientific publications, business knowledge, business exchanges, communications and global institutions are in English. The worldwide communication is connected by English. An. 25.

(35) estimated 75% of the world‘s mail is in English, 80% of computer data is in English, and 85% of all information stored or abstracted is in English (Thomas 1996).. According to the British Council (2007), globally, English has become the lingua franca in many parts of the world; it has been widely dispersed around the world, becoming the leading language of international discourses. Linguist Crystal (2003), points out in that English has official or special status in at least seventy-five countries with a total population of over two billion. Approximately 375 million people speak English as their first language. Speakers of English as a second language will soon outnumber those who speak it as a first language. Around 750 million people are believed to speak English as a foreign language. One out of four of the world's population speaks English to some level of competence and demand from the other three-quarters is increasing.. The English language is widely learned as a second language and used as an official language in many world organizations such as the European Union, the United Nations, the International Olympic Committee and including many Commonwealth countries. English is, by international treaty, the official language for aerial and maritime communications. While it is not an official language in most countries, it is currently the language most often taught as a foreign language.. Cultural and political ties have a great significance in several countries and here English keeps going on as a relevant language in the interrelationships as it is used in administration, education and government and as a means of communicating between speakers of diverse languages, for example in international conventions and conferences around the world. Thus, English is well on its way to becoming the dominant global language, in fields such as science where a common language brings efficiency gains; since it is the predominant language in the publishing industry, along with the advances in telecommunications in the last thirty years, its dominance in auditory and audiovisual entertainment has become far greater. The music and the media, the need to mediate between languages and cultures seems to be on the rise, 26.

(36) which appears to make the study of Intercultural Communication even more relevant nowadays.. With the status mentioned, English is seen obviously as the language of Intercultural Communication, because it works as the bridge that links different nations, cultures and organizations around the world in all continents. At present, it gets its status of English as International Language (EIL), which signifies that English does not exclusively belong to the English native speakers, but it is a lingua franca around the world. 1.4 Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence In today´s globalized world the importance of university education and opportunities of international experience provided to the students are getting vital. As a result, a new and changeable world order has made Intercultural Communicative Competence a prerequisite, which has set a new goal for Foreign Language Teaching (FLT). This goal is not only to enable the learners to acquire language competence and communicative competence, but more importantly, Intercultural Communicative Competence. (Sercu, 2005). Then, to meet the goal of being intercultural speakers, it seems salient that learners of English language acknowledge the importance not only of communicative competence, but also Intercultural Communicative Competence which , benefiting not only those students who are planning to study abroad and need to adapt to a new cultural environment but also those who live in countries who may have a chance to engage in international relationship, business and communication where English may often be the preferred medium of interaction.. Obviously the development of Intercultural Communicative Competence is the core of Foreign Language Teaching, but we have to be aware, because linguists are in agreement that developing Intercultural Communicative Competence is not equivalent to teaching culture in language classrooms, it is much more. 27.

(37) Sercu (2005), points out that in order to deal with intercultural experiences a person needs a number of intercultural competences identified as willingness to engage with the foreign culture, self-awareness and the abilities to look upon oneself from the outside; to see the world through the others‘ eyes, to cope with uncertainty, to act as a cultural mediator, to evaluate others‘ points of view, to consciously use culture learning skills and to read the cultural context, and to understand that individuals cannot be reduced to their collective identities.. According to Moran (2001), the goal of developing Intercultural Communicative Competence is not simply to teach the knowledge of another culture, nor to develop the ability to behave appropriately in that culture. It is to enable cultural learners to acquire a mix of culture-specific understanding and culture-general understanding by emphasizing intellectual insight and empathy regarding a specific culture such as history, literature, arts, products, practices, perspectives, communities and persons. Intercultural Communicative Competence focus also on the outcome of competence involving verbal and nonverbal cultural behaviors and skills, for example, language proficiency, communicative competence, cultural competence and intercultural competence.. In many societies we find a raising question: Why teaching English? And often the answer is that English is taught with the purpose of communication with people from other English speaking cultures. Linguists, especially from our days like Richard L. Wiseman, Mitchell R. Hammer, Gudykunst, Hiroko, Nishida are not in total agreement with this opinion; according to them the idea of this answer is not wrong but in order to communicate with other people, is it enough just to master English grammar, vocabulary and colloquial phrases? They agree that other competences are necessary where intercultural aspects should be focused on, with the purpose to achieve a successful Intercultural Communicative Competence.. 1.4.1 Theories behind Intercultural Communicative Competence Although it is in wide use today, Intercultural Communicative Competence is a recent notion and there is no clear consensus about what it is. Sometimes this term is referred 28.

(38) as Global Competence, International Competence, Multicultural Competence, and so forth. Anyway, in all these cases, Hymes (1972) asserts that the definitions used here purposely employ the word ―competence‖ and implicitly imply the term ―performance.‖ Being ―competence‖ abstract which cannot be witnessed directly, consequently, it must be inferred by observing how one performs. Hence, competence and performance are interrelated – one being abstract and the other observable. In this view, then, one infers competence by observing and monitoring performance, rather than by talking about it only in abstraction.. Some researchers stress global knowledge, others emphasize. sensitivity, and still others point to certain skills. The characterization of Intercultural Communicative Competence presented below, suggests that it is a really complex phenomenon that takes into account several different components.. Fantini (2006) defines Intercultural Communicative Competence as the complex of abilities needed to perform effectively and appropriately when interacting with others who are linguistically and culturally different from oneself. He affirms that whereas ―effective‖ usually reflects one‘s own view of one‘s performance in the second language (LC2) (i.e., an ―etic‖ or outsider‘s view of the host culture); ―appropriate‖ relates to how one‘s performance is perceived by one‘s hosts (i.e., an ―emic‖ or insider‘s view). This phenomenon (ICC) is also defined by Wiseman (2001) as the comprised form of knowledge, skills, and motivation necessary to interact effectively and appropriately with individuals from different cultures where motivation is made an element of Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC).. 1.4.2 The Components of Intercultural Communicative Competence Learning to deal with different cultures effectively, it means, being intercultural competent requires cultural awareness, communicative competence, personal attitudes like empathy and flexibility, self awareness and understanding others values, norms and beliefs understanding. Fantini (2005) sees Intercultural Communicative Competence as a complex phenomenon which encompasses multiple components. These include: 29.

(39) . Traits and characteristics. . Areas or domains. . Dimensions. . Proficiency in the host language. . Developmental Levels. Traits and Characteristics – It is useful to distinguish traits (i.e., innate personal qualities) from acquired characteristics developed later in life that are related to one‘s cultural and situational context – a sort of ―nature vs. nurture‖ distinction. This distinction is particularly important in training and educational programs because it poses the question: which abilities form part of an individual‘s intrinsic personality and which can be developed or modified through training and educational efforts? Commonly cited traits and/or characteristics of Intercultural Communicative Competence include: flexibility, humor, patience, openness, interest, curiosity, empathy, tolerance for ambiguity, and suspending judgment, among others.. Areas or Domains - Intercultural Communicative Competence involves ability in three areas or domains. These are: . The ability to establish and maintain relationships;. . The ability to communicate with minimal loss or distortion;. . The ability to collaborate in order to accomplish something of mutual interest or need;. Dimensions - Intercultural Communicative Competence also has four dimensions: . Knowledge. . Skills,. . Attitudes/affect (positive). . Awareness. For Byram (2002), Intercultural Communicative Competence is being seen as a complex combination of these valuable dimensions. Byram (2002) presents these dimensions as the five so-called saviors, a set of savoir which incorporates and 30.

(40) transforms the goals of communicative curricula. In one of what is to date the most fully worked-out specification of Intercultural Communicative Competence, there are these five formulations of its dimensions needed to mediate between cultures. These are specified as follows: . Attitudes - Savoir être: 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 that has a different set of values, beliefs and behaviors. This can be called the ability to 'decentre'.. . Knowledge - Savoirs: knowledge of social groups and their products and 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 knowledge of illustrations of those processes and products; the latter includes knowledge about how other people are likely to perceive you, as well as some knowledge about other people.. . Skills: . Skills (of interpreting and relating) - Savoir comprendre: ability to interpret a document or event from another culture, to explain it and relate it to documents or events from one‘s own;. . Skills (of discovery and interaction) - Savoir apprendre/faire: 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.. . Awareness - Savoir s'engager: an ability to evaluate, critically and on the basis of explicit criteria, perspectives, practices and products in one‘s own and other cultures and countries. 31.

(41) On the one hand, Byram (2002) makes emphasis more on Attitudes - Savoir être, by pointing out that the foundation of Intercultural Communicative Competence is in the attitudes of the intercultural speaker and mediator. According to Sercu (2005), to achieve effective interaction, communicators with intercultural competence are supposed to have culture specific and culture general knowledge, knowledge of self and others, knowledge of individual and societal interactions as well as insight concerning the ways in which culture affects language and communication. Such skills are required of communicators with ability to interpret and relate, ability to discover and/or interact, ability to acquire new knowledge and to operate knowledge, attitudes and skills under the constraints of real-time communication and interaction and metacognitive strategies (self-evaluation of the thought process and performance) to direct own learning. Attitude/affect an aspect needed by communicators, like attitude to relativize self and value others, positive disposition towards learning intercultural competence, and general disposition characterized by a critical engagement with the foreign culture under consideration and one‘s own.. On the other hand, Fantini (2005) points out that from these dimensions, Awareness is central and especially critical to cross-cultural development. It is enhanced through reflection and introspection in which both the individual‘s first language culture (LC1) and the second language culture (LC2) are contrasted and compared. Awareness differs from knowledge in that it is always about the ―self‖ vis-à-vis all else in the world (other things, other people, other thoughts, etc.) and ultimately helps to clarify what is deepest and most relevant to one‘s identity. Awareness is furthered through developments in knowledge, positive attitudes, and skills, and in turn also furthers their development.. Proficiency in the Host Language - The ability to communicate in the host language greatly enhances Intercultural Communicative Competence development in both quantitative and qualitative ways. Grappling with another language confronts how one perceives, conceptualizes, and expresses oneself; and, in the process, fosters the 32.

(42) development of alternative communication strategies on someone else's terms. This humbling and challenging process often facilitates transcending and transforming how one understands the world.. Developmental Levels - Varying levels of attainment throughout a longitudinal and developmental process. Intercultural Communicative Competence normally evolves over a lengthy and continuing process, occasionally with moments of stagnation and even regression. Much of what happens depends on the strength of one‘s individual motivation (instrumental vs. integrative) vis-à-vis the host culture. For this reason, establishing benchmarks can help to monitor and measure one‘s progress. These levels could be educational traveler, sojourner, professional, intercultural or multicultural specialist, according to one‘s purpose, or it could be added or substituted as useful, as well as other terms for example basic, intermediate, advanced, native-like, among others. Chen and Starosta(1998) have also highlighted others three basic components for Intercultural Communicative Competence: . Intercultural Sensitivity (effective process);. . Intercultural Adroitness (behavioral process);. . Intercultural Awareness (cognitive process);. Intercultural Sensitivity-IS (effective process) Intercultural Sensitivity is considered one of the most important abilities that help the individuals to survive successfully in the culturally diverse society and enjoy these differences, (Chen, 1997). Moreover, Chen and Starosta (1998) define it as the quality of accommodating, understanding and appreciation of cultural differences, and to enhance one‘s self-awareness Intercultural Sensitivity which leads to appropriate and effective behavior in Intercultural Communication. In other words, it is the key capability for living and working together effectively with people from different cultures (Zhao, 2002).. 33.