What Efl Teachers Should Know About Intercultural Competence 1

What EFL teachers should know about

INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCEINTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE

… and what they might find less helpful

Rudi Camerer

IATEFL Conference Brighton 16 April 2011

Projekt: Vermittlung interkultureller Kompetenzen imFremdsprachenunterricht der Schulformen der Sekundarstufe I und II desSaarlandes Englisch & Französisch (2007 bis 2008).

Teaching & Testing Material

Train-the-trainer sessions

Teaching & Testing Material

elc – European Language CompetenceBeethovenplatz 1-3D – 60325 Frankfurt am Main

Bahnhofstrasse 28D – 66111 Saarbrücken

www.elc-consult.com

Federal Institute for Vocational Training (BIBB)

Chambers of Commerce: Intercultural Competence in English (ICE)

Assessment Tests and training sessions

Austrian Chambers of Commerce: Intercultural Competence in English (ICE)

TEACHER TRAINING COURSESin SAARLAND, NRW and HESSEN

Intercultural Competence in English (ICE)

UNDERSTANDING CULTURE?UNDERSTANDING CULTURE?

Edward T. Hall

Geert Hofstede

Fons Trompenaars & Charles Hampden-Turner

UNDERSTANDING CULTURE?UNDERSTANDING CULTURE?

• WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEENCULTURE AND LANGUAGE?

• WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN

CULTURE AND (HI)STORY?

UNDERSTANDING CULTURE?

“Culture hides more thanwhat it reveals, and strangelyenough, what it hides,it hides most effectively fromits own participants.”Edward T. Hall

Language opens doors to the world.

Each language provides a particularview of the world.

Culture can only be revealed through(hi)story telling, i.e. using language.

Edward T. Hall

1914-2009American

anthropologist andcross-cultural researcher

• PROXEMICS

• HIGH CONTEXT / LOW CONTEXT

• MONOCHRONIC / POLYCHRONIC TIME

1959: The Silent Language.1966: The Hidden Dimension.1974: Handbook for Proxemic Research1983: The Dance of Life: The Other Dimension of Time.1977: Beyond Culture.1990: Hidden Differences (with Mildred R. Hall)1993; Understanding Cultural Differences: Germans, French and Americans.1995: The Fourth Dimension in Architecture. (with Mildred R. Hall)

Geert Hofstede

Dutch psychologist and

cross-cultural researcher

1980: Culture's Consequences1994: Cultures and Organizations. Software of the Mind1998: Masculinity and Feminity: The Taboo Dimension of National Cultures.2008: Exploring Culture.

http://stuwww.uvt.nl/~csmeets/

IBM Research project in 64 countries

• POWER DISTANCE

• INDIVIDUALISM / COLLECTIVISM

• MASCULINITY / FEMININITY

• UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE

• LONG-TERM / SHORT-TERM ORIENTATION

“Culture:the collectiveprogrammingof the mind.”

Fons Trompenaars & Charles Hampden-Turner

British managementphilosopher, University of

Cambridge.

1997: Mastering the infinite game: How East Asian values are transforming business practices. Oxford: Capstone.1997: Riding the waves of culture: Understanding cultural diversity in business. London: Nicholas Brealey.2000: Building cross-cultural competence: How to create wealth from conflicting values. Chichester: Wiley.2001: 21 leaders for the 21st century: How innovative leaders manage in the digital age. Oxford: Capstone.2004: Managing people across cultures. Chichester: Capstone.

“Culture is the way in which agroup of people solves problems

and reconciles dilemmas.”

Shell project

• UNIVERSALISM / PARTICULARISM

• INDIVIDUALISM / COMMUNITARIANISM

• NEUTRAL / EMOTIONAL

• SPECIFIC / DIFFUSE

• ACHIEVEMENT / ASCRIPTION

• ATTITUDES TO TIME

• ATTITUDES TO ENVIRONMENT

Dutch author,student of Geert

Hofstede‘s

• Are dimensions / features / descriptors of culture types arbitrary?

• How do they relate to each other?

http://www.europeanvaluesstudy.eu/

The European ValuesStudy is a large-scale,cross-national, andlongitudinal surveyresearch program onbasic human values. Itprovides insights into theideas, beliefs,preferences, attitudes,values and opinions ofcitizens all over Europe.It is a unique researchproject on howEuropeans think aboutlife, family, work,religion, politics andsociety.

http://www.europeanvaluesstudy.eu/

1981, 1990, 1999, 2008, [Integrated Values Surveys 1981 – 2004] …

257,00080Four-wave aggregate data file

77,0006,700,000,000542005-20085

96,0006,100,000,000671999-20044

75,0005,700,000,000521994-19983

61,0005,300,000,000421989-19932

25,0004,700,000,000201981-19841

RespondentsPopulationCountriesYearsWave

The World ValuesSurvey is organisedas a network ofsocial scientistscoordinated by acentral body, theWorld Values SurveyAssociation.

http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/

http://www.thunderbird.edu/sites/globe/

2006

• Are dimensions / features / descriptors of culture types arbitrary?

• How do they relate to each other?

How do the findings match?

e.g. uncertainty avoidance index:

Uncertainty avoidance index:

How often do you feel nervous or tense at work?(mean score on a 1 to 5 scale)

Company rules should not be broken - evenwhen the employee thinks it is in the company’sbest interest.(mean score on a 1 to 5 scale)

How long do you think you will continue workingfor IBM?(1) Two years at the most; (2) From two to five years; (3) Morethan five years (but I probably leave before I retire); (4) Until Iretire.

Based on 3 items:

Jacques Pateau, Une étrange alchimie: La dimension interculturelle dans lacoopération franco-allemande (1999). Judith Jahn, Kulturstandards imdeutsch-französischen Management. (2006)

e.g. uncertainty avoidance index:

Gross direct premiums writtencorresponds to turnover and comprises

the totals invoiced by the observation unitduring the reference period, which

comprise all amounts due during thefinancial years with respect of insurance

contracts.

UK:324.416D:

161.205F:

140.868

INSURANCE POLICIES IN EUROPEGross direct premiums written (incl. life and

non-life insurance business of compositeinsurance business), EU Member States and

Iceland, 2006

Eurostat: Statistics in focus 75/2008

Gross direct premiums written EU 2006

UK: 324.416.5

D: 161.205.0

F: 140.868.5

(€m)

Questioning culture frameworks:e.g. Hofstede’s methodology:

Vas Taras, Piers Steel: “Beyond Hofstede: Challenging the Ten Commandments of Cross-Cultural Research”. In: Cheryl Nakata (ed.): Beyond Hofstede: Culture Frameworks forGlobal Marketing and Management (2009), pp. 40-60.

•Cultures are NOT limited to values.

•Values are NOT necessarily cultural.

•Cultures are NOT extremely stable.

•Culture may be an effect, NOT ONLY the cause.

•Geographical boundaries are NOT optimal for clustering cultures.

•Mean scores and ranking may create a false perception of culturalhomogeneity.

•Matched samples (e.g. IBM staff) are NOT ALWAYS helpful to study culturaldifferences.

•Self-response questionnaires do NOT adequately measure culture.

Questioning culture frameworks:e.g. Hofstede‘s and Trompenaars’use of language

”The ethnocentric implications of Hofstede's findings have been criticised by

others but little attention has been paid to these criticisms so far.” (Haas 2007)

cf. Smith, T. (2003). “Developing comparable questions in cross-national surveys.” In J.Harkness, F. Van De Vijver, P. Mohler (Eds.). Cross-cultural survey methods. Hoboken:Wiley-Interscience. pp. 69-92; Haas, H. in InterCultureJournal 6/5 ( 2007) pp. 3-20. et alia.

The criticism is largely of

a) equivalents for terms in different languages,

b) questions arising from a difference in degree, e.g. for politeness,

c) culture-bound responses and the differences existing in these,

d) factors of social desirability.

Summaries of critical appraisals of statistic-based culture frameworks:

Haas, Helene. “Probleme der kulturvergleichenden Umfrageforschung.” inInterculture Journal 6/5 ( 2007) pp. 3-20.

Leila Behrens: Konservierung von Stereotypen mit Hilfe der Statistik: GeertHofstede und sein kulturvergleichendes Modell. 2007.

Vas Taras & Piers Steel: „Beyond Hofstede: Challenging the TenCommandments of Cross-Cultural Research“ in: Cheryl Nakata. BeyondHofstede. Culture Frameworks for Global Marketing and Management (2009)pp. 61-77.

TEACHING INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE

TEACHING INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE

TEACHING INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE

INTERCULTURAL

corporate facilitation, mediation, coaching,team management, project management,

conflict management, organisationdevelopment …

Core skills and knowledge of facilitators• active listening, encouraging open communication• group dynamics• meeting management• problem solving• knowledge of costs of quality, "chain of customers" concepts, role ofmeasurement• project management• political sensitivity and tact

Supplementary, specialized knowledge• team building• one-on-one coaching• organizational development• survey and interview techniques• statistical process control, quality function deployment, experimentation

http://www.organizedchange.com/facil2.htm

facilitator =/= trainer

facilitation, mediation,

coaching, team

management, project

management, conflict

management, organisation

development …

INTERCULTURAL

COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE

Train-the-trainer courses for …

A language-basedtraining concept and test

for intercultural communicative competence (ICC)

Intercultural competence meansbeing able to deal with situations like these:

What I do and what I say to Silvio is what counts

Intercultural Competence (ICC):

Linguistic &communicative

competence

ICC

Featuresof personality

(openness, tolerance …)

Interculturalknowledge

CONTEXT

ASPECTS OF INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE

A: IC KNOWLEDGE

B: IC SKILLS

C: PERSONALITY

Intercultural sensitivity

Open-mindedness, tolerance of frustration…

Communicative competence

Linguistic competence

Country specifics

IC knowledge

Common European Framework of Referencefor Languages (CEFR) Council of Europe 2001

Domains, scenarios, situations, communicativetasks and objectives, forms of oral and writteninteraction, interactive strategies, languageprocesses, socio-linguistic skills, intercultural skills…

Descriptors of Communicative Competence

Kann seine Ausdrucksweise auch wenigerroutinemäßigen, sogar schwierigen Situationenanpassen. 124

Ist sich der wichtigsten Höflichkeitskonventionenbewusst und handelt entsprechend. 122

Kann in ein Gespräch über ein vertrautes Themaeingreifen und dabei eine angemessene Wendungbenutzen, um zu Wort zu kommen. 89 /124

Kann ein breites Spektrum einfacher Mittel einsetzen,um die meisten Situationen zu bewältigen, dietypischerweise beim Reisen auftreten. 79

B1

FlexibilitätSoziolinguistischeAngemessenheit

SprecherwechselMündliche Interaktionallgemein

Kann Fehler bei Zeitformen oder bei Ausdrücken, diezu Missverständnissen führen, korrigieren, sofern dieGesprächspartner signalisieren, dass es ein Problemgibt. 71

Kann ein Wort aus der Muttersprache mitzielsprachlicher Aussprache verwenden undnachfragen, ob es verstanden wird. 70

Kann Teile von dem, was jemand gesagt hat,wiederholen, um das gegenseitige Verstehen zusichern. 38

B1

RezeptionsstrategienKontrolle undReparaturen

KompensierenInteraktion

B2+: Kann Inhalt und Form seiner Aussagen derSituation und dem Kommunikationspartner anpassenund sich dabei so förmlich ausdrücken, wie es unterden jeweiligen Umständen angemessen ist. 124

Kann Beziehungen zu Muttersprachlernaufrechterhalten, ohne sie unfreiwillig zu belustigenoder zu irritieren oder sie zu veranlassen, sich anderszu verhalten als bei Muttersprachlern. 122

Kann in Gesprächen auf angemessene Weise dasWort ergreifen und dazu verschiedene geeignetesprachliche Mittel verwenden. 88 / 124

Kann sich so spontan und fließend verständigen,dass ein normales Gespräch und anhaltendeBeziehungen zu Muttersprachlern ohne größereAnstrengung auf beiden Seiten gut möglich ist. 79

B2

C2: Kann die soziolingusitische u. soziokulturelleImplikationen der sprachlichen Äußerungen vonMuttersprachlern richtig einschätzen undentsprechend darauf reagieren . … 121C1: Kann ein großes Spektrum an idiomatischen undalltagssprachlichen Redewendungen wiedererkennen und dabei Wechsel im Register richtigeinschätzen. 121

Kann aus einem geläufigen Repertoire vonDiskursmitteln eine geeignete Wendung auswählenund der eigenen Äußerung voranstellen, um dasWort zu ergreifen oder um Zeit zu gewinnen und dasWort zu behalten, während er/sie überlegt. 88 / 124

C1

FlexibilitätSoziolinguistischeAngemessenheit

SprecherwechselMündliche Interaktionallgemein

Kann eine Vielfalt von Strategien einsetzen, um dasVerstehen zu sichern; dazu gehört, dass er/sie beimZuhören auf Kernpunkte achtet sowie dasTextverständnis anhand von Hinweisen aus demKontext überprüft. 78

Kann Versprecher oder Fehler normalerweise selbstkorrigieren, wenn sie ihm/ihr bewusst werden. Kanneigene Fehler korrigieren, wenn sie zuMissverständnissen geführt haben. 70

Kann etwas paraphrasieren und umschreiben, umWortschatz– und Grammatiklücken zu überbrücken70

Kann n auf vertrautem Gebiet zum Fortgang desGesprächs beitragen, indem er/sie das Verstehenbestätigt, andere zum Sprechen auffordert usw. 37

B2

Besitzt die Fertigkeit, von Hinweisen im Kontext undgrammatischen und lexikalischen Signalen Schlüsseauf Einstellungen, Stimmungen und Intentionen zuziehen und zu antizipieren, was als nächstes folgenwird. 78

Kann aus einem ohne weiteres verfügbarenRepertoire von Diskursmitteln eine geeigneteWendung auswählen, um seine/ihre Äußerungangemessen einzuleiten, wenn er/sie das Wortergreifen oder behalten will, oder um die eigenenBeiträge geschickt mit denen anderer Personen zuverbinden. 37

C1

RezeptionsstrategienKontrolle undReparaturen

KompensierenInteraktion

C2: Appreciates fully thesociolinguistic and socioculturalimplications of language used bynative speakers and can reactaccordingly . … C1: Can recognise awide range of idiomatic expressionsand colloquialisms, appreciatingregister shifts … B2 Can sustainrelationships with native speakerswithout unintentionally amusing orirritating them or requiring them tobehave other than they would with anative speaker…

B2: Can interact with a degree offluency and spontaneity that makesregular interaction and sustainedrelationships with native speakersquite possible without imposing strain

on either party …

B2: Can interact with a degree offluency and spontaneity that makesregular interaction and sustainedrelationships with native speakersquite possible without imposing strain

on either party …

Criteria for intercultural communicative competence

1. Knowledge about the processes and institutions of socialisation inone‘s own and in one‘s interlocutor‘s country.

2. Knowledge of the types of cause and process of misunderstandingbetween interlocutors of different cultural origin.

3. Ability to engage with otherness in a relationship of equality (incl. ability

to question the values and presuppositions in cultural practices and products in one’s ownenvironment).

4. Ability to engage with politeness conventions and rites of verbaland non-verbal communication and interaction.

5. Ability to use salient conventions of oral communication and toidentify register shifts.

6. Ability to use salient conventions of written communication and toidentify register shifts.

7. Ability to elicit from an interlocutor the concepts and values ofdocuments or events (i.e. meta-communication).

8. Ability to mediate between conflicting interpretations ofphenomena.

cf. Council of Europe, Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. 2001. Michael Byram,Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communciative Competence. 1997. Jürgen Beneke, Interculturalcompetence. In: Bliesener, Ulrich (ed.), Training the Trainers. Theory and Practice of Foreign Language TeacherEducation. 2000. a.o.

Anglo-American English

(“Mid-Atlantic”)

English

as a lingua franca

WHAT KIND OF ENGLISH?

+

David Graddol. English Next 2006. p.29

ENGLISH USED IN TOURISM:

2004

Training Intercultural Competence in English

Section 6: Critical incidents

Section 5: Meta-communication

Section 4: Communicative competencies

Section 3: Country specifics

Section 2: My own cultural programming

Section 1: Intercultural theory

TEACHING IC THEORY

• NO LECTURES

• FOCUS ON USE OF LANGUAGE (Discourse strategies, politeness conventions …)

• PRACTICAL COMMUNICATION EXERCISES

TEACHING IC THEORY

TEACHING ONE‘S OWN CULTURAL PROGRAMMING

• WHAT IS NORMAL FOR YOU?

• FOCUS ON USE OF LANGUAGE (Discourse strategies, politeness conventions …)

• PRACTICAL COMMUNICATION EXERCISES

TEACHING ONE‘S OWN CULTURAL PROGRAMMING

TEACHING COUNTRY SPECIFICS

• TRAINEE‘S CHOICE OF TARGET CULTURE

• FOCUS ON INTERCULTURALLY SIGNIFICANT FACTS

• TRAINING OF PRESENTATION TECHNIQUES

• PRACTICAL PRESENTATION EXERCISES

TEACHING COUNTRY SPECIFICS

34.Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest exporter ofa. mineral coal.b. pure gold.c. crude oil.

35.Makkah and Medina area. trade places in Saudi Arabia.b. historic battle sites.c. Islam’s holiest cities.

…

26.Modern India has been an independent

nation sincea. 1965.b. 1989.c. 1947.

28.India’s currency is calleda. Baht.b. Rial.c. Rupee.

TEACHING COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE

• FOCUS ON USE OF LANGUAGE: repairing, compensating, cooperating …

• FOCUS ON COMMUNICATIVE SKILLS: politeness conventions, building rapport …

• PRACTICAL COMMUNICATION EXERCISES: face-to-face, telephone, email …

TEACHING COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE

TEACHING METALANGUAGE

• FOCUS ON USE OF LANGUAGE: negotiation techniques, politeness conventions …

• FOCUS ON COMMUNICATIVE SKILLS: face-saving strategies …

• PRACTICAL COMMUNICATION EXERCISES: role plays, simulations, scenarios …

TEACHING METALANGUAGE

TEACHING CRITICAL INCIDENTS

• FOCUS ON COMMUNICATIVE SKILLS: politeness conventions, building rapport …

• PRACTICAL COMMUNICATION EXERCISES: role plays, simulations, scenarios …

TEACHING CRITICAL INCIDENTS

Test of Intercultural Competence in English—ICE

WRITTEN PARTS (Levels 1 & 2)

60 min

1Writing610 min

30Country Specifics510 min

10Proof Reading410 min

10Structured Responses310 min

10Listening Comprehension210 min. cf.ICE Handbook

www.elc-consult.com

10Critical Incidents110 min.

Rating criteriaNo of itemsItem-TypePartTime

ORAL PARTS (Levels 1 & 2)

15(+10) Min

Ability to discuss critical incidents, to give realisticexplanations and pragmatic suggestions

Discussion of critical incidentor text

35 Min.

Ability to discuss aspects affecting culture-boundbehaviour and intercultural communication and toreflect on one’s own culture and experience

Discussion of input (text,picture, diagram etc.)

25 Min. InteractionIntercultural competenceLanguage

Ability to discuss personal experience in interculturalencounters neutrally and adequately and tomaintain interaction

Dialogue on personalbackground andinternational / interculturalexperience

15 Min.

Rating criteriaWhat is tested?Task-typePartTime

10 Min. preparation time

Train-the-trainer courses in Frankfurt amMain, Hamburg, Cologne, Düsseldorf,Stuttgart, Vienna …

Interculture Journal 12/2010

http://www.interculture-journal.com/

“International English and the Training of InterculturalCommunicative Competence”

Judith Mader, Rudi Camerer

No 12/3 (2007)http://zif.spz.tu-darmstadt.de/jg-12-3/beitrag/Camerer.htm

„Sprache – Quelle aller Missverständnisse:Zum Verhältnis von interkultureller Kompetenz undSprachkompetenz“

Rudolf Camerer

„Sprache, Kultur und Kompetenz: Überlegungen zurinterkulturellen Kompetenz und ihrer Testbarkeit“

Rudolf Camerer

in: Anke Bahl (Hg.), Kompetenzen für die globale Wirtschaft. Begriffe-Erwartungen-Entwicklungsansätze (2009)

elc – European Language Competence

Beethovenplatz 1-3D – 60325 Frankfurt am Main

Bahnhofstrasse 28D – 66111 Saarbrücken

Tel. + 49 (0)69 – 53 05 59 67Fax.+ 49 (0)69 – 53 05 65 [email protected]

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