Why are you teaching English? There are lots of ‘right’ answers to this question, but many teachers answer that they are teaching English for the purpose of communication with people of other cultures. This is commendable. But in order to communicate with other people, is it enough just to master English grammar, vocabulary and colloquial phrases? The latest research says ‘no’. In this series of three articles, other competences necessary for intercultural competence will be described and the practicalities of including these competences in foreign language education in Japan will be discussed.
Intercultural communicative competence [1]
Intercultural communicative competence [2]
Intercultural communicative competence [3]
CLIL and Intercultural Communicative Competence
INCA intercultural competence
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A) Motivation
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B) Skill/Knowledge
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C) Behaviour
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i)
Tolerance for
ambiguity
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Readiness to embrace
and work with
ambiguity
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Ability to handle stress
consequent on ambiguity
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Managing
ambiguous
situations
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ii)
Behavioural
Flexibility
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Readiness to apply and augment the full range of one’s existingrepertoire of behaviour
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Having a broad repertoire and the knowledge of
one’s repertoire
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Adapting one’s
behaviour to the
specific situation
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iii)
Communicative
awareness
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Willingness to modify
existing ommunicative
conventions
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Ability to identify different communicative
conventions, levels of
foreign language
competencies and their
impact on intercultural
communication
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Negotiating
appropriate
communicative
conventions for
intercultural
communication and
coping with different
foreign language
skills
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iv)
Knowledge
Discovery
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Curiosity about other
cultures in themselves
and in order to be able to interact better with people
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Curiosity about other
cultures in themselves
and in order to be able to interact better with people
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Curiosity about other
cultures in themselves
and in order to be able
to interact better with
people
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v)
Respect for
otherness
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Willingness to respect
the diversity and
coherence of
behaviour, value and
belief systems
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Critical knowledge of such systems (including one’s own when making
judgements)
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Treating equally
different behaviour,
value and
convention systems
experienced in
intercultural
encounters
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vi)
Empathy
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Willingness to take the other’s perspectives
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Skills of role-taking
de-centring;
awareness of different
perspectives
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Skills of role-taking
de-centring;
awareness of different
perspectives
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