Developing Intercultural Competence at Slovak Secondary Schools
Abstract
The importance of developing intercultural competence as one of the key competences in today’s rapidly changing and multicultural society has been spoken of often. The requirement of preparing interculturally competent communicators has therefore become one of the goals of today’s foreign language education. The aim of the present paper is to shed light on the practice of fostering intercultural skills in teaching English as a foreign language at Slovak secondary schools. The findings of the research, including observations of lessons, interviews with teachers, as well as analysis of teaching materials, reveals that the development of intercultural competence is still not integrated into foreign language education in Slovakia.
Full text article
References
Aliakbari, M. (2005). The place of culture in the Iranian ELT textbooks in high school level. Proceedings of the 9th Pan-Pacific Association of Applied Linguistics Conference, 9(1): 1-14. Retrieved 21 March 2022 from https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/50826701/Aliakbari-with-cover-page-v2.pdf?Expires=1647875407&Signature=hDXBcq5b5XuHJWdsvI4eqjTZQFXSmqe5I7KWW2NqT5LPWAxVQYoR-2GMw4~P8aUW0wgfNMhopgpLRtXowHDANkAQP8e5XQOUq1ihHysmtLCr9ZXFPHBFBdANodOLdyLCY1nhCrYsuvOoo3SGgE6f7a40FP9yJNec9essO9XBnL6snk3MbpdvpYT2pmtVmZIRqfJPkcYcEPHvOu4YKMTgdff7E6NEoh2waFQXkCWu5CbRXkTFGw2eNv3BMaDr-Nqu12mURL7AWOK4G~j3smHbcnHMy4c-DyQ5vpFEHWSY-YqfMhQxgdjLHlzkZLY4LBmyTXz1kjrLJYfzfvxPr-48~Q__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA.
Benčiková, D. (2007). Cross-Cultural Communication in Business. Faculty of Economics, Univerzity Mateja Bela.
Brooks, N. (1997). Teaching culture in the foreign language classroom. In P.R. Heusinkveld (ed.), Pathways to Culture: Readings on Teaching Culture in the Foreign Language Class (11-37). Intercultural Press.
Buttjes, D. (1991). Mediating languages and cultures: The social and intercultural dimension restored. In D. Buttjes & M. Byram (eds.), Mediating Languages and Cultures: Towards an Intercultural Theory of Foreign Language Education (3-16). Multilingual Matters.
Byram, M. (1997). Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence. Multilingual Matters.
Byram, M. (1991). Young people’s perception of other cultures: The role of foreign language teaching. In D. Buttjes & M. Byram (eds.), Mediating Languages and Cultures: Towards an Intercultural Theory of Foreign Language Education (103-119). Multilingual Matters.
Byram, M. (1989). Cultural Studies in Foreign Language Education. Multilingual Matters.
Cohen, L., L. Manion & K. Morrison (2007). Research Methods in Education. Routledge.
Corbett, J. (2003). An Intercultural Approach to English Language Teaching. Multilingual Matters.
Cortazzi, M & L. Jin. (1999). Cultural mirrors materials and methods in the EFL classroom. In E. Hinkel (ed.), Culture in Second Language Teaching and Learning (196-220). Cambridge University Press.
Council of Europe (2001). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (CEFR). Cambridge University Press.
Cunningsworth, A. (1995). Choosing your Coursebook. Heinemann English Language Teaching.
Davcheva, L. & L. Sercu (2003). Culture in foreign language teaching materials. In L. Sercu (ed.), Foreign Language Teachers and Intercultural Competence (90-109). Multilingual Matters.
Flick, S. (2010). An Introduction to Qualitative Research. SAGE.
Gadušová, Z., E. Benčíková, M. Ormisová & V. Vaššová (2011). Štátny vzdelávací program. Anglický jazyk. Príloha ISCED 3. Úroveň B1. (”Slovak national curriculum for the English language ISCED Annex 3, level B1”). Bratislava: Štátny pedagogický ústav.
Gower, R., D. Phillips & S. Walters (1995). Teaching Practice Handbook. Heinemann English Language Teaching.
Hall, J.K. (2002). Teaching and Researching Language and Culture. Pearson Education.
Harris, M. (2006a). New Opportunities Intermediate Student’s Book. Pearson Education.
Harris, M. (2006b). New Opportunities Pre-Intermediate Student’s Book. Pearson Education.
Kramsch, C. (1998). Language and Culture. Oxford University Press.
Lafayette, R.C. (1997). Integrating the teaching of culture into the foreign language classroom. In P.R. Heusinkveld (ed.), Pathways to Culture: Readings on Teaching Culture in the Foreign Language Class (119-148). Intercultural Press.
Liu, S., Z. Volcic & C. Gallois (2011). Introducing Intercultural Communication: Global Cultures and Contexts. SAGE.
Malíková, M. (2003). K niektorým kritériám hodnotenia cudzojazyčných učebníc. Cudzie jazyky v škole: Didaktická efektívnosť učebníc cudzieho jazyka ("Some criteria for evaluating foreign language textbooks. Foreign languages at school: Didactic effectiveness of foreign language textbooks"). Nitra, Slovakia: PF UKF.
Mugglestone, P. (2006a). New Opportunities Intermediate Teacher’s Book. Pearson Education.
Mugglestone, P. (2006b). New Opportunities Pre-Intermediate Teacher’s Book. Pearson Education.
Neuendorf, K. (2002). The Content Analysis Guidebook. SAGE.
Reid, E. (2014). Intercultural Aspects in Teaching English at Primary Schools. Peter Lang.
Reilly, P. (2006). New Opportunities Pre-Intermediate Language Powerbook. Pearson Education.
Richards, J.C. (1985). The Context of Language Teaching. Cambridge University Press.
Risager, K. (1991). Cultural references in European textbooks: An evaluation of recent tendencies. In D. Buttjes & M. Byram (eds.), Mediating Languages and Cultures: Towards an Intercultural Theory of Foreign Language Education (181-192). Multilingual Matters.
Risager, K. (2006). Language and Culture: Global Flows and Local Complexity. Multilingual Matters.
Sándorová, Z. (2013). Traditional and computer-based teaching aids and learning resources in foreign language education in Slovakia. Journal of Language and Cultural Education, 1(1): 86-111.
Sándorová, Z. (2017). Foreign Language Coursebooks in Developing Intercultural Communicative Competence. Nitra, Slovakia: UKF.
Sercu, L. (2005). Foreign Language Teachers and Intercultural Competence. Multilingual Matters.
Sharman, E. (2006). New Opportunities Intermediate Language Powerbook. Pearson Education.
Skopinskaja, L. (2003). The role of culture in foreign language teaching materials: An evaluation from an intercultural perspective. In I. Lázár, Incorporating Intercultural Communicative Competence in Language Teacher Education (39-69). Council of Europe.
Štátny pedagogický ústav (2012). Cieľové požiadavky na vedomosti a zručnosti maturantov z anglického jazyka úroveň B1 ("Target requirements for knowledge and skills of high school graduates in English level B1”). Bratislava, Slovakia: Štátny pedagogický ústav.
Straková, Z. (2001). Učebnica v teórii a praxis (“Textbook in theory and practice”). Prešov, Slovakia: Metodické centrum.
Valdes, J. (1990). The inevitability of teaching and learning culture in a foreign language course. In B. Harrison (ed.), Culture and the Language Classroom (20-30). Macmillan.
Van Ek, J.A. & J.L.M. Trim (1998). Threshold Level 1990. Cambridge University Press.
Weber, R.P. (1990). Content Analysis: Basic Content Analysis. SAGE.
Zhang, Y. & B.M. Wildemuth (2009). Qualitative analysis of content. In B.M. Wildemuth (ed.), Applications of Social Research Methods to Questions in Information and Library Science (308-319). Westport, CT, USA: Libraries Unlimited.
Authors
Copyright (c) 2021 Authors
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This journal provides immediate and free open access to all its content and is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). This means readers are permitted to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author, as long as proper attribution is given. This policy is consistent with the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) definition of open access.