chology for its theoretical insights. An intercultural approach continues to
draw upon these disciplines, but gives equal weight to other areas of
research and practice in the humanities and social sciences. Some of these
disciplines, such as anthropology and literary studies, are well established;
others, such as media and cultural studies, are relatively young and still devel-
oping. Since the theoretical frameworks that have stimulated intercultural
approaches are diverse, and potentially bewildering, much of the remainder
of this chapter seeks to summarise them and clarify their contribution.
Much recent work on the intercultural approach to second language
education has been done in state schools and colleges, particularly in
Europe, and in courses and seminars sponsored by state institutions such
as the British Council. An intercultural approach has been slower to impact
upon ELT in the commercial sector. The commercial sector clearly is not
motivated by exactly the same ideological considerations that govern state
education. Modern languages education in state schools usually has to
conform to goals that explicitly embed foreign language teaching in a
broader humanistic curriculum. For example, a Working Group preparing
modern language teachers in England and Wales for a revised national cur-
riculum defined the curricular aims of modern languages teaching in a
manner wholly in accord with the goals of an intercultural approach. The
Working Group proposed that learners should have the opportunity to:
•
appreciate the similarities and differences between their own and cul-
tures of the communities/countries where the target language is
spoken;
•
identify with the experience and perspective of people in the coun-
tries and communities where
the target language is spoken;
•
use this knowledge to develop a more objective view of their own
customs and ways of thinking. (DES, 1990: 3, cited in Byram
et al.
,
1994: 15)
Such goals are more likely to be part of a liberal state-sponsored educational
curriculum than a commercially driven one. However, there are benefits for
the commercial sector in adopting and possibly adapting aspects of an
intercultural approach. The skills of social observation and explanation that
are taught in the intercultural classroom give a coherent rationale for the
teaching of the traditional ‘four skills’. Communicative language teaching has
always demanded that classroom activities have a
purpose.
An intercultural
approach gives teachers and learners a clearly defined and consistent set of
purposes. Furthermore, while a fully developed intercultural approach, as
such, has not yet been systematically or widely adopted by commercial
language schools, many English language teachers will nevertheless
An Intercultural Approach to Second Language Education
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research disciplines that have provided insights into intercultural language
education.
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