Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Interculturality
and the English
Language Classroom
Editors
Mabel Victoria Chittima Sangiamchit
The Business School Department of English
Edinburgh Napier University University of the Thai Chamber of
Edinburgh, UK Commerce
Bangkok, Thailand
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Preface
v
vi Preface
Our sincerest thanks to the people who have been part of this book.
We are very grateful to Prof. Fiona Copland and Dr. Sue Garton for
drawing our attention to the possibility of publishing a collection on
interculturality in ELT. We are very thankful for their valuable feedback
in the initial stages of this collection.
We would also like to thank Ananda Kumar Mariappan for coordi-
nating the production of this volume. His prompt responses to all our
queries and active monitoring of each step of the publication process
are much appreciated. Our gratitude also goes to Cathy Scott, our
Commissioning Editor, for her guidance and support.
Our heartfelt thanks go to the contributors of this volume. Despite
the gut-wrenching challenges and real fears brought on by the covid-
19 pandemic during the writing, re-writing and review process, they
never wavered in their commitment to forge ahead. Besides working on
their own chapters, the contributors also participated in the (blind) peer-
review system, giving each other helpful feedback. This means that every
chapter in this collection has been reviewed at least two times by different
vii
viii Acknowledgements
Mabel Victoria
Chittima Sangiamchit
Contents
ix
x Contents
Index 295
Notes on Contributors
xvii
xviii Notes on Contributors
xxiii
xxiv List of Figures
xxv
1
Introduction: Interculturality
and the English Language Classroom
Mabel Victoria and Chittima Sangiamchit
Introduction
This volume has been primarily written for teachers of the English
language. It explores how teachers and researchers from around the world
have engaged with the notion of interculturality in teaching English as
a foreign/second language. In the last three decades, we have witnessed
the advent of an increasingly globalised and interconnected world. This
has contributed to the growth of English as a global lingua franca
and the preferred contact language between multilinguals who do not
share the same first language (Galloway & Rose, 2015; Jenkins et al.,
2018). Indeed, individuals and groups from highly diverse linguistic and
M. Victoria (B)
The Business School, Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh, UK
e-mail: M.Victoria@napier.ac.uk
C. Sangiamchit
University of the Thai Chamber of Commerse (UTC), Bangkok, Thailand
e-mail: chittima_san@utc.ac.th
by English teachers around the world. First, the vastness and contradic-
tions in the literature have made navigation through it a very confusing
and demanding task for language teachers (Perry & Southwell, 2011).
The very notion of culture itself is problematic. Which culture or whose
culture should be taught—American, British, Australian (in which case
English is tied to the large culture nation-based approach)? Second, with
few notable exceptions, there is still a glaring scarcity of studies investi-
gating the actual take-up and applicability of theoretical concepts on the
intercultural into the ELT classroom (Baker, 2015; Young & Sachdev,
2011). This is despite extensive literature and professional learning
opportunities for enhancing the development of intercultural capability
in language teaching (Biebricher et al., 2019). Reid (2015) notes that
“teachers find it difficult to identify themselves with and apply intercul-
tural aspects of the target language” (p. 939). For one, there is a lack
of specific guidance on how to teach intercultural knowledge and skills
alongside the target language. As a result, teachers are “often confused
and the question of content, materials and techniques often arises” (Reid,
ibid.). In spite of numerous publications presenting conceptual models
of interculturality and intercultural competence, they do not often come
with relevant theories of learning that classroom teachers can readily
implement (Byram & Wagner, 2018). It does not help that within the
field of intercultural studies, there is disagreement about the notoriously
polysemous nature of ‘culture’. Consequently, this has made pinning
down ‘interculturality’ a huge task. Nonetheless, ELT practitioners have
continued to argue for the importance of the intercultural dimension in
ELT and indeed, this movement is starting to be reflected in newer ELT
materials and language policy frameworks (Baker, 2015).
The aim of this volume therefore is to present a diversity of perspec-
tives from ELT and intercultural communication scholars from around
the world. While the empirical investigations were conducted in local
contexts, the practical applications are of global relevance, with implica-
tions that transcend geographic borders. The chapters in this collection,
written by practitioners for practitioners, explore aspects of intercultur-
ality identified by the contributors as important in their work.
4 M. Victoria and C. Sangiamchit
given the economic and political influence of the US, English learners
might benefit from familiarity with features of American English (Nault,
2006). Indeed, learners who might have long-term goals of working in
western English-speaking countries might find it useful to learn relevant
facts about these countries.
Also, somewhat essentialist in perspective is the treatment of culture as
norms where being interculturally competent involves “knowing about
what people from a given cultural group are likely to do and under-
standing the cultural values placed upon certain ways of acting or upon
certain beliefs” (Liddicoat & Scarino, 2013, p. 19). The inherent diffi-
culty for the learners though is the challenge of having to “interpret the
words and actions of an interlocutor from another cultural paradigm
using their own cultural paradigm” (ibid.). Liddicoat and Scarino (2013)
add that just like the nation-based approach to culture, the culture as
norm approach tends to see norms as fixed and homogeneous which
could lead to generalisations and stereotyping about the target culture.
English language teachers who do not have exposure and familiarity with
the target culture might also lack confidence in adopting this approach.
Depending on how culture as norm is mediated by the English teacher,
this approach could encourage either self-reflection or exoticisation. If
learners are encouraged to be critical of the Other’s behaviour and beliefs
and compare them to their own, this could lead to self-awareness.
According to Liddicoat and Scarino (2013), another approach to
culture in language teaching is to treat it as a system of symbols that
enable people to construct meanings. In this view, culture can be seen as
a lens “through which people mutually create and interpret meanings and
the frame that allows the communication of meanings that go beyond
the literal denotations of the words being used” (p. 20). This notion
of culture extends beyond culture as nation-based (body of knowledge
about the target country) and culture as norms (values as expressed in
behaviour and beliefs). Within this culture-as-symbol approach, intercul-
tural competence equates to the development of interpretative resources
to be able to decipher the meaning of symbols in a specific context.
From a non-essentialist (also anti-essentialist) perspective, culture is
viewed as liquid, heterogenous, complex, dynamic and not bound by
geography (Dervin, 2011; Nathan, 2015). This perspective recognises
1 Introduction: Interculturality and the English Language Classroom 7
Neo-essentialism
Defining Interculturality
Our attempt to delineate our use of interculturality in this collection is
tempered by the knowledge that dealing with definitions and theories
has the potential to “trigger a certain amount of violence against those
cultures that do not accord the centrality to that definition” and that
we “might slip into a theoretical project based on a mono-cultural back-
ground, which will be far from recognition of and respect for cultural
diversity” (Svetelj, 2018, p. 398). We acknowledge the existing ‘plurality
of perspectives’ in existing literature (Jin, 2017, p. 309) as well as in prac-
tices in ELT classrooms around the world. As Taylor (this volume) notes,
the ‘intercultural’ has been used to refer to intercultural competence,
intercultural communicative competence, intercultural awareness, and so
on. Following Jin (2017), the suffix ‘-ality’ suggests a more dynamic, and
critical reading (p. 310).
Given the high interconnectivity and mobility in today’s world,
teachers and students of English and other foreign languages already have
1 Introduction: Interculturality and the English Language Classroom 11
imbalances and unjust status quo. Pilcher and Richards’s (this volume)
entry point into interculturality is unique. They focus on the culture of
ELT as a process and how this process can be deployed by teachers within
the disciplinary culture of EAP (English for Academic Purposes).
In this section, we have offered different conceptualisations of inter-
culturality as a paradigm, a process, and a heuristic device. We have also
proposed that the concept is way too important for language learning
and teaching to pin it down to one definition. Consonant with the stance
of other intercultural/ity scholars, this collection has been put together as
‘advocacy’ for interculturality given that “intercultural contact and inter-
change are greater than ever, necessitating approaches to understanding
and brokering difference through effective communication” (Young &
Sachdev, 2011, p. 82). The English language classroom presents an ideal
vantage point from which to observe the interplay between language and
culture.
Indeed, “While the goal of English language teaching has undergone
changes from imitating ‘native speakers’ to becoming an intercultural
communicator, pedagogical implementations have not been fully realized
in classrooms, especially the ones that enable students to commu-
nicate globally while at the same time help them maintaining their
native/traditional languages and cultures” (Zheng & Gao, 2019, p. 199).
Arguably, while many English teachers seem to accept the importance of
interculturality in L2 teaching, they seem reluctant to put it in practice.
The stated reasons, according to Young and Sachdev (2011) were: “per-
ceived lack of interest by the learners, a lack of curricular support, a lack
of suitable textbook material, a lack of ICC testing, and concern about
engaging with controversy” (ibid., p. 95).
The chapters in this volume have been written for both experienced
and pre-service teachers to enrich their practice in making intercultur-
ality an integral part of the English learning experience.
14 M. Victoria and C. Sangiamchit
that this critical interculturality will help immigrants prepare for self-
advocacy, leadership and transformation in the community should they
choose to do so.
The study finds that the representation of culture in the textbooks
privileges the American culture and the implicit, uncritical stance
towards it. Based on the findings, it is argued that a shift from accul-
turation towards critical interculturality is necessary in adult education.
While a focus on American culture may remain necessary in most ESOL
programmes in the US, the author proposes that employing a critical-
intercultural stance will help immigrants to approach the nation-based
culture as empowered agents rather than passive recipients. The chapter
ends with recommendations for cultivating a critical-intercultural stance
in classroom instruction, not only in education, but also in contexts
where culture is often taught as ‘content’.
Chapter 8, by Pimsiri Taylor, investigates international Higher Educa-
tion programmes in Thailand and Malaysia to explore how intercultur-
ality is constructed and enacted in English as a lingua franca encounters.
The chapter examines different concepts pertaining to the ‘intercultural’
such as ‘intercultural encounters’, ‘intercultural communication’, ‘inter-
cultural competence’, and ‘intercultural awareness’. Analysis of interview
data suggests that English was deployed by research participants not only
as a ‘lingua’ franca but also as a type of ‘cultural’ franca’. Simply put,
English in intercultural interactions evolves into a complex site for the
enactment of nationality, language, and identity. This chapter concludes
by engaging with the question: how can English language teachers embed
interculturality in their teaching?
Chapter 9, by Zia Tajeddin and Minoo Alemi, locates the English
language as the focal point in examining intercultural sensitivity, ethno-
centrism, and ethnorelativism amongst EFL and non-EFL students in an
Iranian university. It deals with the question that most L2 teachers ask:
does learning English help develop the learners’ intercultural knowledge
and ability? Using a mixed-methods approach, this study compared EFL
and non-EFL Iranian students to tease out the impact of English learning
experiences in the development of intercultural sensitivity. The results
suggest that English language competence is not necessarily associated
1 Introduction: Interculturality and the English Language Classroom 19
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