Transcript Assuring quality for the teaching of intercultural communication in

Assuring quality for the teaching
of intercultural communication
in Europe: perspectives and
challenges
Sharon Millar and Célio Conceição
Aims
• To summarise main findings of a mapping
exercise on the teaching of intercultural
communication (IC) across partner
European contexts
• To identify existing quality measures
Aims
• To present a number of learning outcomes
defined by the project members on the
basis of a shared understanding of IC and
with quality issues in mind
Understandings of IC
• Theory or Practice
• The extent to which IC is seen as theoretical
knowledge about a culture, communication
etc. or a practical competence/skill can vary
• In many HE institutions, a more theoretical
approach dominates (e.g. in Denmark,
Austria) but more skills-oriented approaches
are found (e.g. in Ireland (Waterford))
Understandings of IC
• Independent of language learning or
integrated into language learning
• Autonomous courses on IC (often as part of
business, media, communication,
anthropology degrees) generally not related to
language learning (as found in Portugal,
Spain, Denmark, Lithuania)
Understandings of IC
• IC may be integrated into language learning
(e.g. translation) but this is often implicit and
not very systematic
• Traditional foreign language degree programmes
may not even mention the term IC
LanQua perspectives on IC
• IC defined as “situated communication
between individuals or groups of different
linguistic and cultural origins”
• IC seen as both a concept and a
competence
LanQua perspectives on IC
• As a communicative competence, it
combines
• Knowledge
• Skills
• Attitude
(Byram 1997)
LanQua perspectives on IC
• Given focus of overall LanQua project, IC
seen as integral part of foreign language
learning
• Part of intercultural communication is
language proficiency
Quality assurance mechanisms
• Over-ordinate top-down quality assurance
exists to some degree in all partner
countries at national level and increasingly
universities are establishing internal
quality assurance procedures
Quality assurance mechanisms
• Formal quality assurance tends to focus on
degree programmes rather than the details
of specific courses or disciplines
• Bottom-up, teacher-driven quality
assurance is not formalised
Learning Outcomes
• Taking the LanQua perspective on IC, 10
learning outcomes for IC were defined
• These learning outcomes take into account
• the need for coherence between outcome,
implementation and assessment
• the need to be formulated in more general
terms to allow for widespread applicability
within and across national contexts
Example of LO: knowledge
Knowledge of the cultures, institutions,
histories and ways of life of different
communities. The ability to recognise the
impact of the above on behavioural norms
in given fields of communication.
Example of LO: knowledge
• Implementation
• Textbooks, interactive learning and diverse
contemporary media based materials (textual
and audio-visual) offer selective information
relating to the contexts towards which the
learning is directed. These should be
integrated meaningfully into the language
learning syllabus as an essential knowledge
base.
Example of LO: knowledge
• Assessment
• Essay, cross-cultural study project, learner
diary, reflective commentary, oral
examination, simulation, presentation.
Example of LO: attitude
Reflection on the cultural factors
influencing one’s own behaviour and that
of others
• The aim is to raise consciousness of cultural
differences and how these can affect verbal
and non-verbal communication. Reflection on
the self as opposed to the other is encouraged
in relation to intercultural issues, culture
shock and communication between cultures.
Example of LO: attitude
• Implementation
• Oral and written production skills should be
practised with special attention to cultural
differences: simulation tasks, group
presentations, discussions, video clips without
sound for guessing the meaning of body
language, writing a journal recording their
learning experience in relation to their own
behaviour and thinking, essays.
Example of LO: attitude
• Assessment
• Simulation tasks, group presentations
followed by discussion, commentaries on
video clips, learner journal, essays
Challenges
• Role of Assessment
• Aspects of IC difficult to assess (sensitivity,
awareness)
• Non-traditional modes of assessment needed
but these have to be integrated into existing
classroom and assessment culture
Challenges
• Globalisation
• Increasing multicultural nature of “national”
cultures needs to be incorporated into IC
• Particular challenge presented by English as a
Lingua Franca
Challenges
• Success indicators for LOs
• Difficult to establish quantifiable criteria for
measuring success of LOs (% of students
passing exams, degree of positive student,
teacher or employer feedback, increased
student mobility?)
Challenges
• Dissemination
• Not all colleagues within and across national
boundaries will necessarily agree with LanQua
perspectives
• As an exercise in bottom-up quality assurance,
the aim is to encourage ongoing discussion of
IC in relation to language learning – to initiate
and maintain a dynamic process and not to
dictate a final product