Developing Learner’s Intercultural Communicative Competence Through Storytelling, Films and Songs

OTHMANE Meriem ,Tlemcen

  1. ABSTRACT

he relationship between language and culture has assumed a primordial role in the modern world due to globalization and immigration.Communication nowadays is more between communities (Interculturality) rather than between individuals (Communicative competence); consequently , learners should have an adequate knowledge about particular cultures because a number of issues arise when members of different cultures interact. That is to say, learners have to know how to interact effectively with those from other cultural backgrounds because when people from different cultures meet, there is a countless communication problem (Argule,1983).Misunderstanding and breakdowns of the conversation are two examples from many shortcomings of cultural unawareness.This by no means would enlarge the teacher’s and the learner’s roles by including interculturality in EFL classes. Throughout our study, we proposed that teachers may enhance their learner’s Intercultural competence through storytelling, films, and songs.To end up, Intercultural competence should be an integral part of foreign language curriculum if the learners are expected to succeed in a globally interconnected world. Teaching and learning should not be reduced to the instruction of linguistic skills like phonology, morphology…Cultural awareness is needed because the lack of this leads to a serious miscommunication and misunderstanding.

Key terms: interculturality, communicative competence, culture, cultural awareness, storytelling, songs, films

ملخص

إن العلاقة بين اللغة والثقافة قد اضطلعت بدور أساسي في العالم الحديث بسبب العولمة والهجرة.التواصل في الوقت الحاضر أكثر بين المجتمعات (الثقافات) وليس بين الأفراد (الكفاءة التواصلية)، وبالتالي، يجب أن يكون لدى المتعلمين معرفة كافية عن ثقافات معينة لأن عددا من القضايا تنشأ عندما يتفاعل أعضاء مختلف الثقافات، وهذا يعني أن المتعلمين يجب أن يعرفوا كيفية التفاعل بشكل فعال مع أولئك من خلفيات ثقافية أخرى لأنه عندما يجتمع الناس من مختلف الثقافات، وهناك عدد لا يحصى من مشكلة الاتصال (أرغول، 1983 ) إن الفهم والتفكك للحوار هما مثالان على العديد من أوجه القصور في عدم الوعي الثقافي. ولن يؤدي ذلك بأي حال من الأحوال إلى توسيع المعلم ودور المتعلم من خلال تضمين التفاعل بين الثقافات في صفوف اللغة الإنجليزية كلغة أجنبية. وطوال فترة دراستنا، اقترحنا أن يعزز المعلمون كفاءة المتعلم بين الثقافات من خلال القصص والأفلام والأغاني.وفي نهاية المطاف، ينبغي أن تكون الكفاءة بين الثقافات جزءا لا يتجزأ من منهج اللغة الأجنبية إذا كان من المتوقع أن يحقق المتعلمون نجاحات في عالم مترابط عالميا. لا ينبغي تخفيض التدريس والتعلم إلى تعليم المهارات اللغوية مثل علم الأصوات؛ مورفولوجيا … وهناك حاجة إلى الوعي الثقافي لأن عدم وجود هذا المزارع يؤدي إلى سوء الاتصال الخطير وسوء الفهم.

المصطلحات الرئيسية: الثقافات، الكفاءة التواصلية، الثقافة، الوعي الثقافي، القص، الأغاني، الأفلام

“There is always an easy solution to every problem; neat, plausible and wrong” H. L. Mencken “the Devine Afflatus, 1917)

  1. INTRODUCTION

‚When people from two different cultures meet, there is infinite scope for understanding and confusion‘ (Argyle, 1983: 189).

It goes without saying the fact that the primordial goal of any educational program is to enable linguistically and communicatively competent learners to use the language effectively and appropriately in communication. To achieve the previously mentioned aim, language teachers are supposed to adopt a certain kind of methodology and to use various effective tools and techniques.Undoubtedly, there is a plethora of tools available for the teacher to develop their learners’ intercultural communicative competence. Throughout this work, three tools will be highlighted: storytelling, films, songs.

  1. FUNDAMENTAL TERMS

3.1. Linguistic Competence (Chomsky, 1965)

For Chomsky, people have a sort of innate knowledge of the language, what he called “ Universal grammar”. This knowledge is perceived to be common to all languages; that is why people are able to recognize and produce an infinite number of sentences. But, is it enough for language learners to have a mere knowledge of vocabulary and grammar? To put it in another way, is it sufficient to communicate appropriately in conversations?

3.2. Communicative competence (Hymes, 1972)

Communicative competence was first created in the Anglophone literature by Dell Hymes (1966) as a counter reaction to Noam Chomsky’s ( 1965) delimitation of competence and performance.In his book Aspects of the Theory of Syntax, Chomsky introduced his idea of communicative competence by making a distinction between competence and performance:

  • Competence: the user shared knowledge of language which alerts the speaker and hearer to produce and comprehend an unlimited number of rules

  • Performance: refers to the process of applying the basic knowledge of grammar and language to the actual language use

Chomsky received criticism by Hymes in his article “On Communicative Competence”.Hymes (1972) argued that Chomsky ‘s competence Vs performance model failed to describe language appropriately because language as a whole is more than mastering the linguistic rules (Midoul, 2011). For Hymes, Language can be acquired by paying attention not only to the grammatical competence, but also to sociolinguistic competence where the speaker is required to use language appropriately. But, Hymes “did not pay specific attention to cross-cultural communication” (Michael, 1997.p.9)

In the same vein, Canal and Swain (1980) proposed four dimensions of communicative competence:

  • Linguistic competence: which refers to one’ s ability to use language accurately

  • Sociolinguistic competence: is to be appropriate while using the language and to have a knowledge of society ( ex, norms, taboos…)

  • Discourse competence: refers to the ability to produce a text that is connected and coherent

  • Strategic competence: the ability to use language functionally and strategically. (Murcia, Dornyei .1995)

3.3. Intercultural communicative competence

The term “intercultural competence” has not been utterly defined for over five decades. The most elaborate definition which provides a convincing explanation is the one provided by Byram (2008). It is to be able to connect from different cultures and to fully understand them and to act together with them. Intercultural communicative competence refers to “the knowledge, motivation, and skills to interact effectively and appropriately with members of different cultures” (Wiseman, 2002, p. 208)

  1. TEACHING INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE

Starting from the assumption that ICC can be taught ( Beaner 1992, Byram 1997, balboni1999), Michael (1997) proposed three settings in which ICC can be taught:

  • People of different languages and countries: one is a native speaker of the language used.People of different languages and countries where the language is used as a lingua Franca.

  • People of the same country but different languages: one of whom is a native speaker of the language used.

Teaching Intercultural communicative competence requires ongoing effort. It is normally required through training, experience, and self – reflection and despite that, many programs have been designed for teaching and training purposes .The first most important step in learning to cope intercultural communication is understanding one’s own culture and the culture of the others.

Facing the other cultures, peoples, and ways of being is the best way to learn IC, bearing in mind that the process of learning the intercultural competence is an ongoing process that never ends. So the teacher’s main mission is not teaching the knowledge of the others; it’s rather teaching concrete skills of interaction with people of different cultures. Here are a number of procedures which can be implemented by teachers to teach ICC.

  • Creating a safe atmosphere where students can ask even naïve questions without fear of criticism.

  • Including intercultural competence in formal and informal instruction because this procedure would decrease the learners’ prejudice which is a result of lacking an accurate knowledge about a certain culture.

  • Supplying expertise to teachers‘ training institutes on intercultural competence.

  • Encouraging manuals, curricula and textbooks that address cultural issues.

  • Trying to adapt teaching methods in a way that supplement with the requirements of learners everyday life

  • Incorporating culture and intercultural competence in programs. (Cǎnková & Lázár, 2007)

  1. SOME PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED WHEN TEACHING AND LEARNING, INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE

Developing the learner’s intercultural communicative competence has always been a desirable aim of language teaching and learning. The accomplishment of this goal is not an easy task due to a number of distortions; one of the main problems faced by teachers is to help the learners make a salient area between their own culture and language and the opposed foreign culture and language .Another problem is that teachers can never cover all the areas that lie under the target language and culture because of the limited number of an instructional hour with students. The solution to those problems is that learners have to go abroad to experience the foreign language and culture by their own. ( Schulz& Tschirner,2008)

6. THE PROPOSED SOLUTIONS ( RECOMMENDED MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES)

6. 1. Films: using short scene films guarantees students’ and teachers’ enjoyment during the lesson, and at the same time learners learn about other cultures in a fun and enjoying atmosphere:

When using a film as teaching material, we do not just bridge the media gap that might exist between the generation of the teacher and the students, we also enable the audience to see the places they have been reading and hearing about, to decode the body language of the characters, to listen to various languages, accents, intonation patterns.(Cǎnková & Lázár, 2007)

In short, by using films, students will be able to encounter other cultures ( beliefs, customs, social practices …) without stepping out the classroom.

    1. Storytelling: teachers might read a story for their students or ask them to read it on their own and ask them to do one of the following activities;

  • Figure out something in the tale similar to your own fairy tales.

  • Underline the features that appear to be different from your own culture.

    1. Songs: after listening to a song, students can be asked to do the following:

  • What is the message conveyed by this song?

  • Search on the net about the cultural background of the song (Cǎnková & Lázár, 2007)

  1. CONCLUSION

To conclude, it could be said that teaching intercultural communicative competence should be available to everyone in our globalized world and should not be confined to particular persons or a group of people

REFERENCES

Books

  • Argyle, M. (1983) The Psychology of Interpersonal Behavior. Harmondsworth: Penguin (4th edition).

  • Balboni, P. E. (1999). Parole communication, culture diverse. Guida alla comunicazione interculturale [Common Words, Different Cultures. A Guide to Intercultural Communication].Venice: Marsilio.

  • Beamer, L. (1992). Learning Intercultural Communication Competence. Journal of Business Communication

  • Byram, M. (1997). Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence (1st ed.). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

  • Cǎnková, M., & Lázár, I. (2007). Developing and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.

  • Inkaew, M. (2017). An Analysis of Intercultural Communicative Competence: Hotel Front Office Personnel in Bangkok. Retrieved 18 October 2016, from • http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1112276.pdf

  • Intercultural Competence: Conceptual and Operational Framework. (2013) (1st ed.). France.

  • Murcia, C & Dornyei,Z( 1995 ) Communicative Competence . A Pedagogically Motivated Model with Content Specifications .Retrieved from : http://www.zoltandornyei.co.uk/uploads/1995-celce-murcia-dornyei-thurrell-ial.pdf

  • Wiseman, R., & Koester, J. (1993). Intercultural Communication Competence (1st ed.). Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage (p.208).

Online sources

  • (2017). Retrieved 12 June 2017, from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/bureau-of-strategic-planning/themes/culture-of-peace-and-non-violence/:

  • (2017). Retrieved 7 April 2017, from • http://www.eqol.uns.ac.rs/1steqol/4%20trends/009%20vizental.pdf

  • A.Schulz, R., & Tschirner, E. (2008). Communicating Across Borders; Developing Intercultural Competence in German as a Foreign Language. Germany: Iudicium.

  • Balboni. E, P., & Caon, F. A Performance-oriented Model of Intercultural Communicative Competence. Retrieved 14 July 2014, from http://immi.se/interculturalural_Moments

  • Midoul, M. (2011). A_Synthesis_on_Communicative_Competence. Academia. Retrieved 14 June 2011, from https://www.academia.edu/5766573/