I think that intercultural communication is an excellent tool for language learning. It can be useful for many things from simply practicing language in an authentic context to really providing students with insight into another culture. However, I agree with all of the readings from last week that the cultural benifits that students recieve from intercultural communication can vary greatly.
I think it is extremely important for teachers to scaffold their students into a third space where they can reflect on both their native culture and the one in which they are communicating with. Only then can the students really practice recul and begin to understand a new culture.
Also, it is important for the intercultural communication to be well structured and monitored. By setting clear guidelines for students on both sides of the communication it is more likely that students will maintain similar expectations about their exchange and therefore feel more comfortable to communicate freely and openly with a person from anothe culture.
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As a political junkie, this subject is of great interest to me. I think one of the failings of multiculturalism is that people seem to think that it means forcing different groups to interact with each other and to learn from each other. This is a noble goal, but I also believe in free association. You can't force anyone to interact. So I think the focus should be more on the sensitivity/fairness aspects rather than the embracing of diversity. Intercultural communication is so important anyway though that it would be in everyone's best interest to develop a bit of competence regarding this issue even if they are not particularly interested in associating with Group X or Y.
hola kennedy! I agree that intercultural communication can certainly be a neat activity for the FL classroom but that it is SO important that the teacher adequitly(sp?) prepares the students for the tasks. I think that it would be a good idea to have a class discussion on expectations for the communications as well as on cultural stereotypes prior to beginning. Like you said, getting students in to that third space would be crucial to good intercultural learning! Do you think that you would try intercultural communication in your classroom in the future??
ps - countdown to scotl = 7 days!
I appreciate how you articulated this: "I think it is extremely important for teachers to scaffold their students into a third space where they can reflect on both their native culture and the one in which they are communicating with. Only then can the students really practice recul and begin to understand a new culture."
Also setting clear guidelines is important, I agree.
Good post! 10/10
I agree with you that intercultural communication is a great tool in the language classroom. I like that you said "authentic context" because sometimes the students are not provided with enough authentic texts when learning a foriegn language. Also, I agree that teachers must scaffold with their students so get them thinking about what they are going to say because it is not always easy for everyone to just jump into a communicative task.
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