Intercultural Citizenship in the Foreign Language Classroom
Melina Porto, Stephanie Ann Houghton, Michael Byram
2017
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The purpose of this special issue is to bring the theory of intercultural citizenship education to readers’ attention and to offer teachers and researchers working with this or similar concepts the opportunity to make their work known in a context of a coherent presentation of theory and practice. In this introduction, we shall explain the rationale and the concepts involved in intercultural citizenship education and present the articles in this special issue which arose from our call for papers.
Incorporating environmental action into intercultural dialogue: Personal and environmental transformation as by-products of developing intercultural communicative competence.
Houghton, S.A. & Huang, M.L.
2016
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In Byram, M. et al (Eds.) Education for Intercultural Citizenship – Principles in Practice. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
An exploration of the communication strategies used when culture-laden words are translated from Japanese to Arabic in ELF interaction.
Houghton, S.A & Al-Asswad, K.A.
2014
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In Linguistics and Education, pp.28-40. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2014.08.001
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The purpose of the study described in this paper is to support the development of intercultural ELF pedagogy by connecting Kirkpatrick's (2007a) lingua franca approach to English language education with Byram's (1997) model of intercultural communicative competence through action research. Conducted in an English language course at a university in southern Japan by a British and a Libyan teacher-researcher, it explores the communication strategies used during the translation of culture-laden Japanese words into Arabic in real-time interaction using English. Audio-recorded data of five dialogues in which ten Japanese students attempted to teach the Libyan teacher-researcher culture-laden Japanese words in English to elicit translations into Arabic were transcribed and analysed by extending and adapting Kirkpatrick's (2007b) list of ELF communication strategies. Ethical issues were duly considered. A range of communication strategies will be presented that can be incorporated into materials and methods, which may potentially be expanded upon by drawing on existing communication strategy research. The implications of such an approach will be considered in relation to the setting of learning objectives, task and syllabus design, and the role of teachers and students as intercultural mediators. The appropriateness of the approach in different cultural contexts will also be considered.
Exploring manifestations of curiosity in study abroad as part of intercultural communicative competence.
Houghton, S.A.
2014
In System 42C, pp. 368-382.
DOI information: 10.1016/j.system.2013.12.024
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This paper reports on a study that explores manifestations of curiosity in study abroad emerging in response to teaching materials designed to stimulate interest in it. Having reviewed definitions of curiosity, the rationale for investigating curiosity within the theme of study abroad will be presented before its psychological underpinnings are explored. The development of teaching materials will then be described that were implemented in an English course conducted at a university in Japan. The course aimed to develop intercultural communicative competence (ICC) (Byram, 1997) within the Intercultural Dialogue Model (Houghton, 2012), and the study took the form of case study based on action research. Selected examples of qualitative data will be presented and discussed in relation to Loewenstein's (1994) information-gap perspective. Teachers are recommended to utilize information gaps to cause students to want to know more by encouraging them to clearly delineate information-gap boundaries and seek further information. Students need to develop meta-cognitive and meta-affective awareness and control to maintain open and inquiring minds as intrinsic aspects of criticality development. By foregrounding curiosity within the Intercultural Dialogue Model, this paper reveals active yet often missed connections between the attitudes, knowledge and critical cultural awareness components of Byram's model.
Competing values and multiple selves: Making identity-development visible for assessment purposes in foreign language education.
Houghton, S.A.
2013
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In The Language Learning Journal 41(3) pp.311-325.
DOI information:10.1080/09571736.2013.836348
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This article reports on an action research case study conducted at a university in Japan, which explored how student identity-development can be made visible in potentially assessable ways through materials design in intercultural communicative competence (ICC)-oriented foreign language education. It suggests that identity-development can be nurtured by applying the Intercultural Dialogue (ID) Model. Various kinds of behavioural evidence from students' written work upon which ICC assessment can be based are presented in the form of statement patterns indicative of student achievement of stated learning objectives and student self-discrepancy. Implications for the assessment of ICC and identity-development are considered. Firstly, the assessment of Byram's savoir apprendre/faire in Stage 2 of the ID Model should be based on recorded interaction and/or direct oral testing. Secondly, assessment should be partly formative and partly summative and it should take place both continuously and at fixed points, since they are all needed to illuminate student ICC and identity-development, which is both a critical and a creative process.
Silence in foreign language education: Face-to-face and computer-mediated communication in the Japanese context.
Houghton, S.
2011
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In Chan, W. M., Chin, K., N. and Nagami, M. (Eds.). Media in Foreign Language Teaching and Learning (pp.269-294). Berlin, New York: De Gruyter Mouton.