Pragmatic competence is an essential element of communicative competence, which makes it relevant for speakers of all ages, including young language learners (YLLs). Despite the recognized importance ...of pragmatics, research of textbooks for adult second language (L2) learners to date has found them lacking in their approach to this key aspect of language. However, there is very little research of pragmatics in textbooks for YLLs, which would provide insight into the extent to which these materials can support teachers in including elements of pragmatic competence into their language classes. The present study aims to fill this gap by determining how much pragmatic content is included in 18 textbooks used in Croatian primary schools with learners aged 9–12 years. The textbooks are compared in regard to the percentage of pages with pragmatic content as well as the different speech acts that receive explicit attention in them. The main finding of the study is the great amount of inconsistency when it comes to the scope and treatment of pragmatic content, with some textbooks proving extremely lacking. The results present a concerning picture as all of the students using these diverse textbooks should be following the same curriculum which emphasizes the development of communicative competence.
The development of intercultural communicative competence has recently emerged as one of the major foci in language education. The rise of Chinese as an international language has increased demand ...for studies exploring how Chinese language teachers teach intercultural communicative competence. This study investigated: (1) Chinese language teachers' pedagogical cultural knowledge and objectives in teaching intercultural communicative competence; and (2) the contextual factors (i.e., overall university surroundings, computer accessibility, academic atmosphere, and colleagues and superiors) influencing their pedagogical cultural knowledge and objectives in teaching intercultural communicative competence. Based on a survey of 43 university teachers from China, it shows that the participants had different degrees of familiarity with pedagogical cultural knowledge and that contextual factors affected their pedagogical cultural knowledge development. Moreover, the participants’ objectives in teaching intercultural communicative competence were more skill-than knowledge- and attitude-oriented, and had different relationships with different contextual factors. The findings inform the development of in-service and pre-service teacher education programmes to help Chinese language teachers become effective intercultural language teachers.
Conceptualizations of competence that permeate applied linguistics systematically fail to account for the role of racialization in language learning and assessments thereof. To interrogate the ...racialization of linguistic competence, we first examine its discursive emergence in conjunction with the ideological construction of linguistic homogeneity as central to the naturalization of race within the context of European colonialism. We then track how ideas about linguistic competence took shape jointly with a genre of the human that is overrepresented as white, as well as how this particular genre of the human informed foundational conceptualizations of communicative competence. After analyzing relevant examples of how communicative competence has been taken up in ways that reify this racializing ideology, we end with an alternative conceptualization of the goals of language learning that focuses on the worldviews and lifeways of racialized communities to move beyond universalizing conceptions of competence as the desired outcome.
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This paper investigates to what extent telecollaboration can be integrated as an effective medium for the enhancement of intercultural communicative competence (ICC) in the foreign-language ...classroom. The data was obtained over one semester from a series of asynchronous exchanges in language-exchange class settings using Google drives shared between United States-based students learning Arabic as a foreign language at three American universities, and students at a Saudi university in Saudi Arabia learning English as a foreign language. The one-on-one interactions covered a variety of topics related to cultural knowledge, perspectives, values, practices, behaviors, and products. The data from this collaborative online project also included two reflection surveys that students responded to before and after the study. Byram’s 2021 model (including its objectives) was applied, and the findings reveal that many ICC objectives are clearly reflected in students’ telecollaborative exchanges, indicating that this type of exchange can be used effectively as a tool to develop students’ intercultural competence. The findings also show a noticeable increase in students’ interests in cultural learning and understanding the culture of others.
This Open Access book examines the link between intercultural competence (IC) and pragmatics by asking frontline modern foreign language teachers in higher education teaching a variety of languages ...(e.g., Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish) how they conceptualise intercultural competence and which skills, competences and knowledge they consider important in their teaching contexts. The data were collected with an online survey that focused on the relationship between intercultural competence and pragmatics. While international organizations such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) or the Council of Europe (CoE) agree that intercultural competence should play an important role in education, it is not always clear what IC may encompass in specific teaching contexts and subject areas. Examining how modern foreign language teachers in higher education conceptualise intercultural competence and the value they attach as well as the attention they give to various areas of pragmatics in their teaching is highly important, since those language professionals may be the final teachers learners encounter during their formal foreign language education. They are therefore in a unique position to shape modern foreign language learners’ intercultural and pragmatic awareness, competence and skills. This book will be of interest to language professionals, modern foreign language teachers and teacher trainers, as well as students and scholars of applied linguistics, pragmatics, and language education.
Workforce mobility and diversity are now the reality for many businesses, requiring employers to facilitate their employees' acquisition of foreign languages (FLs). Developing communicative ...competencies in an FL is necessary to fulfill the demands of an international workplace. Increasingly, companies have done so with the support of commercial apps and virtual-classroom systems. An example is the language learning company Babbel, which provides corporate clients with the package 'Babbel Intensive.' This package comprises app subscription as well as virtual-classroom credits, both aiming to improve spoken competence in an FL. The present study investigated learners' perceptions of workplace communication in an FL and the impact of Babbel Intensive on their skills. Moreover, the study examined beliefs Babbel Intensive users hold about language learning, as well as the types of motivation they exhibit. We followed a sequential mixed-method research design, comprising explorative qualitative in-depth interviews with 7 users and a subsequent survey with 52 users. Our findings show that learners use the FL learned with the Babbel Intensive package for email exchanges as well as conversations with business partners. The main challenges they experience revolve around vocabulary, grammar, and speaking skills. Babbel Intensive is regarded as exerting a positive impact upon these difficulties, especially through the personalization of classes. In terms of learner beliefs, users highlight that online learning can be associated with struggle but also with personal development and flexibility. Moreover, learners are shown to have varying types of motivation, primarily categorizable as extrinsic motivation. Our findings highlight the affordances and constraints of virtual-classroom solutions to workplace communication in an FL from the point of view of the mobile and diverse workforce of international companies.
The purpose of the present study was to examine the relations between emotions, classroom environment, and willingness to communicate (WTC) using the advanced quantitative methodological procedure of ...doubly latent multilevel analysis. To this end, 1528 secondary school students from 65 different classrooms in Iran participated in the study. Results of the doubly latent multilevel analysis showed that a positive classroom environment is related to fostering WTC and enjoyment, while it reduces anxiety among students. Moreover, enjoyment was found as an important factor in increasing WTC at both student and classroom level, while anxiety reduced WTC only at the student level. Finally, the results of the study are discussed and pedagogical implications are provided for language teachers.
Developing intercultural communicative competence (ICC) is an important part of learning a foreign language, even though some second/foreign language (L2) teachers ignore adopting the intercultural ...approach to language teaching. Considering the pedagogical significance of intercultural knowledge, this study aimed at investigating Iranian English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) teachers’ cognition, attitude, and practice in teaching ICC. For this purpose, 50 Iranian EFL teachers were non-randomly selected to fill in (Gonen and Saglam, International Journal of Global Education 1:26–46, 2012) adapted Teachers’ Familiarity with the Target Culture (TFTC) questionnaire, which was originally developed by (Sercu et al., Foreign language teachers and intercultural competence: An international investigation, Multilingual Matters Ltd, 2005). Next, a semi-structured interview was run with five selected Iranian EFL teachers to explore their attitudes toward teaching intercultural issues in EFL classes. Further, their practice of teaching intercultural issues inside the classroom was observed and recorded four times. The frequency analysis of the responses to the TFTC questionnaire indicated that the majority of Iranian EFL teachers were cognizant of the importance of teaching ICC. However, some discrepancies were found between their cognition, attitude, and practice in teaching intercultural issues. In practice, the teachers were not well aware of intercultural issues, and their teaching of these issues was limited to the course-books they taught. The most important implication of the study is for teacher educators to familiarize teachers with various intercultural issues to help them teach these issues in their classes more effectively.
Understanding how category width of cognitive style and power distance impact language use in cultures is crucial for improving cross-cultural communication. We attempt to reveal how English foreign ...language students, affected by high-context culture, communicate in English as a foreign language. What models of foreign communicative competence do they create?
We applied association rule analysis to find out how the category width of cognitive style affects the foreign communication competence in relation to culture and language.
The requester tends to be more formal and transfers conventional norms of the culture of the mother tongue into English, which mainly affects the use of alerters and external modifications of the head act of request.
A broad categorizer, regardless of social distance, prefers to formulate the request in a conditional over the present tense form, contrary to narrow categorizers who, in a situation of social proximity, prefer the request form in the present tense. A similar finding was shown in the case of external modifications of the head act, where we observed the inversion between broad and narrow categorizers, mainly in the use of minimizers and mitigating devices.
This research examined the relationships between motivation, support, and intercultural communicative competence (ICC) among students involved in a university project in Malaysia, called Crossroads ...of Culture. We evaluated the impact on ICC of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation types,
and of autonomy, competence, and relatedness support. Data collected via a questionnaire from a diverse group of 273 participants were processed using descriptive and correlation analysis. The findings underscore that in Malaysia's multilingual society, students participating in intercultural
communicative activities had higher intrinsic than extrinsic motivation. Furthermore, extrinsic motivators, such as the desire to improve language skills, obtain credits or certificates, or achieve career benefits, did not exhibit a significant correlation with ICC. Additionally, the availability
of mentor support and the establishment of meaningful relationships among participants were identified as pivotal elements in molding their levels of satisfaction, which profoundly impacted their ICC. Implications of the findings are discussed.
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