Development of Students' Intercultural Communicative Competence via Creating Their Own Cultures

Abstract

One of the long-term aims of the European Union is to incorporate intercultural education into lessons in foreign languages. However, studies have shown that teachers of foreign languages often do not know what intercultural teaching involves and are themselves not interculturally competent. The aim of an elective course Intercultural training in a teacher training study program is to develop students' intercultural communicative competences (ICC) and to teach them various teaching techniques and activities for the development of ICC. An activity for this intervention is called Aliens, where students were creating their planets (cultures) with sociocultural and historical foundations and sociolinguistic and pragmatic aspects of their newly developed cultures. Four lessons focused on intercultural topics such as greetings, addressing, non-verbal communication, small talk, punctuality, diversity, etc. were conducted before the intervention. The main aim of this intervention was to develop intercultural communicative competences (awareness, sociocultural knowledge, sociolinguistic and pragmatic competences) and positive attitudes towards difference and respect for other cultures. The intervention was conducted via four-step action research and it was evaluated as very successful, as students were able to reflect on their own and other cultures, and showed open-mindedness, curiosity, and acceptance toward foreign cultures.