Intercultural Language Teaching and Learning

This wide-ranging survey of issues in intercultural language teaching and learning covers everything from core concepts to program evaluation, and advocates a fluid, responsive approach to teaching language that reflects its central role in fostering intercultural understanding. Includes coverage of theoretical issues defining language, culture, and communication, as well as practice-driven issues such as classroom interactions, technologies, programs, and language assessment Examines systematically the components of language teaching: language itself, meaning, culture, learning, communicating, and assessments, and puts them in social and cultural context Features numerous examples throughout, drawn from various languages, international contexts, and frameworks Incorporates a decade of in-depth research and detailed documentation from the authors’ collaborative work with practicing teachers Provides a much-needed addition to the sparse literature on intercultural aspects of language education  

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments viii 1 Introduction 1 Language, Culture, and Language Education 1 The Concept of Method 2 Critiques of Method 3 Moving beyond Methods 4 About this Book 7 2 Languages, Cultures, and the Intercultural 11 Understanding Language 11 Language as a structural system 12 Language as a communicative system 13 Language as social practice 13 Concluding comments 16 Understanding Culture 17 Cultures as national attributes 18 Cultures as societal norms 19 Cultures as symbolic systems 20 Cultures as practices 20 Culture for language teaching and learning 21 The Intercultural: Understanding Language, Culture, and their Relationship 25 3 Second Language Acquisition, Language Learning, and Language Learning within an Intercultural Orientation 31 Introduction: Two Families of Theories 31 Key Understandings of SLA and Language Learning within Diverse Families of Theories 33 A Brief History of the Development of Theories of Language Learning 35 The Acquisition and Participation Metaphors 40 Expanding Learning: Recognizing the Role of Interpretation in “Moving Between” Linguistic and Cultural Systems 43 Conclusion 45 4 Language Teaching and Learning as an Intercultural Endeavor 47 Introduction 47 The intercultural in language learning 48 The Learner as Focus 51 Language learner as learner 51 Language learner as language user 52 The learner as person 54 The learner as focus: Concluding comments 56 Principles for Teaching and Learning Languages from an Intercultural Perspective 56 Practices for Intercultural Learning 59 Practices in learning 59 Conclusion 61 5 Designing Classroom Interactions and Experiences 63 Expanding “Tasks” to Focus on Interaction and Experiences 64 The Nature of Interaction 66 The Experiential Dimension 66 Considerations in Developing Interactions and Experiences 68 Examples 70 Example 1: Year 10 Chinese – examining translation 70 Example 2: Year 11 and 12 Indonesian: Developing intra- and intercultural understanding 75 Implications for Teachers and Students as Participants in Language Learning 81 6 Resources for Intercultural Language Learning 83 Textbooks as Resources for Intercultural Learning 84 Moving Beyond Textbooks 91 The Authenticity of the Resource 93 Literature as an Authentic Resource 95 Communities as Resources 97 The Classroom as a Resource 99 Selecting and Evaluating Resources 101 Adapting Resources 102 Using Resources Critically 103 Relating Resources to Each Other 104 Concluding Comments 105 7 Technologies in Intercultural Language Teaching and Learning 107 Introduction 107 Information Technologies and Intercultural Learning 108 Social Technologies and Intercultural Learning 111 Developing the Potential of Technologies for Intercultural Learning 118 Technology as information resource 119 Technology as content contextualization 119 Technology as communication tool 119 Technology as a construction kit 120 Technology as visualization and manipulation 120 Summary 120 8 Assessing Intercultural Language Learning 123 Contextualizing Assessment and Language Learning 124 The tension between traditional and alternate assessment paradigms 124 The institutional character of assessment 127 Understanding the Process of Assessment 128 Conceptualizing 129 Eliciting 131 Judging and validating 137 The need for experimentation 140 9 Programming and Planning 143 Programs and Programming in a Traditional Perspective 143 Conceptualizing Content for Language Teaching and Learning 144 Structural understandings of content 144 Communicative understandings of content 145 Content-based language teaching 147 Concept-based understandings of content 148 Content for intercultural language teaching and learning 148 Planning for Complexity 150 Planning for Conceptual Learning 152 Long-Term and Short-Term Planning 156 Planning whole of learning 157 Planning a course 159 Planning a unit of work 159 Planning a lesson 165 The Place of Context in Planning Programs 165 Conclusion 166 10 Evaluating Language Programs 167 Nature and Purpose of Program Evaluation 168 Paradigms that Shape Program Evaluation 169 The Process of Evaluation 171 The Principles for Teaching and Learning Languages and Implications for Evaluation 174 Evaluation and Teacher Professional Learning 177 Conclusion 177 References 179 Index 195

About the Author :
Anthony J. Liddicoat is Professor in Applied Linguistics at the Research Centre for Languages and Cultures in the School of Communication, International Studies and Languages at the University of South Australia. Angela Scarino is Associate Professor in Applied Linguistics and Director of the Research Centre for Languages and Cultures at the University of South Australia.

Review :
“Indeed, Intercultural Language Teaching and Learningcan be a valuable read for anybody interested in language and cultural diversity and the process that leads to intercultural competency”.  (The Delta Intercultural Academy, 1 January 2014) “Valuable for those studying linguistics, second-language acquisition, and language teaching.  Summing Up: Recommended.  Graduate students, researchers, faculty, professionals.”  (Choice, 1 December 2013)