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Selasa, 30 Oktober 2012
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Rabu, 10 Oktober 2012
Developing EFL learners’ intercultural communicative competence: A gap to be filled?
Author: Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa
Bio:
Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa is a PhD Candidate in
the School of Education at the University of Queensland. Her research
activities focus on English language teaching and EFL teacher education. She
has experience teaching English, TESOL Methodology and training EFL teachers at
the College of Foreign Languages, Vietnam National University and has engaged
in research at the University of Queensland where she was funded for her PhD in
Education. Aside from her MA in TESOL at the University of Queensland, she also
successfully completed her Master in Educational Leadership and Management at
International RMIT.
Other Formats
________________________________________
Abstract:
As English has become an international
language, teaching for linguistic competence cannot be separated from teaching
for intercultural competence. However, intercultural communication has not been
paid due attention to in English language teaching (ELT) in Vietnam. This
partially leads to the fact that Vietnamese students of English may master
English in terms of its grammar and linguistics but have many problems in
intercultural communication. This article aims to respond to the call for more
attention to intercultural communication in ELT to develop students’
intercultural communicative competence. The article stresses the increasingly
important role of intercultural communication in ELT and the necessity to
develop students’ intercultural communicative competence. The three domains of
intercultural communicative competence have been identified with an aim to draw
attention to move the learning of intercultural communication beyond its
cognitive domain. A variety of learning and teaching activities are put forward
to be integrated in EFL teaching and learning with an aim to improve the
current situation of EFL teaching and learning in general and in Vietnam in
particular.
Key words: linguistic competence,
intercultural competence. EIL
Introduction
Culture, an integral aspect of language
learning, sometimes fades into the background in the language classes in
Vietnam. The emphasis tends to be placed on the development of the basic
skills, i.e., speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Many Vietnamese
teachers believe in the “teaching language first, and introducing culture
later” approach discussed by Omaggio (1993, pp. 357-358). The question raised
with this theory is how language can be taught without culture. Language is
communication, but not without an understanding of the culture. This leaves
little time, if any, for cross-cultural or intercultural lessons, which
partially leads to the fact that students may master English in terms of its
grammar, lexis, phonology, but have many problems in intercultural or
cross-cultural communication which can be defined as
an act of communication undertaken by
individuals identified with groups exhibiting intergroup variation in shared
social and cultural patterns. These shared patterns, individually expressed,
are the major variables in the purpose, the manner, the mode, and the means by
which the communicative process is affected (Damen, 1987, p.32).
Many researchers (e.g., Ortuno, 1991; Alptekin, 1993; Coffey, 1999;
Martinez-Gibson, 1998; McKay, 2000) have shed light on the importance of
cultural information in language teaching. They stress that communication is an
interrelationship between a language and its people and if cultural information
is not taught as a part of communicative competence, complete communication
cannot happen. Besides, with the
emergence of English as the chief medium of international communication in
Vietnam, there is a need and desire for proficiency in English to communicate
with people of other countries. Whenever two people from different cultures
meet and use English to communicate with each other, they will use it in
culturally distinct ways. Therefore, it is apparent that teaching intercultural
interaction competence in English may well be among the most significant
undertakings of the future. It stands to reason that culture needs to be
integrated into the teaching of all language skills so that learners can learn
to speak, but also to write, in culturally appropriate ways for specific
purposes.
Meanwhile, the quality of English teaching and learning is still a
concern to many Vietnamese educators. A
document released by the Department of Secondary Education, within the
Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training, stated that “the demand for
English language teaching and learning is ever increasing…but the curriculum
contents and textbooks are out of date…Consequently, the quality of teaching
and learning English is unsatisfactory” (Tran, 2001, p.15). In Vietnam, most
classrooms have been teacher-centred or teacher-fronted (Sullivan, 2000). This
is also supported by Kennett and Knight (1999), and Walker, Tao and Bao (1996,
cited in Nguyen, 2000), who hold that teaching methods [in Vietnam] were
outdated, relying almost entirely on strict teacher-centred methods and rote
learning.
In this context, it can be recognized that there is a need to address
these concerns by looking for the application of more effective alternatives,
and pedagogy of appropriation for the fact that English is used as an
international language in Vietnam. Although there has been a campaign in
education to “transform curriculum, text books, and teaching methodologies”
(Kim, 2001, p.140), progress has been very slow in teaching foreign languages.
In a research study of ELT in Vietnam, Kramsch and Sullivan (1996) suggested
pedagogy of appropriation and authenticity, which “reflects an effort to make
ELT both efficient for global transactions and relevant to the user’s local
culture” (p. 211). Therefore, intercultural training should be integrated in
ELT, thus preparing “learners to be both global and local speakers of English
and to feel at home in both international and national culture” (p. 211).
This paper aims at raising the awareness of the integration of
intercultural communication understanding and intercultural communicative
competence in ELT in Vietnam.
Vietnam
Although the grammar-translation methods
of ELT for students majoring in English is losing its popularity, emphasis
still tends to be placed on the development of the basic skills, i.e.,
speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Consequently, the place of
intercultural communication has not received the attention it needs.
Despite there being a new emphasis on developing communicative
competence, there are no specific teaching guidelines for the development of
this for Vietnamese students of English. As a result, intercultural issues seem
not to be included in the curriculum in any integrated or significant way. This
can be partially shown in an examination of several so-called “cultural
syllabi” under consideration (Hue University, Danang University, and Colleges
of Foreign Languages, Hanoi National University). Being aware of the link
between language and culture, most of the foreign universities/colleges in
Vietnam introduce cultural information about the target culture. For example,
in the English Department of Hue University, Danang University, Hanoi National
University, and other foreign language universities, American culture and
British culture are explicitly taught in their program with the purpose of
providing students with knowledge on major cultural issues of America and
Britain, to get students to practise the four skills while studying the
subject, to get them to make some comparisons between the culture of English
speaking countries (typically American and British culture) and Vietnamese
culture (Department of English, 2002). It seems that culture is embedded in
knowledge about the history, geography and institutions of the target language
country. Cultural competence in this case comes to be viewed as a body of
knowledge about the country. Although students will indeed need to develop
knowledge of and about the L2 culture, “this receptive aspect of cultural
competence is not sufficient” (Lessard-Clouston, 1997, p. 137). Tseng (2002)
also believes that “culture can be learned as a process rather than as a
collection of facts” (p. 11). Consequently, it is important that learners
should develop strategies which they can apply to further their own learning
and to interpret cultural acts in the context in which they occur, not just
some information about the target language cultural practices.
Moreover, what is ignored is the fact that nowadays English has
increasingly become a means of intercultural communication, so with only the
memory of the informational culture of the target culture, students may fail in
communication with both native speakers and non-native speakers of English.
Therefore, together with the understanding of the target culture, awareness of
intercultural communication is indispensable in ELT. The picture gained from
the examination of these syllabi is that insufficient attention is paid to the
development of intercultural awareness. The aim in the syllabi appears to be
primarily to develop cognitive awareness of cultural peculiarity-the stage of
“mere cognitive learning” (Bochner, 1982, p. 32), which is discussed in the
next part of this paper. The English Department at the College of Foreign
Languages, Vietnam National University makes a great step by introducing
cross-cultural studies, which cover most of the basic topics of cross-cultural
(Vietnamese and Anglicist) communication. Yet it still targets the provision of
information about cross-cultural communication. The opportunities for students
to develop their affective domain and behavioural skills are limited. This is
partly due to the fact that English learning conditions in Vietnam are limited
in the classroom. Vietnamese students of English normally have few chances to
improve their intercultural communicative competence outside the classroom.
They generally have limited access to television or other media coming from
outside Vietnam, or to people from other cultures. Opportunities for
independent learning are even more limited because of the lack of related
available resources and opportunities to be exposed to a foreign environment.
All this suggests that the principal learning location is the classroom, which
to a considerable degree hinders the development of skills. Therefore, this
champions the need for students to master skills in cross-culturally
appropriate communication and behaviour. In summary, most foreign language
universities/colleges in Vietnam have recognized the role of intercultural
communication in enhancing communicative competence. Yet it is usually
restricted to culture-specific awareness in the cognitive domain, partially
leading to Vietnamese students of English facing difficulties in intercultural
communication (Suu, 1990; Thanh, 2000, Nguyen, 2000; Phan, 2001).
Therefore, this paper attempts to echo the need for integrating
students’ intercultural awareness so that they can successfully communicate in
English with not only native speakers, but also non-native speakers in
intercultural communication.
Intercultural communication
The term “intercultural communication”
is identified in a less complicated way. In general, it refers to communication
between people from different cultures (Dodd, 1998; Ting-Toomey, 1999; Samovar
et al, 1997; Damen, 1987). More precisely, it refers to “symbolic exchange
processes whereby individuals from two (or more) different cultural communities
negotiate shared meaning in an interactive situation” (Ting-Toomey, p. 16). In
the “symbolic exchange process”, people from cultural communities “encode and
decode the verbal and nonverbal messages into comprehensive meanings”. This
definition obviously emphasizes the influence of cultural variability and
diversity on communication. There is no doubt that when two or more people of
different cultural backgrounds attempt to communicate, cultural barriers to
communication often arise due to the differences in their patterns of life,
social style, customs, world view, religion philosophy and so on. This is often the case when the
communicators share a foreign language.
Nowadays, intercultural communication plays an important in ELT partly
because English assumes the role of an international language which is used
extensively by millions of people outside its original geographic boundaries to
“convey national and international perceptions of reality which may be quite
different from those of English speaking cultures” (Alptekin, 1984, p. 17). As English
continues to spread as an international language, the number of second language
users of English will continue to grow, far surpassing the number of native
speakers of English. It is also the case in Vietnam. Vietnamese learners of
English use it to communicate more with the second learners of English rather
than the native speakers. It is apparent that “English is the main link
language across cultures today” (Schnitzer, 1995, p. 227). Therefore, the goal
of learning English shifts to enable learners to communicate their ideas and
culture with not only the speakers of English but also those of other cultures.
Consequently, the question of intercultural communication is clearly
indispensable in English language learning and teaching if the aim is to develop
students’ communicative competence, which is further discussed in the next
part.
The term “intercultural communicative
competence” deliberately maintains a link with recent traditions in foreign
language teaching, but extends the concept of communicative competence in
significant ways. Generally, it has been identified by many researchers (Kim,
1991; Schinitzer, 1995; Byram, 1997; Byram et al 2001; Byrnes, 1991; Krasnick,
1984; Baxter, 1983; Hyde, 1998; Meyer, 1991) as the ability to interact with people
from another country and culture in a foreign language. More precisely, it is
defined as “the overall internal capacity of an individual to manage key
challenging features of intercultural communication” (Kim, 1991, p. 259), to
efficiently “negotiate a mode of communication and interaction” by ability to
use and adapt language use appropriately in culturally different contexts. The
challenging features of intercultural communication can be identified as
cultural differences, unfamiliarity, and incompatibility between the
interactants. This status of English as a means of international and
intercultural communication brings many challenges to teachers and learners of
English. It stands to reason that successful communication is not simply about
acquiring a linguistic code; it is also about dealing with different cultural
values reflected in language use. This lays out the philosophical base for a
growing awareness that communicative competence should be conceived as
intercultural communicative competence (Baxter, 1983), including not only “the
knowledge of basic values and norms; verbal and nonverbal interactional
competence in using English in intercultural communication; competence in using
language as social action; competence in creating and interpreting linguistic
aspects of social reality” (Krasnick, 1984, p. 218), but also “the cognitive,
affective, and behavioral adaptability of an individual’s internal system in
all intercultural contexts” (Kim, 1991, p. 259).
Learners of English who hope to carry out intercultural interactions
effectively must be equipped with this set of abilities to be able to
understand and deal with the dynamics of cultural differences because of the
inseparable relationship between foreign language learning and intercultural
communication.
It is obvious that if a teacher wants to maximize students’
communicative effectiveness when interacting with members of other culture, the
students should be also receiving cultural awareness training as an integral
part of their English courses. However, teaching or emphasizing cross-cultural
awareness in the English language classroom is not an easy task. The next
section discusses the contribution of several research studies towards the
development of cross-cultural/intercultural skills
The levels of intercultural competence
What are the characteristics of
effective intercultural communicators? Descriptions are found throughout the
literature on intercultural effectiveness. Baxter (1983) summarizes these,
suggesting that an effective cross-cultural communicator needs not only to
tolerate ambiguity well but also be able to adapt to “new social conventions
and behaviour demands” (p. 307), and then understand his or her own cultural
roots and the effect of other cultures on personal behaviour.
Similarly, Gudykunst (1993) also sees the effectiveness of intercultural
communication being determined by our “ability to mindfully manage our anxiety
and reduce our uncertainty about ourselves and the people with whom we are
communicating” (p. 37).
The first thing an English teacher, in particular, and a language
teacher, in general, will ask is: Can this be taught? How can the learners
acquire this in the language classroom?
A number of researchers (Brislin et al, 1986; Gudykunst & Nishida,
1989; Martin 1994; Brislin & Yoshida, 1994; and others) have tackled these
questions. In designing cross-cultural training for the development of
intercultural communicative competence, they suggest there is a need to address
the three areas of cognition, affect, and behaviour.
Cognition
To support cognition, several
researchers (Lambert, 1999; Schmidt, 2000) advocate introducing specific
knowledge regarding topics such as history, geography, politics, and economics
which help the students engage in communicating with people from the host
culture. To some extent, this approach can provide students with a certain
understanding of specific areas of culture such as the artefacts which the
culture uses, so that they have the basis for intelligent conversations with
the people of the host culture, and “help decrease stress” (Weaver, 1993, p.
154). However, this aspect of culture does not greatly influence communication.
If the interactants do not understand the underpinning rules of behaviours,
they are likely to face misunderstandings and failure in intercultural
communication. On the other hand, the danger of this approach is that too many
facts are presented and there are too many challenges to the students’ memory
and their tolerance. It can never be sufficient and learning such information
can be time consuming and tedious (Brislin and Yoshida, 1994).
Several researchers (Pease, 2000; Ting-Toomey, 1999; Axtell, 1993,
Weaver, 1993) suggest another approach to develop culture-specific cognitive
awareness by providing learners with a list of basic do’s and don’t’s to a
particular culture, which at least helps them at the beginning when they
encounter a new cultural environment. This means they would be aware of the
pitfalls that they should be wary of when interacting with members of the other
cultures. To some extent, this approach can provide students with a certain
understanding of specific areas of culture, helping them avoid behaving in an
offensive way. However, a number of writers make the point that “mere cognitive
learning” (Bochner, 1982, p. 23) will not assist students in developing the
necessary skills to successfully negotiate cross-cultural encounters and
thereby reduce “the anxiety and the uncertainty” that Gudykunst (1993, p. 37)
talks about.
Developing intercultural communicative
competence needs to go beyond the mere transmission of facts about a culture
and provide knowledge to enhance participants’ understanding of how and why
people perform certain behaviours and have certain attitudes during
cross-cultural encounters. As Brislin et al (1986) point out, “misunderstanding
is reduced when people know when, how, and why certain attributions will be
made” (p1-34). To provide this knowledge, Brislin and Yoshida (1994) suggest
that a language program which develops students’ awareness of cross-cultural
communication should initially concentrate on culture-general cognitive
training and should include familiarisation with the major differences in
fundamental cultural patterns of attitude and behaviours. Such knowledge refers
to specific theories or themes that are commonly encountered in cross-cultural
interaction regardless of the cultures involved, such as enunciated in the work
of Hall (1976), Gudykunst (1986), and Ting-Toomey (1999) on high and
low-context cultures as well as knowledge of how to perform and make
behavioural adjustment in intercultural communication.
Cognition can be considered as the first step in any intercultural
training. In particular, this stage focuses on knowledge and awareness, aiming
to help students understand how their culture influences their interaction with
people of other cultures (Gudykunst et al, 1996). To accomplish this in a
language program, the language teacher can give lectures or present readings,
or listening materials or, as Brislin et al (1986) suggest, foreign language
learners should take part in problem-solving activities, and the analysis of
critical incidents which can develop their awareness of how behavioural
attributions are made during interaction.
Affect
All intercultural interaction involves
some degree of stress, adjustment, anxiety and uncertainty in participants due
to unfamiliarity and cultural differences. It is understood that participants
may face complex emotions such as confusion, and anger. Therefore, several
researchers (Brislin & Yoshiba, 1994; Gudykunst et al, 1996; Kim, 1991;
Lamber, 1999) have emphasized the higher aims of cross-cultural awareness at
the affective level, which is to enable the students to effectively manage their
emotional reactions, thus maximising the effectiveness of their interactions
with members of other cultures. This leads to the “readiness to accommodate
intercultural challenges” (Kim, 1991, p. 269). Sharing this idea, Gudykunst et
al (1996), Burleson (1983), and Weigel & Howes (1985) believe that the
challenge for intercultural training is not only to provide learners with the
necessary awareness of why uncertainty and anxiety occur and to provide them
with the “tools and information” to manage that anxiety (p. 75), but also to
encourage them to confront their biases and prejudices so that they can more
effectively deal with them. Gradually, they can accept the viewpoint that
people from different cultural backgrounds have different ways to behave and interpret
their behaviours, but that difference does not mean deficiency.
Numerous authors (for example, Baxter, 1983; Brislin & Yoshiba,
1994; Gudykunst et al, 1996) have suggested different kinds of activities to
develop learners’ cross-cultural awareness at the affective level. Among these,
it is worth mentioning case studies, discussions, simulations, role-play, and
cultural assimilators involving the use of critical incidents. At this stage,
the use of critical incidents is an effective way to understand the viewpoints
of culturally different people, prompting discussion concerning the
participants’ emotional reactions, and developing the ability to identify
culturally appropriate behaviours (Brislin & Yoshida, 1994; Black &
Mendenthall, 1990). Meanwhile, a well-prepared simulation or a role-play helps
students to put themselves in the shoes of others and experience such emotions,
paving the way to understand how culture influences their behaviours and
emotions. In these activities, which may be culture-general or
culture-specific, the learners are required to consider and discuss either
their own reactions or those of others when they take part in observing “posed”
cross-cultural interactions. The object of these activities is that
participants become aware of the many and varied emotional reactions that may
arise during cross-cultural contact and learn, through the discussion stage of
the activities, the reason for the emotional reaction given the background,
thus providing the basis for the development of cultural empathy and
sensitivity (Irwin, 1996).
However, it is not sufficient for a language learner to have knowledge
of another culture and some degree of affective identification, because without
an understanding of the behaviours and social skills necessary to accompany
communication, breakdowns in the process will occur. The next part, therefore,
will discuss the behavioural dimension of intercultural training.
Behaviour
Awareness and knowledge to face
emotional challenges are not sufficient for success in intercultural
interaction. According to several researchers (Brislin & Yoshida, 1994;
Gudykunst et al, 1996), practice in engaging in behaviour must be increased to
develop student’s intercultural communicative competence. More particularly, in
developing learners’ cross-cultural awareness, the teachers need to help them
recognize that changes in behaviours lead to greater probability of success in
interaction with culturally different people. In turn, this develops the
ability to read the behaviour of other participants in cross-cultural
encounters and learn a repertoire of social skills in effective cross-cultural
interactions (Cushner & Landis, 1996). In the behavioural dimension, a
student needs “to develop their ability to be flexible and resourceful in
actually carrying out what he or she is capable of in the cognitive and
affective dimensions” (Kim, 1991, p. 269). In other words, it is the ability to
discover, interpret, relate and adapt to the requirements posed by different
contexts (Byram, 1997).
It is obvious that if a cross-cultural training integration is to
maximize its effectiveness, it needs to incorporate all three domains –
cognitive, affective, and behavioral. However, the next question is how to these three domains in EFL teaching to
develop EFL learners’ intercultural communication understanding as well as
their skills to deal with barriers in intercultural communication in the
classroom. The following teaching and learning activities are put forward to
achieve those aims.
Learning activities
With an appropriate cultural
orientation, most learning activities can take on intercultural aspects, offer
obvious opportunities for developing cultural and interactional competence in
addition to communicative competence (Krasnick, 1984). For that purpose, the
following activities are suggested.
Lecture and readings
One common approach to prepare students
for intercultural communication at the cognitive level is simply telling
students about the things which may cause the greatest problems, i.e., the
differences, and provide readings on the subjects (Argyle, 1982; Robinson,
1985).
Cultural assimilators
A cultural assimilator is a brief
description of critical incidents of cross-cultural behaviors that would
probably be misunderstood by students. After the description of the incident,
the students are presented with explanations from which they are asked to
select the correct one (Seelye, 1984), followed by possible responses. Cultural
assimilators are not only more fun to read but also help the students to
identify differences in cultural values. This increases students’ understanding
of culturally complex issues, which serves to develop their cognitive and
affective dimensions. It offers great potential, and is “an effective way of teaching
individuals to make culturally appropriate interpretations or attributions of
the meaning of other behavior” (Krasnick, 1984, p. 217). It encourages greater
sensitivity to differences in cultures.
Cultural capsule
Cultural capsules are brief presentations
showing one or more essential differences between cultures, accompanied by
visuals that illustrate these and a set of questions to stimulate class
discussion. Cultural capsules can be recorded or written.
Self-confrontation
Mini-drama approach as suggested by
Gorden, 1970 (as cited in Robinson, 1985). The mini-drama consists of from
three to five brief episodes, each of which contains one or more examples of
miscommunication. A discussion is led by the teacher after each episode. The
purpose of the mini-drama is to provide cultural information and to evoke an
emotional response which results in self-confrontation (Argyle, 1982; Gudykunst
et al, 1996; Krasnick, 1984).
Role play
In role-play activities, students
imagine themselves in an intercultural situation outside the classroom, and
perform a role-play about a situation within one’s own culture or another
culture. Experiencing the situation from
different perspectives can contribute to a “clearer perception, greater
awareness” and “a better understanding of one’s own culture and culture of
other people” (Fennes & Hapgood, 1997, p. 109).
Cultural simulation games
Simulation developers state that the
purpose of the games is to simulate culture shock. They maintain that
experiencing cultural shock prior to field experience will cushion actual shock
by increasing awareness of cross-cultural problems (Krasnick, 1984; Gudykunst
et al, 1996). Therefore, students can become sensitized to the helplessness of
people from different cultural backgrounds when confronted with a totally new
and foreign situation. The preparation for intercultural interaction provided
by rehearsal and practicing in the games “can make a measurable difference in
the stress inherent in these situations” (Fowler, 1986, p. 73).
Discussion
Discussion involves various topics about
intercultural aspects, contributing greatly to learner’s motivation and
critical thinking (Tomalin & Stempleski, 1993; Gudykunst et al, 1996).
Discussion activity can provide students with good learning atmosphere in which
students can cooperate better with one another, learn from the content of
discussion and from one another. Discussion activities in the class can be in
pairs or in groups.
Inviting Foreigners
People from other cultures and people
who are recently returned expatriates are invited into the class to talk about
their culture or their experience. This activity is useful in helping students
experience real life intercultural interactions (Argyle, 1982). However, this
type of activity can be considered optional because it is not always easy to
invite people from other cultures to come to class. It is possible that the
teacher encourages students to interact with foreigners and recall their
experience.
Each activity described has some merits, and it seems likely that a
combination of activities would be the most effective. Language teaching,
therefore, should use the aforementioned experiential activities such as
role-play, simulation, problem-solving, critical incidents, discussions, and so
on, which provide learners with opportunities to practise their learned
behaviour and so develop their social skills. The acquisition of a repertoire
of coping skills for social interaction has the additional value in that, by
indicating how to behave, it serves as a means of reducing the stress and
anxiety which may be generated in cross-cultural interactions (Brislin, Landis,
& Brandt, 1983). Besides, these activities will engage students in using
the language interactively, and communicatively for the meaning. These activities,
if handled correctly by the language teacher, can develop students’
intercultural communicative competence, build up their vocabulary, expand their
grammatical accuracy, and develop their communicative competence (Scarcella
& Oxford, 1992; Brislin et al, 1983).
Conclusion
It is obvious that intercultural
communication is significantly important in English language teaching in
Vietnam as English has increasingly become an international language and
Vietnamese learners have more and more chances to be involved in intercultural
communication. In response to the call for reform in the field of language
teaching and learning in Vietnam, attention to intercultural awareness can be
considered as an alternative.
It is clear that the integration of cross-cultural awareness into
language teaching is of immense value in developing students’ communicative
competence. Many research studies in the literature offer insights into how
language teachers can incorporate cross-cultural/intercultural dimensions through
language teaching practices. It is obvious that if EFL teaching aims at
maximizing the effectiveness of intercultural communicative competence, it
needs to incorporate all three domains – cognitive, affective, and behavioral.
Given the fact that English has become a means of intercultural communication,
integrating intercultural communication learning into English language teaching
is both necessary and possible.
In conclusion, it is impossible to deny the important role of
intercultural communication in ELT in general, and in the context of ELT in
Vietnam in particular. The more we
believe in its indispensable role, the more we count on the necessity and
feasibility of the integration of intercultural communication into EFL
curriculum plan to develop students’ intercultural communicative competence.
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