Global Convention on Language Issues and Bilingual Education

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Global Convention on Language Issues and
Bilingual Education

• Singapore 2006

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• Developing intercultural awareness
• through language teaching and learning groups
  1 and 2 of the IB Diploma

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Overview

• definitions of culture and intercultural learning
• the role of culture in groups 1 and 2
• the assessment of culture
• future directions intercultural learning in
  groups 1 and 2

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Importance of Culture

• If language is seen as social practice, culture
  becomes the very core of language teaching.
  Culture in language teaching is not an expendable
  fifth skill, tacked on, so to speak, to the
  teaching of speaking, listening, reading and
  writing (Kramsch, 1993).

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Origins of the Word

• The primary meaning in husbandry is the
  tending of natural growth. 15th century
• (Raymond Williams, 1976)

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Origins of the Word

• The word culture charts within its semantic
  unfolding humanitys own historic shift from
  rural to urban existence., pig-farming to
  Picasso, tilling the soil to splitting the atom.
  
• (Terry Eagleton, 2000)

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CultureThree Broad Categories of Usage

• general process of intellectual, spiritual and
  aesthetic development
• a particular way of life, whether of a people, a
  period, a group, or humanity in general
• the works and practices of intellectual and
  especially artistic activity
• (Raymond Williams, 1976)

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Language ab initio Syllabus OutlineReference to
Culture

• During the language ab initio course students are
  expected to become familiar with aspects of the
  everyday life and culture of the countries in
  which the language is spoken.

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Language A2 Syllabus OutlineReference to Culture

• The study of texts includes an exploration of the
  culture(s) related to the language studied. In
  this study students are encouraged to examine how
  cultural contexts influence language use.

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Main Focus of these References

• knowledge
• appropriate use of language

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• cultural awareness is interpreted in a narrow
  and reductive way in the details of the curricula
  and does not include the attitudinal, affective
  dimension in any substantial way.
• (Byram, 2005)

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Intercultural Learning

• The process of becoming more aware of and better
  understanding ones own culture and other
  cultures around the world. The aim of
  intercultural learning is to increase
  international and cross-cultural tolerance and
  understanding.
• (British Council)

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Intercultural Communicative Competence

• ICC is an attempt to raise students awareness of
  their own culture, and in so doing, help them to
  interpret and understand other cultures. It is
  not just a body of knowledge, but a set of
  practices requiring knowledge, skills and
  attitudes.
• (British Council)

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Why Is ICC Important in the IB Context?

• internationally mobile students
• development of the qualities essential to the
  sojourner as opposed to the tourist (Byram,
  1997)
• native speakers of a target language cannot be
  the ideal

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IBO Mission Statement

• The International Baccalaureate Organization aims
  to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring
  young people who help to create a better and more
  peaceful world through intercultural
  understanding and respect.

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The aims of group 2 are to

• encourage, through the study of texts and through
  social interaction, an awareness and appreciation
  of the different perspectives of people from
  other cultures

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The aims of group 2 are to

• develop students awareness of the relationship
  between the languages and cultures with which
  they are familiar

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Factors in Intercultural Communication

• knowledge
• skills
• interpret and relate
• discover and/or interact
• attitudes
• education
• (Byram, 1997)

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Groups 1 and 2 Assessment Tasks

• Ab Initio individual oral
• Language B individual oral
• Language A2 written tasks
• Language A1 world literature assignment

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ICC-related Assessment Tasks

• essay
• oral presentation
• world literature assignment
• written tasks

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Groups 1 and 2 Curriculum Review and ICC

• relate the learning of culture to
• the IBO mission statement
• the learner profile
• the international dimension of the DP
• integrate ICC into the syllabus and the assessment

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Byram, Michael (1997).Teaching and Assessing
Intercultural Communicative Competence. Clevedon
Multilingual Matters.