Abstract
It is no longer necessary to argue for the integration of a cultural dimension in foreign language learning. In the past few decades, theoretical pedagogical approaches in the field of language acquisition have consolidated the intimate link between these two educational dimensions, although effective practices are still in the process of being developed. Intercultural competence has become integral to the languages curriculum. It has been defined in a number of ways but it is commonly accepted as involving knowledge, skills and attitudes, all of which are tinted with values that ‘are part of one’s social identities’ (Byram, Gribkova, and Starkey, 2002: 11). In particular the more precise concept of ‘intercultural communicative competence’, coined by Michael Byram (1997), with its emphasis on cultural mediation and intercultural speakers, has dominated much discussion about communication in foreign language teaching.
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© 2013 Inma Álvarez and Kan Qian
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Álvarez, I., Qian, K. (2013). Supporting Intercultural Learning: For Beginners’ Chinese Language Learners at The Open University, UK. In: Jin, L., Cortazzi, M. (eds) Researching Intercultural Learning. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137291646_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137291646_12
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