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Intercultural Communication in Language Education (ICLE):
The JALT Special Interest Group
Who are we? We...
- are an international community of educators in Japan;
- teach students of various ages;
- teach various languages;
- recognize the importance of culture in language education;
- support each other;
- welcome new members.
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No culture, no language – understanding how culture impacts language learning and teaching
When we teach a foreign language, we teach students from different backgrounds and cultures, and we do that as teachers from different backgrounds and cultures, bringing in our own (first) language and cultural experience from which our learners benefit as often, interaction and communication requires strategies of a lingua franca, i.e. a common language shared by speakers from different linguistic backgrounds.
However, when looking at course materials and testing sheets, we can see that conventions of communication, expressions and politeness are still dominated by a native-speaker model. In this interactive workshop, we will explore to what extent we are moving away and have to move away from those conventions. As language teachers, we need to explore how pluricultural today’s teaching of language is and how important it is to integrate an understanding of the cultural impact factors on both language learning and teaching. We will explore what strategies can help to enable effective communication and collaboration, e.g. the use of questions, demonstrating sensitivity and skills of reflection as well as being able to anticipate certain issues like misunderstandings that might occur. Only awareness of these impact factors will help our learners to interact successfully by taking the sociolinguistic and cultural aspects of their communication and transactions into account. How we can implement such strategies in our language-teaching classroom and how our learners can see that they aremaking progress will be two key takeaways from this workshop.
Reference:https://rm.coe.int/cefr-companion-volume-with-new-descriptors-2018/1680787989
Bio:
Kirsten Waechter has been a business English trainer since 1998 teaching in-company courses and university students. Today she focuses on teaching business communication, ESP and intercultural courses. She is also a materials writer and translator.
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Thank you for a successful 2024 Conference!
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💥Our 2024 Conference
Our 4th conference was held September 28, 2024 Read More
Member's Forum
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Proceedings
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Events
What we are doing and what we have done. Read More
Activities Initiative
Share intercultural teaching activities. Read More
JALT
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What are we about?
With globalization on the rise and intercultural contact becoming more common than ever before, a radical change in our mindsets, educators and students alike, is required in order to embrace the transformations a multicultural society brings with it.
This SIG aims to explore various ways language teachers could help shape their students’ intercultural minds, raise their students’ cultural self-awareness, and educate for intercultural understanding.
It promotes discussion about various approaches to teaching intercultural communication in a language classroom, allowing educators to become better informed about language intercultural education theory.
We also promote the development of resources appropriate to a foreign language teaching environment while considering the practical challenges of taking culture into account in the language classroom.
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Intercultural Communication in Language Education SIG Constitution
JALT Intercultural Communication in Language Education SIG is a special interest group of the nationwide “NPO The Japan Association for Language Teaching,” hereafter referred to as JALT. In the conduct of its activities, JALT Intercultural Communication in Language Education SIG shall comply with the policies and directives of the JALT National Executive Board and act in accordance with the provisions of the National Constitution and Bylaws.
全国語学教育学会 Intercultural Communication in Language Education SIG 定款
JALT Intercultural Communication in Language Education SIG は、全国規模の「特定非営利活動法人全国 語学教育学会」(以下 JALT と略称)の1研究部会である。JALT Intercultural Communication in Language Education SIG は、その活動の実施に当たって、JALT 全国執行 役員会の方針と指示を守り、全国語学教育学会定款及び細則の規定 に従って行動しなければならない。