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ICIS Community,
Although intercultural communicative competence (ICC) has
emerged as an in-demand soft skill for employability, a lack of research
persists regarding the development of ICC in both teachers and students
in EFL settings. What theoretical frameworks can guide teachers in
their ICC development? What strategies can EFL teachers and students use
to continue to develop their ICC? Although these are useful questions
to consider when understanding the development of ICC, I think it’s
important to embed all of these questions in the larger context of
globalization. What are the stories of EFL teachers who, as they
struggle with the development of their own ICC, feel compelled to help
their students develop their ICC?
In this issue of InterCom, we present two
feature articles from the EFL context. The first article, coauthored by
Thao Nguyen from Vietnam National University and Tung Vu from the
University at Albany, SUNY, reports on the results of a study of
Vietnamese teacher education students who applied Kolb’s experiential
learning framework to their classroom teaching, noting how this
framework facilitated the development of students’ ICC in addition to
increased self-confidence.
In a separate article, Tung Vu shares some findings from a
separate case study on the development of ICC in a Vietnamese EFL
teacher of young learners. Vu’s case study sheds light onto the
particular struggles and complexities of teachers of young learners in
Vietnam, as well as the role that teacher agency plays in their
professional development.
What we see in this issue of InterCom is
that intercultural learning can place learners into vulnerable spaces as
they consider intersections of cultural ambiguity and difference. For
those in an EFL setting, that vulnerability increases as communication
occurs in a foreign language, which adds additional complexities to the
development of ICC.
Intercultural learning is messy business. But I believe that
those who enjoy the work of intercultural learning recognize the beauty
of this messiness and ambiguity. We revel in discovering a new way to
see something familiar. Sometimes, dare I say, we even enjoy being
wrong! Those who do intercultural work thrive on curiosity and embrace
the questions.
As we enter into a new year and a new decade, I hope that you
find that thing that piques your curiosity and drives you deeper into
intercultural learning.
Happy New Year!
Sharon
Tjaden-Glass, MA TESOL, is an instructional media designer for the
Division of eLearning at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio,
USA. Previously, she taught ESL in U.S. higher education, where she
first became interested in developing intercultural communication
programs for her international students. Her current research interests
include the intersection of intercultural communication and listening,
instructional design, and OER. |
