Sharon Tjaden-Glass, Sinclair Community College, Dayton, Ohio, USA
Jennifer A. Lacroix, Boston University, USA

Many second language acquisition scholars agree that effective listening skills involve intricate cognitive, metacognitive, and social/affective processes (Chen, 2013; Field, 2004; Goh, 2014; Graham, 2017; Vandergrift & Goh, 2012; Yeldham & Gruba, 2014). In fact, much research exists on the role of speaking in intercultural communication, such as the role of pronunciation instruction at the segmental and suprasegmental levels (Baker, 2014; Couper, 2017) and various discourse strategies for effective communication such as discussion skills (Holmes, 2004) to combat perceived challenges leading and participating in discussions as well as speaking clearly (Caplan & Stevens, 2017). True, intercultural communication skills require strong speaking and listening skills, but our knowledge of what effectively composes the role of listening competence in intercultural communication is limited. In this article, we will connect theories from the field of intercultural communication to the second language classroom and highlight some practices that teachers and students can use in a multilingual classroom to improve their intercultural listening skills.

What Is Listening Competence?

Research on the listener’s role and processes in intercultural communication is not as robust as research concerning the speaker (Janusik, 2016). To address the question of what constitutes listening competence, Fontana, Cohen, and Wolvin (2015) reviewed 53 relevant listening scales and identified three common traits associated with listening competency: responding or giving feedback, asking questions, and using nonverbal communication. However, before speakers have the opportunity to use these strategies, they must first listen.

What Can Teachers Do to Help Learners Improve Their Listening Skills in Intercultural Situations?

Building learners’ knowledge of (1) how people develop intercultural competence, (2) how culture can influence interactions, and (3) how one’s individual cultural identity is multilayered provides a strong foundation for learners to respectfully and appropriately negotiate meaning across cultures.

How Do People Develop Intercultural Competence?

The Process Model of Intercultural Competence (Deardorff, 2006) is the most widely cited model of intercultural competence development because it distills the knowledge and experiences of many scholars in the field of intercultural communication into a unified theory. However, in this article, we will focus on Ting-Toomey and Chung (2012), as it speaks more directly to the importance of consciousness-raising, which enables multilingual learners to recognize and access their funds of knowledge in intercultural situations.

Ting-Toomey and Chung (2012) view the development of intercultural communication competence in terms of flexibility, achieved through increased consciousness-raising and intercultural sensitivity. In their Staircase Model of Intercultural Communication Competence, Ting-Toomey and Chung explain that different levels of awareness and sensitivity to intercultural communication manifest in personal knowledge, skills, and behaviors.

When L2 teachers of multilingual classrooms teach within their own cultural context, consciousness-raising can be particularly challenging. They may have conceived of intercultural competence as a set of knowledge and skills to learn in order to help them understand people from other cultures, without recognizing the need to critically reflect on their own cultural lens. However, Ting-Toomey and Chung (2012) point out that flexible intercultural communicators need to have an awareness and appreciation for the fact that everyone, including themselves, is a unique cultural being.

In their Principles of Process Consciousness, Ting-Toomey and Chung provide eight key points pertaining to the nature of intercultural communication that, when kept at the forefront of intercultural experiences, can help increase intercultural communication flexibility. These principles direct attention to and reflection on a range of factors that influence communication, including (1) interlocutors’ expectations, (2) bias, (3) encoding and decoding messages, (4) goals, (5) communication styles, (6) culture clashes, (7) context, and (8) the embedded nature of intercultural communication. In summary, by increasing awareness of the intricacies of intercultural communication, teachers and students can improve their ability to adjust their communication to diverse audiences and contexts.

How Can Culture Influence Interactions?

To help multilingual learners find a middle ground in intercultural situations, Starosta and Chen (2000) propose Third Culture Theory, which employs a “double-emic listening” approach, in which, “interactants … are aware that their own Culture One is a theory; that another’s views could provide alternate views; and that information is needed to grow and survive as a global citizen” (p. 290). In this view, effective intercultural communication requires that interlocutors move toward “a space-between” cultures, where they can more fully engage in cultural perspective-taking and reach agreement on, “an interpretation that belongs to neither party” (p. 279). This restructured view of the world in which values are “negotiated and adjusted among parties so as to render them mutually palatable” (p. 291) encompasses Starosta and Chen’s notion of Third Culture Theory. Using Third Culture Theory to inform classroom approach and lesson design is particularly useful in a multilingual classroom, where learners from different cultures must continually navigate the spaces between cultures. When learners are able to conceive of their communication as emerging from a shared cultural space, mutual respect, learner autonomy, and ownership of language follow.

How Does Our Individual Cultural Lens Color Our Interactions?

Gaining cultural knowledge and being tolerant of the Other is not enough for effective intercultural communication (Gorski, 2008). A healthy amount of cultural self-awareness is also needed. In an increasingly globalized and multilingual world, Hybrid Theory (Babha, 1994; Holliday, 2018) advocates for self-reflection that helps learners understand that, “hybridity is how we all are” (Holliday, 2018, p. 6, emphasis in the original). In addition, helping learners see their own cultural hybridity helps them also reconcile the fact that, although we may reside within Cultures, our cultural boundaries are not fixed. Indeed, we may sometimes feel that we share more in common with people from other cultures than we do with people from our own. What intercultural communicators need to be effective in an increasingly globalized world is to find ways to be “new selves in new domains” (Holliday, 2018, p. 6). In this view, the role of the teacher is to help students (1) recognize the interconnectedness and relationships with people and (2) “understand their positionality in the wider world” (Holliday, 2018, p. 6).

In summary, while responding or giving feedback, asking questions, and using nonverbal communicationcontribute to listening competence, promoting effective listening skills in a multilingual classroom requires preparing learners for intercultural interactions through building knowledge about intercultural competence development, an awareness of the complexities of intercultural communication, and cultural self-awareness.

What Types of Activities Can Teachers Use to Promote Effective Intercultural Listening?

Table 1. Overview of Classroom Listening Activities to Promote Intercultural Communication (IC)

Conclusion

In summary, promoting effective intercultural listening in the classroom requires a balance of explaining how to develop intercultural competence, modeling communication strategies, and guiding learners in reflection to make sense of their own interculturality. Taken together, these skills and concepts promote the development of IC listening skills that embrace multilingualism as an asset in any classroom, whether virtual or traditional.

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Jennifer A. Lacroix (MA) is a senior lecturer at Boston University where she is currently working on a doctorate in language education with a focus on L2 listening pedagogy. She is actively involved in the TESOL community and presents regularly at conferences.