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Intercultural Competence as a Goal of Language Learning: What Are Chinese Teachers Doing with Culture?

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Teacher Voices in Chinese Language Teaching

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Teaching and Learning Chinese ((PSTLC))

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Abstract

In intercultural studies it is common to move from an approach that questions ‘what is culture?’ to ‘what do we do with culture’ (Sarangi, Intercultural or not? Beyond celebration of cultural differences in miscommunication analysis. Pragmatics, 4(3), 409–427, 1994). By association, in Chinese language teaching, how culture is understood and used by teachers to explain people’s thoughts and speech acts (Dervin, 2012) is pivotal to the development of intercultural competence in learners. Cultural essentialism, the preclusion of cultural attributes from flowing between societies (Holliday, Understanding intercultural communication. Routledge, 2013) as if cultures are distinct and separate from each other, creates expectations as to behavioural patterns often linked to national culture or nationality. This chapter addresses the nature and extent to which four interviewees and a wider surveyed group of Chinese language teachers in Australia exhibit or lack intercultural competence and how this might influence their approach to language teaching and learning. It describes what they do with culture.

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  1. Morling College, Macquarie Park, NSW, Australia

    Scott Smith

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Smith, S. (2022). Intercultural Competence as a Goal of Language Learning: What Are Chinese Teachers Doing with Culture?. In: Teacher Voices in Chinese Language Teaching. Palgrave Studies in Teaching and Learning Chinese. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-89213-5_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-89213-5_2

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