Series editors Research and Resources in Language Teaching: Anne Burns and Jill Hadfield

Routledge 2024, 270 pp.

ISBN 9781032651354 (hardback), ISBN 9781032651378 (paperback),

ISBN 9781032651385 (ebook), DOI: 10.4324/9781032651385

 

Introduction 

Due to such overarching global phenomena as the internet, advancement in communication technology, and migration, one currently lives surrounded by a plethora of discourses, reflecting different cultures (Kramsch, 2013). To me, intercultural awareness, simply put, is the ability to navigate conversations where these discourses meet. However, as a language teacher, I am also acutely aware of the difficulty to introduce culture in a non-stereotypical way, and the potentially very uncomfortable situations when culture-related conversations occur in both mono and multi-lingual groups. How are we, teachers, expected to develop successful communication skills needed to manage diverse contemporary interactions, if introducing cultural topics may result in hostile, learning-inhibiting atmosphere in the classroom (Crozet, 2016)? Or else, if the only culture-related content available to us portrays stereotypes?  

I find that Mishan and Kiss’s (2024) book on intercultural materials fills in exactly this lacuna, through its orientation at teachers’ professional development, teaching materials, and theory-to-practice structure: Part 1 provides comprehensive definitions of core terminology and a systematic approach to teaching intercultural competence; Part 2 is a collection of activities; Part 3 tackles inclusion of intercultural competence in curricula; and Part 4 suggests directions for teachers’ further professional development through research.  

 

Theory

The theoretical underpinning of the book centers around Byram’s (1997) original explanation of intercultural communicative competence (ICC) with critical cultural awareness (CCA) at its core, backed up by a more contemporary model by Fantini (2009). A working definition of CCA used in the book indicates that it is “a broadened knowledge and understanding of cultures”, both one’s own and others’, as well as the ability to approach them “non-judgmentally” (Mishan & Kiss, 2024, p. 27). Authors take CCA to be the pedagogical objective for intercultural activities, which, in my opinion, immediately brings clarity and direction to the complex area of developing intercultural competence in the classroom. Without the ability to question what they encounter, how will learners learn to recognize stereotypes or become empathetic? It therefore makes sense to focus on activities which develop critical thinking. 

In order to incorporate CCA into the learning process, the authors suggest employing the concept of complex dynamic systems (CDS). I found this suggestion to be the missing puzzle piece in attempts to develop intercultural competence. Adopting CDS allows to gauge such elements as learners’ affective needs, the dynamic understanding of culture, as well as the unpredictability of classroom situations. When learning is approached like this, CCA, just like culture, is not so much taught, but emerges in learners through directed, but by no means controlled, encounters. 

 

Practice

The theoretical principles in Part 1 underpin the framework for the design of intercultural materials, which in turn is the basis for activities in Part 2 (pp. 66–157). They are divided into 4 sets: sets A, C, and D are meant for practitioners and facilitate material evaluation, design, and adaptation, respectively; set B is oriented towards learners and gives suggestions for intercultural awareness-raising activities to be used in the classroom. The description of each activity conveniently indicates which learning objectives from the framework it helps to develop. 

The learners-oriented set B is the bulkiest one, listing 27 different activities. There are two additional sub-groups in this set: activities used with literature (understood here as both the spoken and the written word) and learner-generated materials. Among the many useful suggestions, I find the literature group particularly interesting, as it shows how poetry, story-telling, and film can be used to develop intercultural competence through a well-thought-out procedure and carefully selected questions. For example, in activity 27, based on Deardorff’s (2019) concept of story circles, learners discuss their intercultural experiences and reflect on them. Prompts for the stories touch on positive experiences with different cultures, learning from cultural misunderstandings, and recognizing stereotypes (p. 113). For the debrief, the teacher is encouraged to ask learners to find common themes, encourage further learning, focus on understanding and empathy (pp. 114–115). As such, the activity promotes reflection on intercultural experiences and creates opportunities for CCA to emerge.

While set B is practical and can be immediately applied in the classroom, I believe that it is the practitioner-oriented sets that carry true significance in Part 2. First of all, through set A, teachers are invited to use coursebook evaluation tools to investigate if the materials they currently use promote the development of intercultural competence. For example, activity 1 provides a ready-made checklist for quick evaluation of the extent to which materials develop all the elements of ICC (pp. 71–72), and activity 7 suggests guiding questions for critical discourse analysis of coursebook texts (pp. 80–82). Crucially, by completing these activities, teachers themselves become more aware of how cultures are portrayed in the available materials. 

Set C to me is the centerpiece of the book, as it guides teachers to create their own intercultural materials. What I find most helpful here is that the authors dedicate separate sections to different features of CDS. For example, one of the features is unpredictability and emergent learning. Under this heading, there are tips to teachers on how to get used to working with unpredictable answers and ideas in the classroom (activity 44, p. 144). On its completion, teachers will have practiced to allow the CCA to emerge in their classrooms, and thus will be more likely to incorporate this strategy into their lessons.

Finally, set D focuses on material adaptation. Particularly important here is the ability to evaluate the suitability of materials for the teacher’s context, as only then can the appropriate changes be made. An interesting example is activity 50 (pp. 153–154), which guides teachers in carefully examining the visuals in the coursebook and, if needed, repurpose them by asking learners to compare it to their own situation, create memes or comic strips, or write a back story. Such tasks are engaging and, with careful debrief, likely to result in both emerging CCA and abundant language practice. 

 

Implementation into the curriculum

Part 3 of the book discusses the systematic issue of including intercultural competence into curricula around the world. While the level of inclusion depends on the country, generally, intercultural skills are seen as an addition to already existing subjects (p. 162). Their development then becomes the teachers’ responsibility, which is not a sustainable solution, considering the restrictions of national curricula, school policies, and the workload which teachers have to cope with. 

In response to this situation, the authors propose 14 principles, based on the theoretical underpinning described in Part 1, and examples of their implementation across 6 different educational contexts, ranging from primary schools to teacher training. A key takeaway here is that “intercultural awareness-raising is necessarily a gradual process” (p. 164). Successful results will only be achieved when we appreciate what our learners already know and can do, and then build on it with care and consideration.

 

Research 

Finally, Part 4 of the book taps into teachers’ further professional development. Reiterating the lack of focus on developing intercultural competence in teachers’ education, the authors propose a variety of methods for classroom-based exploration of raising intercultural awareness. Action Research is highlighted for its cyclical nature, replicating the way the activities in Part 2 are intended to be used. I believe that Exploratory Action Research (Smith & Rebolledo, 2018) could also be useful to investigate both the level of CCA learners already have and how willing they are to deepen it. Furthermore, Exploratory Practice (Hanks, 2017) could help teachers look into a multitude of issues related to using intercultural materials and developing intercultural skills, too. 

Conveniently, the authors list the directions for research related to themes discussed in previous parts of the book, e.g. cultural sensibilities, materials in use, and student-developed materials. In addition to the description of these areas, there are suggestions for projects for teachers to engage in and inspiring examples illustrating how such issues were dealt with in real classrooms. For example, Vignette 4.1, related to the section on cultural sensibilities, tells the story how indigenous Achuar learners were nudged to establish eye contact with their conversation partners from different parts of the world (pp. 25–226). 

 

Conclusion 

What I appreciate the most about Mishan and Kiss’s “Developing Intercultural Language Materials” (2024) is the profound and sensitive focus on teachers’ professional development throughout the book. To me, it seems like a series of practical workshops meant to increase teachers’ abilities to introduce intercultural competence-raising activities in their classrooms. In particular, I have greatly enjoyed the flexible and open nature of the proposed activities and the focus on developing the CCA in both teachers and learners. Last but not least, I find the systematic approach highlighting the importance of incorporating intercultural competence into curricula and the focus on teacher development through research truly refreshing. I believe the book should be of interest to a wide audience of teachers: not just the ones that are curious about intercultural competence development, but also those looking for guidance in material development and adaptation, and, importantly, those wishing to engage in classroom-based research. 

 

Bibliography

Byram, M. (1997). Teaching and assessing intercultural communicative competence. Multilingual Matters.

Crozet, C. (2016). The intercultural foreign language teacher: Challenges and choices. In Dasli, M., & Díaz, A. R. (Eds.), The critical turn in language and intercultural communication pedagogy: theory, research and practice (pp. 143–61). Taylor & Francis Group. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315667294

Deardorff, D. K. (2019). Manual for developing intercultural competencies: Story circles. Routledge.

Fantini, A. E. (2009). Assessing intercultural competence. In D. K. Deardorff (Ed.), The SAGE handbook of intercultural competence (pp. 456–476). Sage.

Hanks, J. (2017). Exploratory Practice in language teaching. Puzzling about principles and practice. Springer.

Kramsch, C. (2013). Culture in foreign language teaching. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, 1(1) (pp. 57–78).

Mishan, F., & Kiss, T. (2024). Developing intercultural language materials. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781032651385

Smith, R., & Rebolledo, P. (2018). A handbook for Exploratory Action Research. British Council.

 

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