Investigation of Intercultural Competence: CDA of EFL Students’ Baseline Portfolios

Authors

  • Abduljalil Hazaea Najran University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15448/2178-3640.2018.2.31948

Keywords:

intercultural competence, CDA, intercultural text, EFL students, student portfolio.

Abstract

In monocultural classes, Saudi English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students have to acquire not only linguistic competence but also to develop Intercultural Competence (IC) when they read and write in English. This article investigates IC scattered in EFL students’ baseline portfolios collected in an enrichment critical reading class at the Preparatory Year of Najran University. IC is operationalised as intercultural attitude, intercultural knowledge and intercultural skills evident as discourses in intercultural texts. The data comprises semi-structured interview and intercultural assignment, which is an encounter discourse to intercultural text. A qualitative empirical research design was used to analyze the data through Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) techniques. The findings indicate that IC is underdeveloped. Most of the participants represent negative attitude towards intercultural communication. They also lack appropriate intercultural knowledge and effective intercultural skills. The findings suggest that EFL teaching and learning practices need to shift towards a more intercultural perspective.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Ahmad, J. 2015. Traditional & socio-cultural barriers to EFL learning: A case study. English Language Teaching, 8(12), p. 191.

Al-Jarf, R. S. 2004. Cross-Cultural Communication: Saudi, Ukrainian, and Russian Students Online. [Online Submission]. Retrieved from:

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED489964.pdf. on 24 Nov. 2017

Al Musaiteer, S. S. 2015. Saudi Students’ Experience of Intercultural Communication. Thesis Master. The Graduate Faculty, University of Akron.

Aldosari, H. 2013. Integrating culture learning into foreign language education. Umm Al-Qurma University Journal of Languages and Literature, 11, p. 10-42.

Alfahadi, A. 2012. Saudi teachers’ views on appropriate cultural models for EFL textbooks: insights into TESOL teachers’ management of global cultural flows and local realities in their teaching worlds. Thesis Ph.D. Education, University of Exeter.

Alkatheery, E. R., Al Saleh, P., & Isama, M. 2010. Content analysis of culture in ELT reading textbooks: Appropriacy and inclusivity. Thesis Master. Department of English, King Saud University.

Amari, F. Z. 2015. The role of critical discourse analysis in EFL teaching/learning. Frontiers of Language and Teaching, 6(87-93.

Bazerman, C. 2004. Intertextuality: How Texts Rely on Other Texts. In C. Bazerman & P. Prior (Ed.). What Writing Does and How It Does It (p. 83-96). USA: Erlbaum.

Benahnia, A. 2014. The Impact of Cultural & Intercultural Competence Awareness Programs on ESL Scholarship Candidates Abroad. Proceedings of International Academic Conferences.

Byram, M. 1997. ‘Cultural awareness’ as vocabulary learning. Language Learning Journal 16(1), p. 51-57.

Chen & Starosta, W. 1998. A review of the concept of intercultural awareness. Human communication, 2(1), p. 27-54.

Cots, J. M. 2006. Teaching ‘with an attitude’: Critical Discourse Analysis in EFL teaching. ELT Journal, 60(4), p. 336-345.

Damnet, A. 2008. Enhancing acquisition of intercultural nonverbal competence: Thai English as a foreign language learners and the use of contemporary English language films. Thesis Ph.D. School of Communication and the Arts, Victoria University.

Deardorff, D. K. 2006. Identification and assessment of intercultural competence as a student outcome of internationalization. Journal of studies in international education, 10(3), p. 241-266.

Elboubekri, A. 2017. The Intercultural Communicative Competence and Digital Education: The Case of Moroccan University Students of English in Oujda. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 45(4), p. 520-545.

Elyas, T. 2014. Exploring Saudi Arabia’s EFL Student Identity: A Narrative Critical Approach. International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, 3(5), p. 28-38.

Escudero, M. D. P. 2013. Teaching intercultural awareness in the English as a foreign language classroom: a case study using critical reading. Intercultural Education, 24(3), p. 251-263.

Fageeh, A. 2011. At Crossroads of EFL Learning and Culture: How to Enhance Crosscultural Awareness in EFL College Students. Cross-Cultural Communication, 7(1), p. 62.

Fairclough, N. 1989. Language and Power. UK: Longman Group.

Fairclough, N. 1992. Discourse and social change. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Fairclough, N. 1995. Media discourse. London: Edward Arnold.

Fairclough, N. 2003. Analysing discourse: Textual analysis for social research. London: Routledge.

Fairclough, N. 2006. Language and globalization. London: Routledge.

Halliday, M. A. K. 1985. An introduction to functional grammar. London: Edward.

Hazaea, A. & Alzubi, A. 2017. Effects of CDA Instruction on EFL Analytical Reading Practices. Novitas-ROYAL (Research on Youth and Language), 11(2), p. 88-101.

Houghton, S. 2008. Harmony versus critical cultural awareness: A case study of intercultural language education in Japan. Intercultural Communication Studies. XVII( 2), p. 222-235.

Hua, Z. 2014. Intercultural Communication. In L. Wei (Ed.). Applied Linguistics (p. 112-129). West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons.

Jacobson, W., Sleicher, D., & Maureen, B. 1999. Portfolio assessment of intercultural competence. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 23(3), p. 467-492.

Janks, H. 1997. Critical discourse analysis as a research tool. Discourse: studies in the cultural politics of education, 18(3), p. 329-342.

Jørgensen, M. W. & Phillips, L. J. 2002. Discourse analysis as theory and method. London: Sage.

Kirn & Hartmann. 2012. Reading Interactions 1, Middle East Diamond Edition. McGraw-Hill.

Liton, H. A. & Qaid, A. S. A. 2016. Addressing Intercultural Communication Issue in Teaching English. International Journal of Humanities and Applied Sciences (IJHAS), 5(1), p. 40-44.

Macknish, C. J. 2011. Understanding critical reading in an ESL class in Singapore. TESOL Journal, 2(4), p. 444-472.

Marsh, D. 2011. Using Critical Discourse Analysis to Raise Critical Language Awareness in Japanese Medical Students: An Exploratory Action Research Project. Thesis Master. Centre for English Language Studies, University of Birmingham.

Mekheimer, M. A. A. & Aldosari, H. S. 2011. Impediments to cultural teaching in EFL programmes at a Saudi University. Journal of Intercultural Communication, 26(3), p. 1-6.

Méndez García, M. do C. 2017. Intercultural reflection through the Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters: students’ accounts of their images of alterity. Language and Intercultural Communication, 17(2), p. 90-117.

Osman, H. 2015. Investigating English teachers’ perceptions of intercultural communicative competence in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Thesis Ph.D. International & Multicultural Education Department, University of San Francisco.

Perry, L. B. & Southwell, L. 2011. Developing intercultural understanding and skills: Models and approaches. Intercultural Education, 22(6), p. 453-466.

Petithomme, M. 2008. Is there a European identity? National attitudes and social identification toward the European Union. Journal of Identity and Migration Studies, 2(1), p. 15-36.

Rahimi, S. 2013. Promoting the Reading Comprehension of High-School Students through Critical Discourse Analysis. Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods, 3(4), p. 56.

Richardson, J. E. 2006. Analysing newspapers: An approach from critical discourse analysis. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Said, E. W. 1975. The text, the world, the critic. The Bulletin of the Midwest Modern Language Association, 8(2), p. 1-23.

Sercu, L. 2004. Assessing intercultural competence: A framework for systematic test development in foreign language education and beyond. Intercultural Education, 15(1), p. 73-89.

Taj, S. R. 2017. Saudi Students’ Social Identity and Their Identity in Academic Writing: A Qualitative Study of Saudi Students in the UK. Thesis Ph.D. School of Education, University of Leicester.

Van Leeuwen, T. 1996. The representation of social actors. Texts and practices: Readings in critical discourse analysis, 1, p. 32-70.

Weedon, C. 1987. Feminist Practice and Post-structuralist Theory. London: Blackwell.

Weninger, C. & Kiss, T. 2013. Culture in English as a foreign language (EFL) textbooks: A semiotic approach. TESOL quarterly, 47(4), p. 694-716.

Wodak, R. 2002. What CDA is about–a summary of its history, important concepts and its developments. In R. Wodak & M. Meyer (Ed.). Methods of critical discourse analysis (p. 121-138). London: Sage.

Xiong, T. 2012. Essence or practice? Conflicting cultural values in Chinese EFL textbooks: a discourse approach. Discourse: studies in the cultural politics of education, 33(4), p. 499-516.

Yelubayeva, P. & Zhukova, T. 2015. Integrating critical discourse analysis skills into formation of cross cultural communicative competence. 6th IASTEM International Conference. p. 173-176.

Yingqin, L. 2012. Exploring the Impacts of Cultural Globalization on Cultural Awareness/Values and English Writing in Chinese Context. Intercultural Communication Studies 21(2): 94-110.

Downloads

Published

2019-01-15

How to Cite

Hazaea, A. (2019). Investigation of Intercultural Competence: CDA of EFL Students’ Baseline Portfolios. BELT - Brazilian English Language Teaching Journal, 9(2), 458–475. https://doi.org/10.15448/2178-3640.2018.2.31948

Issue

Section

Article