Promoting Intercultural Communicative Competence through Foreign Language Courses

Abstract

LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE is important in intercultural business communication (IBC) studies. But equally important is developing intercultural communicative competence, that is, a recognition of the cultural factors influencing behavior in business encounters around the globe (Beamer, 1992;Bennett, 1986;Varner, 2001). This article suggests how tertiary-level foreign language (FL) courses can be contextualized to promote intercultural learning geared to "achieving an awareness of cultural diversity and an understanding of different modes of living and behaviour" (Krück, 1992, p. 299). It describes the learning projects and tasks incorporated into the 1st-year IBC program at Nijmegen University in the Netherlands, where an integrative approach to course programming was introduced in 2001-2002. INTERCULTURAL LEARNINGByram (1997) assumes a direct relationship between FL teaching and the development of intercultural communication competence. In his view, FL courses should not only teach students the language needed to communicate but also confront them with "the experience of otherness," as the effectiveness of communication in the FL depends on their ability to "decentre" and understand how messages will be 308

Does Content Matter? Analyzing the Change in Global Awareness Between Business- and Nonbusiness-Focused Short-Term Study Abroad Courses

“…To the contrary, content provides intellectual structure for the experience. For example, Planken, van Hooft, and Korzilius (2004) show foreign language courses are important to the development of intercultural competencies. The implication is that STSA courses that emphasize or require the use of foreign language should lead to larger increases in students' global awareness in areas pertaining to intercultural knowledge and awareness than STSAs that do not necessitate foreign language.…”

Integrating Intercultural Competence in ESP and EMI: From Theory to Practice

“…If we agree that ESP and EMI teachers have the potential to foster intercultural communicative competence (Bocanegra-Valle, 2015b;Planken et al, 2004), we can conclude that the internationalised higher education landscape poses challenges to ESP lecturers. If properly faced, these challenges can in fact reposition ESP as necessary instruction for 21st century technical professionals.…”

“…Yet, as some studies on IC from an ESP perspective have pointed out (Bocanegra-Valle, 2015a, 27 MARTA AGUILAR Vol. 6(1)(2018): [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43] 2015b; Planken, 2005;Planken, van Hooft, & Korzilius, 2004;Shaw, 2006) further work is necessary, particularly vis-à-vis the rise of internationalisation in higher education. In fact, the need to revise academic needs and update syllabi in postBologna higher education has only recently started to be addressed (see Bocanegra-Valle, 2016 for an updated overview) because few ESP textbooks seem to cater for IC, as discussed in Section two below.…”

Business Discourse

“…(Class Reader Business English 1, Business Communication, Radboud University Nijmegen) As Planken et al (2004) discuss, the communication tasks can be divided into two main types; awareness raising and production tasks (see below). In the awareness raising tasks, the students 'observe and analyse' the target genre as it is produced in the target FL by native and non-native speakers, and they are then asked to identify certain aspects of that communication, e.g.…”

“…Next time someone tries to sell you a BE book, you are entitled to ask them, 'How do you know it is business English?' (Thursday 20 March 2003, Guardian Weekly) Planken, van Hooft and Korzilius (2004) describe the development and execution of a set of learning projects (the 'business projects') and associated tasks ('the communication tasks') for first-year BA students studying intercultural business communication (IBC) at the Radboud University Nijmegen, in the Netherlands. The projects were developed as part of the curriculum for the teaching of English, Spanish, French or German to Dutch students and their aim was to contribute to 'the development of (a degree of) intercultural communicative competence' (309).…”