Intercultural Competence in Tertiary Learners of Chinese as a Foreign Language: Analysis of an Innovative Learning Task

Robyn Moloney*, Hui Ling Xu

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

    1 Citation (Scopus)

    Abstract

    This chapter presents the findings of a project designed to support development of student intercultural competence and critical thinking, innovative in the context of undergraduate Chinese language study.

    An 'intercultural' approach to language learning has been widely encouraged in contemporary foreign language learning in Australian, North American and European contexts, at primary, secondary and tertiary levels (Kramsch, 2006; Scarino, 2000). As an integral part of language acquisition, students need to acquire habits of critical thinking about cultures, or 'intercultural competence'. Within student language learning, learners may develop intercultural competence through having structured opportunities to critically observe a cultural practice or particular language usage, and negotiate meaning across cultural boundaries. The chapter presents a description of a teaching intervention which took place in a second year Chinese language unit. Data comprised student reflective journals and focus group interviews. Analysis of the data showed that students found the intervention workshop and the ensuing tasks, consisting of intercultural language teaching, and journal writing, to be useful in facilitating heightened intercultural awareness. Furthermore, it raises the profile of intercultural competence as a critical language learning outcome, aligned with current initiatives in the tertiary sector, in the commitment to exchange opportunities and internationalisation.

    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationEXPLORING INNOVATIVE PEDAGOGY IN THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF CHINESE AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
    EditorsR Moloney, HL Xu
    Place of PublicationBerlin; New York
    PublisherSpringer, Springer Nature
    Pages97-114
    Number of pages18
    ISBN (Print)9789812877710
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2016

    Publication series

    NameMultilingual Education
    PublisherSPRINGER
    Volume15
    ISSN (Print)2213-3208

    Keywords

    • PEDAGOGY

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