Intercultural Competence and Foreign Language Learning in HE: Present and Future Directions
Intercultural Competence and Foreign Language Learning in HE
The Department of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Exeter is hosting an online two-day conference to bring together researchers, professionals and practitioners with expertise in integrating Intercultural Competence in the teaching and learning foreign languages in Higher Education.
Speakers and presentations
1 July
- Troy McConachy: Developing intercultural understanding in teaching and learning pragmatics.
- Amy Rossomondo: On integrating language and intercultural learning: Opportunities for structuring and assessing development among students at foundational levels.
2 July
- Prue Holmes: Developing global citizens through critical intercultural pedagogies.
View the Conference Booklet and Programme
More information
Intercultural competence can be broadly defined as a wide range of cognitive, affective, and behavioural skills that lead to effective and appropriate communication with people of other cultures, and thus the ‘ability to interact with ‘others’, to accept other perspectives and perceptions of the world, to mediate between different perspectives, to be conscious of differences’ (Byram, Nichols, and Stevens, 2001: 5). Intercultural competence is essential to operate in our multicultural world and language learners are in an ideal position to engage actively with cultural diversity.
The process of languaging is a social one and it is inextricably interwoven with the mechanism of making sense through language learning of ‘the supercomplex variety of human experience’ (Bennett, 2000). It is through this process that we are able to understand better also our own culture and identity.
Event location
Online event hosted via Zoom by The University of Exeter - Department of Modern Languages and Cultures. This event is free to attend.
