Theme-Centered Interaction in the Context of Intercultural Education and the Constructivist-Inspired Pedagogy: Potentialities and Perspectives

Abstract

The chapter offers a concise critique of the Theme-Centered Interaction approach observed specifically from the point of view of intercultural education and its requirements within the post-modern competency-based education. Having democratic citizenship, global dexterity, cultural literacy and internationalisation among core values on its agenda, intercultural education requires cross-curricular presence and a joint effort across educational levels. Looking specifically at its applications in the higher education contexts (in Europe and beyond), Theme-Centered Interaction is linked to the above-mentioned core values of intercultural education and discussed as another example of best practice in developing interculturality and diversity consciousness. The chapter ends with brief recommendations for the future development in the areas, looking into potentialities and perspectives of the Theme-Centered Interaction approach not only in the context of intercultural education but – more widely – in the promotion of a tolerant and democratic society.

Appendices

Appendices

1.1 Appendix A

	Lesson plan
Class/level:	Undergraduate
Module:	Intercultural communication
Topic:	Communicative competence
Focus on:	Pragmatic transfer
Mode of delivery:	Interactive seminar
Time available:	60 min
Seating arrangement:	Semi-circle or round table
I. Key didactic objectives	General:
	Developing the students’ transferable skills (analytical, reflective, interactional, etc.)
	Raising their intercultural awareness
	Promoting interactive and collaborative learning opportunities
	Subject specific:
	Widening the students’ specialist knowledge in interactional pragmatics
	Fine-tuning the students’ communicative competence
	Developing a deeper understanding of the process of communication in inter- and cross-cultural contexts
II. Structure of the lesson	(i). Introduction: up to 10 min
	(ii). Theoretical framework: up to 15 min
	(iii). Group work and general discussion (critical incidents): up to 30 min
	(iv). Q&A, concluding remarks and follow up activities: up to 5 min
	(i). Introduction
	The topic is introduced by showing the students slides 1 and 2 (Hobson 2001 & Thomas 1983; Handout Section 1) illustrating the learner’s and the teacher’s perspective on communicative competence and culture-specific differences leading to pragmatic transfer. The students are encouraged to guess the key concepts to be discussed (expected answers, e.g. culture, cultural conventions, stereotypes, teaching language and culture, multiculturalism, intercultural awareness, living abroad, politeness, rudeness, etc.). Their suggestions are noted and put into the wider context of Communicative Competence (slide 4; Handout Sections 2–3). The term is defined and explained further (if necessary). The concept of pragmatic transfer is then introduced (slide 5; Handout Sections 2–3) and its relevance in language education briefly explained. The whole class is invited to actively participate.
	(ii). Theoretical framework
	The main points discussed (communicative competence; pragmatic transfer) are elaborated further and contextualised within the relevant theoretical frameworks (Hymes; Kasper, etc.), followed by a brief Q&A session (if needed). The handout provides further guidance (Sections 2–3).
	(iii). Group work and general discussion
	The students are divided into groups (3–5, depending on the class size) and encouraged to discuss critical incidents (Handout, Section 4) illustrating instances of pragmatic transfer. Group leaders are then asked to choose a few key points and share them with the class. The teacher moderates the discussion and gives further guidance if necessary.
	(iv). Q&A, concluding remarks and follow -up activities
	The seminar is concluded by a Q&A session and a summary of the main points discussed. The teacher then gives brief instructions and suggestions for follow-up activities (full details provided in the Handout, Section 5). The students are encouraged to carry on the discussion independently and, optionally, to fill in a feedback questionnaire. The teacher takes the comments and suggestions on board, factoring them into the design and delivery of the remaining sessions.
III. Required reading	See Handout, Section 5 (‘Taking it seriously...’).
IV. Recommended reading	See Handout, Section 5 (‘Taking it further...’).
V. Suggested material for further browsing, viewing and consultation	See Handout, Section 5 (‘Taking it lightly...’).
VI. Follow-up activities	The students are invited to explore the topic further by keeping an intercultural diary, starting with notes on their own perception of university life and reflecting upon their own experience of living and/or studying abroad (if applicable). They are encouraged to identify (cultural) similarities and differences characteristic of university life in the city they live in and/or other countries/regions they may have studied/lived in, or be familiar with, focusing on a chosen aspect of university life (academic, social, extracurricular, etc.). They should summarise their thoughts and observations, trying to come up with a more general account of culture-specific vs. universal aspects of living and studying abroad and discuss it with other students.
	The topic will be investigated further at a series of interdisciplinary workshops involving staff and students of the Department/School/Faculty (suggested workshop title: The (inter)cultural context of communication: theory, practice, pedagogy).

1.2 Appendix B

	Undergraduate module: Intercultural communication (student handout)
Topic:	Communicative Competence
Focus on:	Pragmatic Transfer
Section 1	From the learner’s perspective…
	I realised after a time that learning Russian was as much a matter of adapting my tone as accumulating vocabulary. Russians, for example, have none of the contorted, apologetic manner of the English. If you start out on ‘Would you possibly be so kind as to help me, if you’ve got a moment, to point out where the post office might be?’, any Russian who is not a bureaucrat or an official will look at you as though you are mad. After a time I learnt to ask simply ‘Where is the post office?’(…). Both the tone and the sentiment behind it came to feel quite natural. I was becoming Russian, it seemed to me; and the happy, swift feeling of losing myself was part of the process. 9
	From the teacher’s perspective…
	It is not the responsibility of the language teacher (…) to enforce Anglo-Saxon standards of behaviour, linguistic or otherwise. Rather, it is the teacher’s job to equip the student to express her/himself in exactly the way she/he chooses to do so – rudely, tactfully or in an elaborately polite manner. What we want to prevent is her/him being unintentionally rude or subservient. 10
	Your perspective?
Section 2	Communicative competence: the term, originally coined by Dell Hymes in the 1960s,11 refers to the learner’s ability to use the language appropriately in order to accomplish communicative goals and intentions.12 It empowers the learner to act using specific linguistic means and includes the following:
	(a) Linguistic competences
	(b) Sociolinguistic competences
	(c) Pragmatic competences
	(a) Linguistic competences: the range and quality of knowledge and the way it is stored (lexical, grammatical, semantic, etc.)13
	(b) Sociolinguistic competences: sociocultural condition of language use; knowledge and skills required to deal with the social dimension of language use14
	(c) Pragmatic competences: functional use of linguistic resources, drawing on scenarios or scripts of interactional exchanges; knowledge of the principles according to which messages are:
	(i) Organised, structured and arranged (discourse competence)
	(i) used to perform communicative function (functional competence)
	(iii) sequenced according to interactional and transactional schemata (design competence)15
Section 3	Pragmatic transfer: the situation in which one’s pragmatic performance in cross- and intercultural contexts is influenced by their first/native language and culture. In the context of foreign language learning and teaching, it refers to the situation in which the learner’s knowledge of functional use of linguistic resources characteristic of his/her first language (L1) influences his/her second language (L2) production. Kasper16 defines it as:
	the influence exerted by learners’ pragmatic knowledge of languages and cultures other than L2 on their comprehension, production and learning of L2 pragmatic information (1992: 207)
	and proposes the following distinction:
	(a) Pragmalinguistic transfer:
	… the process whereby the illocutionary force or politeness value assigned to particular linguistic material in L1 influences learners’ perception and production of form-function mapping in L2 (1992: 209)
	(b) Sociopragmatic transfer:
	… the social perceptions underlying language users’ interpretation and performance of linguistic action in L2 are influenced by their assessment of subjectively equivalent L1 contexts (1992: 209)
	Main manifestations of pragmatic transfer:
	(a) Negative (interference)
	(b) Positive (facilitation) (cf. Bou Franch 199817 and Yamagashira 200018)
Section 4	Group discussion: critical incidents
	Below are a few examples of critical incidents, illustrating cross-cultural communicative situations in which pragmatic transfer may have occurred, leading to a possible misunderstanding of the (communicative) intentions of the interlocutors.
	Split into groups of 3–5, choose one of the critical incidents (1–3), and discuss with your group members the nature of the communicative situation. Specifically, decide if there is a case of pragmatic transfer there, and, if so, suggest a possible solution to the misunderstanding it might have caused.
	1. Sales representatives from Germany and Britain are in a difficult negotiation. Things are getting tense. Franz Bauer sits upright and is disturbed as Jim Banks relaxes in his chair. Franz Bauer feels that Jim is not taking the negotiation seriously. Jim feels that Mr Bauer is getting more and more aggressive.
	What went wrong? Can you suggest a solution?
	2. Julio, an Argentinean student, who is keen to improve his English, is attending a course in Business English. He often stays behind after the class to ask the British lecturer, Jim Ford, some questions. When Julio approaches, Mr Ford looks uneasy and begins to move away. Julio wonders whether Mr Ford doesn’t like him, if he is asking too many questions or whether students are not supposed to ask questions after class.
	What seems to be the issue here? Can you suggest a solution?
	3. Rebecca, a recently recruited British executive in an international law firm, was asked to chair a meeting with her French and British colleagues. From Rebecca’s point of view, the meeting went well. She did her utmost to make sure that everyone was heard and the relevant issues discussed and summarised in a diplomatic way. She even changed the agenda and extended the meeting to accommodate new issues that some British delegates had brought up. At the end of the meeting Rebecca was shocked to hear one French colleague whisper to another ‘… typical British, just typical. No proper preparation…’. She was even more surprised to hear the reply: ‘Yes, and they never say what they mean, do they?.’ 19
	Is there some kind of cultural misunderstanding here? If so, can you suggest a solution?
Section 5	Follow-up activities
	Taking it lightly…
	Browse the suggested titles below – some will make you laugh, and some may even make you cry – and think about the issues they touch upon in the context of the topic(s) we discussed today (e.g. culture, cultural stereotypes, culture shock, culture specific vs. universal, ‘foreignness’, cultural displacement, etc.).
	The hundred-foot journey [film], directed by Lasse Hallström (Entertainment One, 2014).
	Hoffman, Eva (1991). Lost in translation: a life in a new language. London: Minerva. ‘Polite’ Britons died on Titanic (2009, 21 January). BBC News. Retrieved from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7843154.stm.
	Crystal, David (2013). The future of Global English – coping with culture (The English Speaking Union Annual Lecture).The British Council. Retrieved from: http://englishagenda.britishcouncil.org/seminars/future-global-english-coping-culture.
	Taking it seriously…
	The following titles cover the theoretical background of the topics we discussed today (communicative competence, pragmatic transfer, intercultural pragmatics). Please read the articles/chapters carefully and summarise their main points (up to 300 words per title).
	Bou Franch, Patricia (1998). “On pragmatic transfer”. Studies in English Language and Linguistics 0: 5–20; Retrieved from: http://www.uv.es/~boup/PDF/Sell-98.pdf.
	Kasper, Gabriele (1992). “Pragmatic transfer”. University of Hawai’i Working Papers in ESL. Volume 11, No. 1: 1–34.
	Taking it further…
	If you find yourself inspired by the topic and want to explore it further, some of the titles bellow might be a useful starting point:
	Félix-Brasdefer, César (2017). Interlanguage pragmatics. In Yan Huang (ed.). The Oxford handbook of pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 416–434.
	Kecskes, Istvan (2017). Cross-cultural and intercultural pragmatics. In Yan Huang (ed.). The Oxford handbook of pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 400–15.
	Kurteš, Svetlana (2013). Key competences in foreign language learning: historical perspectives and theoretical frameworks. In Maria Eisenmann and Theresa Summer (eds). Basic Issues in EFL Teaching and Learning (2nd revised edition). Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter GmbH: 43– 54.
	Larina, Tatiana (2015). Culture-specific communicative styles as a framework for interpreting linguistic and cultural idiosyncrasies. International Review of Pragmatics, Volume 7, Issue 2: 195–215.
	Spreckels, Janet, Kotthoff, Helga (2007).Communicating identity in intercultural communication. In Helga Kotthoff & Helen Spencer-Oatey (eds.). Handbook of intercultural communication. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter; 415–439.
	Wierzbicka, Anna (2006). Chapter 1: English as a cultural universe. In English: meaning and culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 3– 19.
	Taking it all the way…
	If you would like to explore similarities and differences between languages and cultures you are familiar with in a more systematic way, here is a suggestion how to make a useful contribution. Start keeping a reflective intercultural diary, noting down your own thoughts and observations. You can focus on a particular aspect of communication, culture and society or – perhaps – reflect on cultural similarities and differences relating to university life in your country (or region, city, town, village) and any other country (or region, city, town, village) you may be familiar with. Finally, you can summarise your findings and observations, trying to come up with a more general account and discuss them with other students.
	We are planning to organise a series of interdisciplinary workshops that will address more fully the question of the (inter)cultural context of communication. Would you like to be actively involved?
	Your questions, comments and suggestions are always welcome.
	Thank you!