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An Integrated Intercultural Course for Iranian English Language Learners: When East Meets West

Naghibian, Mehrdad | 2016

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  1. Type of Document: M.Sc. Thesis
  2. Language: English
  3. Document No: 48978 (31)
  4. University: Sharif University of Technology
  5. Department: Languages and Linguistics Center
  6. Advisor(s): Rezaei, Saeed; Jahangard, Ali
  7. Abstract:
  8. Intercultural Communicative Competence has been the focus of much academic inquiries in the field of second/foreign language learning in the last decades since learners’ ability to communicate authentically in the target language has been recognized among the scholars. This study aimed to address this issue in the Iranian academic environment where there was almost a gap in not touching the cultural issues of target language in a focused and organized manner in language classes at universities. For that purpose, an intercultural syllabus was designed for a 14-week course of English short story in the Minor Program at Sharif University of Technology. The syllabus was an integration of various cultural topics in American culture with the well-known short stories written by the American authors whose fictions lent themselves well to the topics. This work drew upon Byram’s (1997) model of Intercultural Communicative Competence as a guideline for the framework of the study and assessing its outcomes. Two main sources of data collection were an interview with the learners at the end of the program and a series of portfolios provided by the learners during the term as part of their assignments. The qualitative analysis of the data indicated that the learners developed intercultural competence under the definitions of Byrams’ model. The results also showed that the course affected the participants’ attitude toward the target culture and their L1 culture respectively. Finally, the results were discussed in terms of the implications of such courses at universities
  9. Keywords:
  10. Culture ; Intercultural Competence ; Interculture Communication ; Literature

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