Page 27 - MODUL
P. 27
training to permit appropriate behavior, whether words or actions, in particular
context. Competence includes cognitive (knowledge), functional (application of
knowledge), personal (behavior), and ethical (principles guiding behavior)
components. Form this view point, intercultural competences refer to having
adequately relevant knowledge about particular cultures, as well as general
knowledge about the sorts of issues arising when members of different cultures
interact, holding receptive attitudes that encourage establishing and maintaining
contact with diverse others, as well as having the skills required to draw upon
both knowledge and attitudes when interacting with others from different culture
(UNESCO, 2013: 16).
Byram (2007: 2) argues that ―intercultural competence is the ability to
decentre, to understand the other‘s perspective (i.e. the assumption that lie behind
their communication), to see one‘s own assumption from the other‘s perspective,
to anticipate misunderstanding and to act to overcome that misunderstanding,
above all the willingness to interact with others in non-stereotypical and
prejudiced way‖. So, the effort to understand the other‘s stance is a process of
intercultural understanding. The ability to understand the language of target
community is one of which people have intercultural competence. One way to
divide intercultural competences into separate skills is to understand the
intercultural dimensions.
The 'intercultural dimension' in language teaching aims to develop learners
as intercultural speakers or mediators who are able to engage with complexity and
multiple identities and to avoid the stereotyping which accompanies perceiving
someone through a single identity. It is based on perceiving the interlocutor as an
individual whose qualities are to be discovered, rather than as a representative of
an externally ascribed identity. Intercultural communication is communication on
the basis of respect for individuals and equality of human rights as the democratic
basis for social interaction (Byram, Gribkova, & Hugh Starkey, 2002: 9).
c. Intercultural Dimensions in ELT
Intercultural dimensions encourage students and teachers to expose not
only their own culture but also a variety of cultures (Lee, 2012: 194 & Cetinavci,
2012: 63). The intercultural dimension in language teaching of foreign language
23