Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Hyejin Yoon
Spring, 2017
Abstract
The worlds regions and countries have close ties with each other in most areas of human
activity such as politics, economics, society, culture, and education (Popkewitz et al., 2009;
Satyanath, 2006; Suarez-Orozco et al., 2004). To successfully cooperate and communicate with
one another, language is considered essential because it plays a crucial role for people to
exchange their perspectives, convictions and cultures (Seelye, 1993). The trend of teaching
culture in language classes is reflected in the curriculum of English language teaching in Korea.
In the 2009 revised National Curriculum, English was defined as an international language and
a part of a toolkit enabling effective communication among people with different cultural
backgrounds and languages. To accomplish this, intercultural competence (IC) is required.
Hence, this qualitative study is planned to assess how English language teachers in Korea
perceive and apply IC in their teaching practices.
Introduction
The worlds regions and countries have close ties with each other in most areas of human
activity such as politics, economics, society, culture, and education (Popkewitz et al., 2009;
Satyanath, 2006; Suarez-Orozco et al., 2004). To successfully cooperate and communicate with
one another, language is considered essential, because it plays a crucial role for people to
exchange their perspectives, convictions and cultures (Seelye, 1993). As a global language,
English is no longer only for people who are native speakers, rather it is an international
language used for communication between people from various languages and cultures (Crystal,
1997; McArthur, 2003; Pennycook, 1994; Tam, 2004). However, one of the serious obstacles to
more successful use of English for non-native speakers is a lack of adequately perceiving
communication partners cultures, which can cause misunderstandings and conflicts. Therefore,
teachers should encourage students to become active members of the international community,
and to do that, especially in a language class, it is necessary to integrate language and culture.
K-6 LANGUAGE TEACHERS INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE IN KOREA 3
Globalization creates many challenges for teacher education, including the need for
training pre- and in-service language teachers to have intercultural competence (IC). To fulfill
new tasks in English education, the qualities of foreign language teaching professionals need to
be refreshed and refocused. Zhao (2010) argued that a new generation of teachers is required
which means that teachers should be able to act as global citizens, understand the global
system, and deliver a globally oriented education (p.429). Also, Levy and Fox (2015) contend
that on top of content knowledge, teachers should show their expertise in culturally pertinent
pedagogical skills and have a language proficiency, understanding linguistic diversity and
theories of second language acquisition. That is, English teachers should comprehend the nature
of international language so that they can impart IC to students. Moreover, Kramsch (2004)
defined a language teacher as a trans-cultural go-between who can lead more globally oriented
language education. In a similar meaning, language teachers are intercultural mediators who
acquired knowledge of how to interact with people from other cultures (Byram, 1997).
As a result, foreign language professionals need to have pertinent knowledge, skills, and
attitudes (Bennet, 2009) on cultures so as to carry out the role of trans-cultural go-betweens and
intercultural mediators. Teacher education organizations should train pre- and in-service
language teachers to be equipped with high sensitivity on cultural disparities and to be competent
in communication with heterogeneous people (Byram & Fleming, 1998; Sercu, 2006). As
virtue of culture education, students can experience penetration that occurs between individuals
at the interpersonal level as people from different backgrounds come together to collaborate in
the pursuit of a common goal (Cushner, 2015, p. 204). The trend of teaching culture in
language classes is reflected in the curriculum of English language teaching in Korea. In the
K-6 LANGUAGE TEACHERS INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE IN KOREA 4
2009 revised the National Curriculum, English was defined as an international language and a
part of a toolkit enabling effective communication among people with different cultural
backgrounds and languages. The modified English language education curriculum is meaningful
which is distinguished from traditional aspects of education in Korea. Thus, as Korean education
reforms are implemented, it will be important to assess how the English language teachers in
Literature Review
In the literature review section, I introduced the most commonly used definition of IC in
order to prevent the confusion that spring from the various tries to define IC. Next, I presented
theories, dimension of culture learning, process and developmental models of IC, and IC in
language classrooms which I will employ in the process of exploring the participants
comprehensions of IC. I also examined other studies carried out in other countries, European
countries, the USA, the UK, France, and China regarding language teachers knowledge,
Conceptualization of IC
The word intercultural is combination of inter and cultural. Due to the prefix inter
indicating between, the term intercultural emphasizes relationships and interactions between
individuals of different cultures (Hill 2006; Pusch 2004). Believing that intercultural
competence was essential for people to acquire and promote to solve conflict sprang from
cultural disparities, over the last 30 years, many scholars used and defined the term intercultural
competence, but they could not reach a consensus on a single definition (Deardorff, 2006).
K-6 LANGUAGE TEACHERS INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE IN KOREA 5
Lustig and Koester (2006) explain that intercultural competence requires knowledge, motivation,
relating, skills of discovery and interaction and critical awareness. However, in terms of the
competence is related to four dimensions, knowledge, attitudes, skills and behaviors (Perry et al.,
2011).
Paige (2005) introduced five dimensions of culture learning: knowing the self as a
cultural being, knowing culture per se, knowing culture specifically, and knowing culture
generally, and knowing how to use communication strategies in intercultural settings. The
learning content is the self as a cultural being; learners will be aware of how the cultures they
were born and raised contributes to their individual identities. Cultural self-awareness enables
learners to understand cultural influences and to compare and contrast between cultures as the
foundation of intercultural competence. To be effective cultural learners, they should know what
culture is. Paiges (2005) definition is Culture refers to values, beliefs, attitudes, preferences,
particular group of people has created together, share, and transmit (Paige, 2006, p. 43).
Another learning content is the specific elements of the host culture. Culture-specific learning
learning, learners experience cultural commonalities and disparities. In the learning process,
acculturation, and assimilation. Lastly, students learn about learning; they acquire strategies that
they can use in intercultural communicative situations. These five dimensions of culture learning
is a theoretical framework which serves as guidance for teaching and learning intercultural
competence in classrooms.
While Paige (2005) presented the content of cultural learning, M. Bennett (1993)
development, not attitudes and behavior, that learners come to experience in intercultural
situations. The assumption underlying the model of DMIS is that as the experiences of cultural
disparities become more sophisticated, ones intercultural competence increases. In the DMIS
model, there are total six stages along the continuum of intercultural sensitivity. The first three
stages, denial, defense, and minimization, are ethnocentric. People who are dominated by
ethnocentrism consider their own cultures as a center, so they tend to interpret phenomena based
on their own cultures. The rest three stages, acceptance, adaptation, and integration, are
ethnorelative. People who are oriented to ethnorelativism are inclined to understand their own
Figure1. The Development Model of Intercultural Sensitivity. Adapted from Towards ethnorelativism: A
developmental model of intercultural sensitivity, by M. J. Bennett, (1993).
IC in Language Classrooms
Due to the applicability of DMISs core principles to not only cultural learning but also
language learning, the model can be beneficial for language teachers. When we see language
intercultural mind from cultural learning of DMIS resonates with communicative proficiency-
related theories of language learning (Bennett et al., 2003). The model posits that in cultural
learning, people explore cultural self-awareness, and relate their first languages to a
second/foreign language. Moreover, the model focuses on how learners approach cultural
awareness. The importance of similarity and difference exists in the language learning domain
as well.
The DMIS provides a guide for language teachers to match language proficiency levels to
developmental levels of intercultural sensitivity by collapsing the six stages of DMIS into three
stages; denial and defense into stage I, novice; minimization and acceptance into stage II,
intermediate; adaptation and integration into stage III, advanced. By dint of assessing the
K-6 LANGUAGE TEACHERS INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE IN KOREA 8
learners stages of language and cultural learning, the teachers can adjust the level of cultural
Language Level
College Intermediate
Language
Proficiency Language Level
Level
Advanced
Language Level
Developmental
Level of
Intercultural Denial/Defense Minimization/Acceptance Adaptation/Integration
Sensitivity
Ethnocentric Stages Ethnorelative Stages
Experience of Differences
Figure 2. Development of Intercultural sensitivity. Reprinted from Culture as the core, by Bennett, M. J.,
Bennett, M. J., & Allen, W. (2003).
In European countries
Sercu (2006) investigated foreign language (FL) teachers beliefs on the cultural aspect of
their FL teaching practices and the teaching of intercultural competence. The research began
with the perception that there was a precondition to transform teachers convictions on IC and
alter their teaching practice, and the research began by diagnosing what teachers knew about IC,
how they taught IC and how they reacted to IC in their present circumstances. The researcher
collected data from 424 teachers from 7 countries. The questionnaire contained questions
K-6 LANGUAGE TEACHERS INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE IN KOREA 9
regarding participants convictions on IC and language and cultural teaching practices. Thanks to
Sercus (2006) efforts, people could perceive FL teachers self-concepts and IC teaching
practices and the relationships between them. Sercu (2006) examined whether FL teachers
professional profiles were meeting the formal standards generated in the theoretical literature
regarding the foreign language and intercultural competency teacher. According to the
findings, FL teachers knowledge, skills, and attitude were still insufficient to satisfy the
standard.
Generally, integrating cultural elements into language learning and teaching is strongly
advocated in the theoretical and applied linguistic literature and in frameworks such as the
Young and Sachdev (2010) noticed that there was little empirical research conducted with regard
to the extent to whether or how such an approach was operationalized. Hence the authors
investigated the beliefs and practice of in-service teachers in the USA, UK and France based on
the model of IC, Byrams language-pedagogical model of IC. They implemented mix method
techniques such as diaries, focus groups and questionnaire so as to collect data. Given the
findings, an apparent disparity between experienced teachers beliefs and attitudes on IC, and
their classroom performance appeared to exist. That is, most participants reported their general
consensus about teaching cultures in schools and supported the idea that good teacher and
learners are likely to reveal high intercultural competence. However, the participants proposed
that the problem was aggravated by a lack of support in testing, in textbooks, and in institutional
In China
development was emphasized for Chinese English teachers. Tian (2013) paid attention to
Chinese teachers of English in China and their intercultural competence, posing questions about
Chinese English teachers perception of IC in their teaching, the way they apply dimensions of
IC in their classrooms, and the connection between their beliefs on IC and their choices in
teaching culture. Tian collected data by using a mixed method. A total of 96 Chinese teachers of
English, and among them, a sample of 7-11 teachers was selected for class observations and one-
on-one interviews. The researcher found that the participants were inclined to focus on
developing students language skills based on textbook content; they presented a reluctant
attitude concerning the ambiguity of intercultural teaching. They also had a lack of interest in
guiding students to explore their cultural identity and cultural self-knowledge. In terms of
intercultural topics and activities that participants dealt with in classrooms, these were not a main
focus in most participating teachers classes, and the participants prepared extended factual
knowledge drawn from textbooks regarding culture, especially concerning English speaking
countries. The teachers acted as the knowledge provider in classrooms, so the classroom
interactions occurred to deliver the knowledge. Finally, Tian (2013) observed that Chinese
philosophy, institutional context, and personal background contributed to teachers beliefs and
practices with respect to IC. The lack of cultural knowledge and emphasis on teaching-to-the-
Methodology
K-6 LANGUAGE TEACHERS INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE IN KOREA 11
interviews, observations and examining the participants syllabi and teaching materials. The
qualitative data will be collected to be able to conduct a detailed contextual analysis to:
1) explore what the English language teachers know about teaching culture;
2) investigate how the English language teachers educate IC in their classrooms; and
3) examine how the English language teachers theories compare to their teaching performances
regarding IC. This study is designed to seek generic ideas about the connection between English
language teachers knowledge and application of their IC through exploring their past and
Participants
The research participants will be under 12 English language (EL) teachers who are
teaching English to Korean students. They might have English as their second or foreign
language and work for K-6 schools. They will be in different ages, genders and they will have
different levels of teaching experiences. To find participants, I will employ the convenience and
snowball sampling by using personal connections; asking my friends who are EL teachers at
elementary schools for introductions to their friends who are EL teachers as well. Also, I will
schools.
Data Sources
Class observations and field memos. The data collected through class observations will
be saved in the form of memos and audio recordings. The classroom observation will take 45
minutes on average for each class; it will be one time for each participant. While observing, I
K-6 LANGUAGE TEACHERS INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE IN KOREA 12
will record the conversations that will occur between the teachers and the students to see their
attitude and skills of IC. The recordings will be transcribed, and analyzed.
While recording the classroom conversations, I will sit in the corner of the classrooms as
a passive observer, and create field memos that will be kept in a three-column grid. In the left
side column, I will record the time to match the audio-recording. In the middle column, I will
write down what will get the attentions of me, but the participants will take for granted in the
way they will act, by using a low inference vocabulary. For example, when I might hear a
teacher raise her voice, I write down volume of her voice and then in the right side column, I
Teachers curriculum and teaching materials. I will collect teachers syllabi and
teaching materials; their lesson aims and detailed plans such as classroom activities, and extra
sources that teachers will prepare before classes. Through analyzing these data, I will understand
teachers capabilities and intentions to apply their knowledge regarding IC to their classroom
performance.
Interview and summary sheet. I will conduct three timed interviews for each participant;
one 30-minutes and two 10-minutes interviews. The first interview will be conducted at the first
stage of the data collection. The purpose of the interview will be to probe personal and
professional experiences concerning cultural awareness and the level of IC. The interview
questions in the interview protocol (see Appendix B) were designed to collect data and were
made up of three categories: participants schema on culture, their location on the DMIS
continuum, and intercultural competence including knowledge, attitude, and skills. Investigating
the participants syllabi and classroom materials will be followed by a final interview. In the
interview, I will explore the extent of applicability of IC theories that the participants have.
K-6 LANGUAGE TEACHERS INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE IN KOREA 13
Right after classroom observations, I would like to listen to the teachers self-reflections about
the classroom conversations for 10 minutes. All interview data will be gathered by means of an
audio recorder and in the form of memos. Following each interview, there will be also the
possibility to ask additional questions via phone or e-mail to clarify the meaning of their
answers.
overview of the main points of the interview, initial thoughts, and follow-up questions that will
Procedures
Activity Note
asking friends for introducing their friends teachers
Recruiting participants
sending recruitment emails to elementary schools
sending pre-interview questionnaires and informed
consent form to the participants
Interviewing for 30 minutes investigating the participants IC
Examining syllabus and materials investigating the participants lesson plan focusing on
IC
Interviewing for 10 minutes listening to the participants purposes and reasons
regarding his/her lesson plan
Observing a class exploring the participants performances focusing on IC
Interviewing for 10 minutes listening to the participants self-reflections regarding
his/her classroom performances focusing on IC
The recruitment email will inform the rational of the research and the interview protocol for the
one-on-one interview (see Appendix B). Once the participants have been decided, they will be
given a pre-interview questionnaire (see Appendix C) and an informed consent from (see
K-6 LANGUAGE TEACHERS INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE IN KOREA 14
Appendix D). Teachers who agree to take part in the study will return the pre-interview
questionnaires in the form of electronic files and their signed informed consent from in the form
on scanned electronic files to me via e-mail. Then, I will coordinate with the participants to
determine the time, date and location for the first interview. The participants will receive a
Data Analysis
Coding. Carspecken (1996) introduced the most fundamental analytic techniques and
suggested that the analytic procedure that researchers made speculations regarding the meanings
of interaction recorded and repeated during an entire qualitative study. As Carspeckens (1996)
procedure of data analysis, I will read through those several times to be familiar with them,
trying to understand the holistic meanings and getting an impression of the field. Then, taking
context into consideration, in some cases there will seem to be mixed messages. I will conduct
meaning fields by virtue of articulating the range of meanings from the view of the first person.
In order to reconstruct initial meaning, I will build up relatively low and high levels of inference.
After coding, I will divide the data into meaningful analytic units. Identifying
meaningful segments from transcriptions, I will conduct the process of marking segmented data
with theme names. All participants responses will be compared to find similarities and
differences.
validity of data and uncertainty, there are important and effective strategies that can help
K-6 LANGUAGE TEACHERS INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE IN KOREA 15
addressed how validity can be established with researchers responsibility and in the process of
decision-making, saying responsible researchers could strive for ongoing and disruptive
dialogues with study participants and collaborative communities thus opening spaces for
themselves and others to challenge the authorities of oppressors, to allow margins to speak and to
dislocate decolonizing privilege (p. 608). Therefore, among many approaches to construct
trustworthiness, I will allow the interpretations of two groups of people, my peers and the
participants. To examine if my theoretical interpretations fit the data, I will employ the peer-
debriefing technique by discussing the interpretations with my two peers. Also, to investigate if
the degree that I accurately portray the meanings given by the participants, I will obtain
Limitations
Although I will try to prepare carefully, there will be some unavoidable limitations. This
research will be conducted with only a small size of population, under 12 participants and
furthermore, the samples will be all volunteers. Therefore, it is hard to expect for the
participants to represent English language teachers IC in Korea. Because I will transcribe all
audio-recordings from one classroom observation, three different interviews for each participant,
it could be rigorous time consuming works so that it may be more difficult for me to maintain a
consistent passion and attitude. Finally, due to the power relationship between the researcher
and participants which is often unavoidable in qualitative research, the participants responses
Ethical considerations
According to Punch (2000), social researchers should consider ethical issues, as this type
of research is closely connected to people. Therefore, firstly I will obtain the approval of IRB to
insure that this study will adhere to ethical standards. Then, the informed consent form (see
Appendix D) will be provided. The participants will be informed that they will be free to
withdraw from the study whenever they want to without any penalty. Participants
confidentiality and anonymity will be guaranteed by not revealing the identity for the
Potential significance
This study will be conducted to explore K-6 English language teachers understanding of
IC and practices of the theories of IC in their classrooms in Korea. This exploratory research
could be meaningful to teacher educators when they adapt or develop IC training programs for
teachers, to policy makers when they enact language education policy considering the aspects of
IC, and to developers of curriculum and teaching materials when they incorporate a cultural
framework in the curriculum and provide cultural content and instructional pedagogies. The
findings of this study will show some aspects of the current situation of in-service teachers IC
Reference
Publications.
sensitivity. In R. M. Piage (Ed.), Education for the intercultural experience (pp. 21-71).
Bennett, M. J., Bennett, M. J., & Allen, W. (2003). Developing intercultural competence in the
Multilingual Matters.
Levy, J., & Thompson, J. (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Research in International
Byram and A. Feng (Eds.) Living and studying abroad: Research and practice (pp. 232-
Hill, I. (2006). Student types, scholl types and their combined influence on the development of
603-610.
13(3), 37-60.
Levy, J. & Fox, R. (2015). Pre-service teacher preparation for international settings. In Hayden,
M., Levy, J., & Thompson, J. (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Research in International
McArthur, T. (2003). Oxford guide to world English. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Longman.
and skills: Models and approaches. Intercultural Education, 22(6), 453-466. doi:
10.1080/14675986.2011.644948
Paige, R. M. (2005). Culture learning dimensions. In J. Bennett & R. M. Paige (Eds.), Workshop
manual: Training design for international and multicultural programs. Portland, OR:
Kappler, J. C. Chi, & J. P. Lassegard (Eds.) Maximizing study abroad: A students guide
to strategies for language and culture learning and use (2nd ed., pp. 40-41).
Minnesota.
Popkewitz, T. S., Rizvi, F. (2009). Globalization and the study of education. Chicago: NSSE.
Punch, K. (2000) Developing Effective Research Proposals. London, California, New Delhi:
Sage.
Pusch, M. D. (2004). Intercultural training in historical perspective. In Landis, D., Bennett, J. M.,
& Bennett, M. J. (Eds.), Handbook of intercultural training (pp. 13-36). Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage.
Satyanath, S. (2006). Globalization, politics and financial turmoil: Asias banking crisis.
Seelye, H. (1993). Teaching culture: Strategies for intercultural communication (3rd ed.).
Sercu, L. (2006). The foreign langue and intercultural competence teacher: the acquisition of a
Suarez-Orozco, M. M., & Qin-Hilliard, D. (2004). Globalization: culture and education in the
Tam, K. (2004). English(es) in global and local perspectives. In K. Tam, & T. Weiss (Ed.),
English and globalization: Perspectives from Hong Kong and China (pp. 1-22). Hong
Tian, J. (2013). Beliefs and practices regarding intercultural competence among Chinese
Young, T. J., & Sachdev, I. (2011). Intercultural communicative competence: exploring English
Zhao, Y. (2010). Preparing globally competent teachers: A new imperative for teacher education.
Appendix A
Recruitment E-mail
Dear XXX,
My name is XXX and I am a PhD student at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia,
USA, where I am studying Teaching and Teacher Education.
Given your position at XXX elementary school, would you be willing to participate in my study?
Your participant would be voluntary and your responses would be kept confidential.
Dates: I can be flexible on the time and date depending on your availability.
Location: As I will be recording the interview and observation, it may work best to meet
in your office and classroom, but if you prefer another location for the interview, just let
me know.
If you are willing and available to participate in this study, please respond to this email by
returning a completed pre-interview questionnaire and informed consent form (both attached).
Ive also included a copy of the 30-minute interview protocol so you can see the interview
procedures and interview questions. Two 10-minute interviews will be open-ended structured
about your teaching practice, and syllabus and materials.
If you have any questions, please dont hesitate to contact me at this email, XXX@gmu.edu, or
by phone, XXX-XXX-XXXX. Thank you in advance for your time and consideration and I look
forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
XXX
Appendix B
Interview Protocol
Interviewer:
K-6 LANGUAGE TEACHERS INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE IN KOREA 22
Interviewee:
Date:
Location:
Time of Interview:
Leadoff question: Tell me about your first day of teaching in a culturally diverse class. How did
you approach to students?
Possible questions:
1) What do you believe intercultural competence is?
1-1) How do you strive for it in your classes?
2) Have you ever traveled or lived in different countries? Tell me about your first experience
when you visited another country and met the local people
2-1) Describe cultural differences of which you were aware.
2-2) If you did both, could you explain the differences between them?
3) Tell me about a memorable moment when you taught students who came from different
cultures.
4) Tell me about a time when you felt like a student struggled with cultural differences in your
class?
4-1) Describe the situation and the way that you dealt with it.
4-2) How did the students react to your management?
5) Have you ever encountered an uncomfortable situation caused by cultural differences between
your and others
5-1) How did you handle the situation/emotion?
6) Tell me about the most interesting or challenging incident or event that occurred when you
were teaching about cultures in a language class.
8-3) When you found students relying on or referencing stereotypes, how did you deal with
them?
9) Tell me about a time when you felt that you have changed your style to teach students from
different backgrounds.
Appendix C
Pre-Interview Questionnaire
Thank you for taking the time to complete this questionnaire. Your responses will be kept
confidential and any references to your responses will be masked to protect your identity.
6. Native language(s):
Bachelors: Doctorate:
Masters:
10. How many years have you been in the field of Language Education?
11. (a) How long have you been in your current position? (b) What are your responsibilities?
(Please provide an overview of key responsibilities or attach a job description.)
K-6 LANGUAGE TEACHERS INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE IN KOREA 3
12. How do you define intercultural competence? (Note: this question is not to assess your
definition, but rather to give you a few minutes to reflect upon and provide your definition. Your
definition will be the context that is referred to in your one-on-one interview.
Appendix D
Informed Consent Form
Dear XXX,
Thank you for your interest in this pilot study. The following information is provided to
help you decide whether you wish to participate in this study. Your participation in this study is
completely voluntary and you are free to withdraw at any time without it affecting your
relationship with this department, individual, or the University.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the development and application of
intercultural competence in international educators. Data will be collected using a classroom
observation and three one-on-one interviews, with an estimated time burden of 2 hours (total).
Data will be collected in XXX, 20XX. Please do not hesitate to ask questions about the study
before participating or during the study. I would be happy to share the findings with you after the
research is completed.
Your personal information and responses are strictly confidential and will be used solely
for academic research purposes. Your identity will not be published with written responses
without written consent. Data from this research will only be reported in the aggregate, unless
otherwise specified. There are no known risks and/or discomforts associated with this study.
Please sign and date this consent form. You are signing it will full knowledge of the
nature and purpose of the procedures. A copy of this form will be given to you to keep. Thank
you.
____________________________________ ___________________________
Signature Date
Running head: Korean K-6 LANGUAGE TEACHERS INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE