L314 A buen puerto

The Open University

Intercultural Competence: putting theory into
practice.

The experience of the Open University’s

advanced Spanish course.

Inma Álvarez and Tita Beaven, for the Department of Languages, The
Open University
 The challenge...

- include Intercultural Competence in the

course objectives, so that both teachers and
learners are aware of its role in language
learning;
- include linguistic and cultural activities and
learning materials that develop Intercultural
Competence;
- include Intercultural Competence in the
assessment strategy.

•Department of Languages, Open University 2009

 What is Intercultural
Competence?
The intercultural
communicator
Ability to:
• interact competently with people from other
countries and cultures in the foreign language;
• “negotiate a mode of communication and
interaction;”
• “act as mediator between people of different cultural
origins.”

•Department of Languages, Open University 2009

Intercultural competences
(from Byram 1997)

• Attitudes (savoir être): approach to the other

culture.
• Knowledge (savoirs): understanding what makes
other culture and one’s own what they are.
• Skills: interpretation of evidence (savoir
comprendre), allowing for different perceptions
(savoir s’engager), learn and discover (savoir
apprendre), engage successfully (savoir faire).

•Department of Languages, Open University 2009

 Attitudes (savoir être)
• curiosity
• openness
• readiness to suspend disbelief
• willingness to analyse own
culture

•Department of Languages, Open University 2009

 Knowledge (savoirs)
• Knowledge about social groups and their cultures
• Knowledge about concepts and processes in
interaction

•Department of Languages, Open University 2009

 Skills
• Interpret and relate (savoir comprendre)
ability to interpret documents, images and events and
relate them to one’s own culture.
• Political education/critical awareness (savoir
s’engager)
ability to evaluate critically explicit perspectives.
• Discover (savoir aprendre)
ability to acquire new knowledge, to identify cultural
practices.
• Engage and interact (savoir faire)
ability to engage and interact with people of unfamiliar
cultures.

•Department of Languages, Open University 2009

 Course themes
The course deals with 7 themes:
• Culturas
• Arte
• Sociedad
• Lenguas
• Ciencia y tecnología
• Comercio y trabajo
• Medio ambiente

•Department of Languages, Open University 2009

 Study materials
E x a m p le : T h e m e 1
Course materials:
• 7 course books Them e 1
(with CDs and C u lt u r e s
transcript books)
• Course Reader
V o c a b u la r y b o o k Reader
• Vocabulary book E l d o n d e la p a la b r a T r a v e s ía
(th e m e 1 ) (th e m e 1 )
• Video book (and
set of videos)
V id e o b o o k a n d v id e o C o u rse b o o k 1
• Course guide ¡A la v is t a ! R a íc e s ( R o o t s )
(d o cu m e n ta ry 1 )
• Assessment
materials
T r a n s c r ip t b o o k le t
and CD1

•Department of Languages, Open University 2009

L314 Course objectives (1)
The Course Guide states that:
The aim of A buen puerto is to help you develop
further the four language skills of listening, speaking,
reading and writing. You will also:
– improve your language skills by working on
grammar, vocabulary acquisition, language
register and practical discourse analysis;
– gain a thorough understanding of the Spanish-
speaking cultures by studying aspects of their
identity and roots, art and music, literary works,
scientific and technological developments, and
national and international affairs;

•Department of Languages, Open University 2009

L314 Course objectives (2)

– develop investigative and analytical skills to

enable you to access efficiently a variety of
sources in Spanish;
– develop learning and communication strategies to
enable you to be an effective language user and
an autonomous learner.

By the end of the course, you should have developed

a level of language competence broadly comparable
to the Council of Europe Vantage level and be able to
operate effectively in Spanish in most situations,
whether business or social, without major difficulties.

•Department of Languages, Open University 2009

 Course objectives (3)
Intercultural competence
Another important aim of the course is to enable you to
become a competent intercultural communicator, that
is, an individual who understands other cultures, is
aware of cultural diversity, and is able to interact
effectively with and mediate between people of
different cultural origins and identities.
In order to achieve this, the course presents you with a
body of cultural knowledge and helps you to develop a
set of skills so that you can on the one hand interpret
evidence and facts from other cultures, and on the
other, compare what you learn about other cultures with
what you know about your own.

•Department of Languages, Open University 2009

 Course objectives (4)
The course, therefore, aims to develop:
– your knowledge of Hispanic cultures, including
different social groups and their products and
practices, and the ability to compare them with those
of your own culture;
– a positive attitude towards other cultures, which
includes curiosity and openness towards otherness,
as well as the ability to approach another culture
unprejudiced by your own;
– skills which will enable you to interpret a document
or event from another culture, to explain it and relate
it to documents or events from your own;
– skills which will enable you to acquire new
knowledge of different cultures and cultural
practices, and to make use of your knowledge,
attitudes and skills when you interact with others.
•Department of Languages, Open University 2009
Learning objectives in the
course books
Each unit in the course books includes: a short summary,
the linguistic objectives, the cultural objectives, and the
academic skills covered.

EXAMPLE FROM BOOK 1 UNIT 1

Introduction:
This unit addresses the concept of multiculturalism.
Specifically, the study sessions deal with:
• the multicultural origins of the Canary islands and how
that relates to their present;
• the problems related to defining a Latin-American
identity;
• the multicultural origins of the Spanish language;
• identity in Cuban and Mapuche communities;
•Department of Languages, Open University 2009
• the identity crisis in post-colonial Spain.
Learning objectives:
linguistic objectives
FROM BOOK 1 UNIT 1
Linguistic objectives:
• Talk about origin, identity and influence;
• Talk in general and personal terms;
• Refer to evidence;
• Give cohesion and formality to the
discourse.

•Department of Languages, Open University 2009

Learning objectives:
cultural objectives
BOOK 1 UNIT 1
Cultural objectives:
• Learn about the origins and multicultural
identity of Hispanic peoples, and reflect
about one’s own;
• Become aware of the different elements
that contribute to the formation of
national and personal identity in order to
evaluate both how they can be enriching
and how they can provoke conflicts;
• Develop a positive attitude towards and
an interest in finding out about and
understanding the ways of living and
modes of thinking of other ethnic groups.

•Department of Languages, Open University 2009

Learning objectives:
academic skills
BOOK 1 UNIT 1
Academic skills:
• Taking notes while listening;
• Producing tables, chronologies and
diagrams in order to organise and relate
information;
• Reading for specific information.

•Department of Languages, Open University 2009

Intercultural competence
features in the course

The following slides show examples

form the course materials:
• the course books
• the reader
• the vocabulary book
• the video book

•Department of Languages, Open University 2009

 ICC: Reader (Travesía)
Tema 1:
• ¿Qué problemas encuentran los autores al hablar de
‘identidad’? ¿Qué consecuencias tienen estos
problemas y qué tipo de soluciones se dan?
• Encuentre en los textos elementos que ponen de
manifiesto el orgullo de los autores respecto a sus
orígenes.
• ¿Qué semejanzas y diferencias pueden encontrarse
entre la sociedad musulmana de entonces y la
sociedad multiétnica de hoy en día?

•Department of Languages, Open University 2009

 ICC: Reader (Travesía)
Tema 2:
• ¿Cómo afecta el mestizaje a la cultura o al arte?
• ¿Cómo se representa la muerte en el arte y la cultura
de su país?
• ¿Cuáles son los temas fundamentales en la cultura de
su país?
• ¿Por qué cree usted que el muralismo se considera
una forma artística asequible a las masas?
• En su opinión, ¿hasta qué punto puede la música
contribuir a provocar cambios sociales?

•Department of Languages, Open University 2009

 ICC: Vocabulary book
(El don de la palabra)
Tema 1:
Actividad 1.1
En esta actividad practicará cómo referirse a grupos
sociales o culturales que muestran ciertas
características comunes.
1 Aquí tiene los nombres de varios grupos culturales: los
vegetarianos, los hispanohablantes, los cristianos, los
andaluces, los que no prueban el alcohol…
Clasifíquelos de acuerdo a los criterios a continuación:
Alimentación Lengua Religión Origen

2 Ahora intente describirse a sí mismo/a en relación a

los grupos sociales y culturales a los que pertenece.
¿Qué otros criterios se le ocurren?
•Department of Languages, Open University 2009
 ICC: Vocabulary book
(El don de la palabra)
Tema 1:
Actividad 1.12
Aquí tiene una serie de refranes, léalos e intente
comprender lo que significan. Luego mire las
explicaciones e indique la que corresponde a cada
refrán
— “Donde fueres, haz lo que vieres”
— “Más vale (lo) malo conocido que (lo) bueno por
conocer”
— “Al buen varón, tierras ajenas su patria le son”
— “Esa es mi patria, donde todo me sobra y nada me
falta”
— “Quien necio es en su villa, necio es en Castilla”
— “La tierra que el hombre sabe, esa es su madre”
•Department of Languages, Open University 2009
 ICC: Video book
(¡A la vista!)
Documental 4:
Actividad 4.5
A continuación tiene una serie de afirmaciones que se
mencionan en el vídeo. Identifique las razones de esas
afirmaciones:
— El quechua se extendió por todo el territorio inca.
— En la época de la conquista muchos sacerdotes
españoles aprendieron quechua rápidamente.
— El poblador andino no tiene una imagen positiva del
quechua.
— Muchas familias quechuahablantes que han aprendido
español prohíben a sus hijos hablar quechua.
— La situación económica es una amenaza a la
supervivencia del quechua.
•Department of Languages, Open University 2009
 ICC: Video book
(¡A la vista!)
Documental 6:
Actividad 6.5
1 Lea la transcripción de la secuencia.
2 Mire la secuencia sin sonido fijándose en los gestos de
las manos.
3 Lea las siguientes descripciones de gestos:……..
4 Mire la secuencia con sonido y asocie los gestos
descritos en el paso anterior con la información que
escucha.
5 Finalmente asocie los siete gestos con los siguientes
significados: acordarse de algo, grupo, con estrés,
anotar, ordenar las diferentes actividades, pensar,
revoloteando.

•Department of Languages, Open University 2009

L314 A buen puerto

Intercultural Competence
and assessment
 Assessment strategy

Samples of not formally assessed

competences:

• Develop a positive attitude and an

interest in knowing and understanding
the modes of thinking and the ways of
life of other cultural groups (Book 1,
unit 1)
• Show curiosity for other cultural
manifestations…
• Show an interest in other perspectives…
•Department of Languages, Open University 2009
How the course book objectives for IC are
translated into specific assessment points

Example of assignment for theme 1

(Cultures):

Comment in writing (475-525 words) on

the following issue to a non specialist
audience:
The gypsies in Spain: integration or
discrimination? A historical
perspective.

•Department of Languages, Open University 2009

 How the course book objectives for
Intercultural Competence are translated into
specific assessment points
Cultural objectives, course book 1 Cultural points in the
Learn about the origins and multicultural assignment:
identity of Hispanic peoples, and reflect • Understanding the
about one’s own; origins and elements
• Become aware of the different elements that contribute to the
that contribute to the formation of formation of identity in
national and personal identity in order to the gypsy community
evaluate both how they can be enriching in Spain;
and can provoke conflicts;
• Understanding the
• Develop a positive attitude towards and
changes in the ways of
an interest in finding out about and
understanding the ways of living and life of gypsies
modes of thinking of other ethnic groups. throughout history;
• Relate a person’s life to the historical, • Awareness of the facts
political, social and cultural context of and factors that
their time contribute to the
• Evaluate the role that different social integration or
classes have in the cultural discrimination of a
manifestations of a specific people. social group.
•Department of Languages, Open University 2009
 Assessment criteria
• Knowledge of the subject
• Academic skills
• Accuracy of language
• Range of expression

• Quality of language
• Pronunciation and
fluency

• Plan

•Department of Languages, Open University 2009

 OU Spanish courses
Course Credits Level Qualification
L194: 30 1
Portales
Certificate in
Spanish
L140: 30 1
En rumbo

L204: 60 2
Viento en (1 week
popa residential Diploma in Spanish
school)
L314: 60 3
A buen
puerto

•Department of Languages, Open University 2009