Teaching languages from an intercultural perspective : rethinking the nature of learning

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Abstract

The movement towards an intercultural understanding of languages education has had many consequences for how languages are taught that involve more than an attempt to introduce additional elements in language education; moreover, the movement entails a true integration of language, culture and the intercultural in language pedagogy. This has promoted a rethinking of fundamental ideas about languages and cultures and the ways they are taught. This chapter will examine some of the core assumptions behind adopting an intercultural perspective in language teaching and learning, and discuss how these assumptions influence the practice of language teaching. In particular, it will focus on how teaching languages from an intercultural perspective has involved rethinking the nature of learning. The chapter will examine how learning has been understood in theories in applied linguistics and language education, and argue that such theories have narrowed the focus of languages learning—and have also narrowed what is meant by ‘language for learning’. The chapter will then examine some alternative views about learning drawn from outside the field of applied linguistics to consider more complex ways of conceptualising learning. It will argue for a hermeneutic understanding of the nature of learning and provide examples of what this might look like in practice through examining examples of students' work that reflect an interpretative understanding of language learning.

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