Raising language learners’ intercultural competence in EFL classroom

Abstract

It is true that we cannot teach everything about cultures. What we can do in the classroom is to help learners to develop ways of finding out more about the cultures what they are learning through analyzing their experiences and developing their intercultural awareness. In terms of raising language learners’ intercultural competences, there are most powerful student-centered teaching strategies which can provide a rich basis for developing students’ intercultural competence. Language learning is to be able to communicate in another language. Cultures show and shape the ways of which language is used. Cultural knowledge is a fifth language skill, in addition to four main skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. If learners are going to develop their cultural knowledge about the target language, they need to notice when their culture is similar to or differs from that of others. In this article I shall discuss the importance of raising intercultural competences in terms of studying of language courses and to present a range of effective and practical techniques focusing on making the teaching of cultures good experiences for both teachers and students in EFL classrooms.