The Concept of Genre in The English Language Class: Implications for the Students’ Intercultural Competence

Abstract

In order to communicate effectively with people belonging to different social or ethnic groups, any language user is supposed to have not only a good command of the language code involved, but also what is generally known as “intercultural knowledge.” As a consequence, the development of the students' cultural competence is perceived today as a major aim of the foreign language education. Starting from this hypothesis, the paper discusses the manner in which the concept of genre can provide students with insights into cultural expectations of creating a text in both spoken and written English.