Language Attitude Education as ICC Facilitation: An Explorative Class

Abstract

This paper reports the design, implementation, and outcome of an action research. The research aimed to examine and improve college students' attitudes towards varieties of World Englishes through a mild intervention in an intercultural communication class. Viewing education as a means to facilitate Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC), of which language attitude was an integral part, the study designed a four-step pedagogical intervention to help students become more open and critical of their attitudes. The four pedagogical steps included language attitude elicitation, deconstruction, reconstruction, and creative solutions to communicative problems. The study found that students largely had conservative language attitudes and prejudices to start with. After the intervention, over 40% of the students acquired more open language attitudes, while some remained ambivalent about embracing linguistic diversity, and a small number of students maintained their previous conservative attitudes. Challenges of attitude change and language attitude education are discussed.