An abstract submitted for 2016!

Hi all,

I have just submitted an abstract for the 5th International Conference on the Development and Assessment of Intercultural Competence which will be held in January 21-24, 2016 Tucson, Arizona. (See Susan’s post for more detail). Thank you Richard for looking and helping with my abstract.

And here is my abstract:

ICC through ELF: Challenges and Possibilities for Thai Higher Education

 

Sutraphorn Tantiniranat, The Manchester Institute of Education

School of Environment, Education and Development, The University of Manchester

Email: s.tantiniranat@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk

 

 

Summary

This paper, located within an appropriate methodology tradition, considers some challenges to, and possibilities for, integrating ICC development within the English language curriculum in Thai universities as that curriculum begins to respond the methodological possibilities of English now being seen more as a lingua franca than as a foreign language.

 

ABSTRACT:

The strategic move to establish the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015 aims to remove economic borders between the ten member states of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). Intercultural communication (IC), which I take to be interpersonal communication between individuals from different cultural backgrounds (Gudykunst and Mody, 2002), seems set to increase rapidly as the AEC becomes a reality. The Higher Education Commission of Thailand, as evident through their policy discourse, recognizes this potential and seeks to equip Thai graduates with intercultural (communication) competence (ICC) together with other skills such as English, the working language of the ASEAN as well as the global lingua franca of our era. However, as yet there seems to be little by way of practical suggestions for developing the students’ intercultural skills. Drawing upon case study research undertaken at a public university in Thailand, where English is still taught largely as a foreign language, this paper investigates the challenges to the integration of ICC development within the English language curriculum. Informed by an appropriate methodology approach (Holliday, 1994), I explore some possible shaping influences on the methodology and classroom cultures I observed at this university. I conclude with what I see as the possibilities for developing the ICC now seen as so necessary for young Thais, and doing so through English as a lingua franca (ELF), a more interculturally-oriented methodology of English language teaching which reflects the complex role of English in global communication in this age (Sifakis and Fay, 2009, Baker, 2011).

 

KEYWORDS: Thailand, Intercultural Communication, English Language Teaching

 

REFERENCES

BAKER, W. 2011. Intercultural awareness: Modelling an understanding of cultures in intercultural communication through English as a lingua franca. Language and Intercultural communication, 11, 197-214.

GUDYKUNST, W. B. & MODY, B. 2002. Handbook of international and intercultural communication, Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage.

HOLLIDAY, A. 1994. Appropriate methodology and social context, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

SIFAKIS, N. & FAY, R. J. 2009. Integrating an ELF pedagogy in a changing world: The case of Greek state schooling. Latest trends in ELF research.