Intercultural approaches to EFL teaching and learning. A Different Reading, a Different Learner

Conferencia; 40th FAAPI Annual Conference: EFL Classrooms in the New Millennium: Local Developments and Global Concerns.; 2015

As the world becomes more global, students are challenged to interact with people from different cultural backgrounds; consequently, teachers need to educate students about the diversity of the world around them. Learning about other people?s culture will help students both become more culturally competent when meeting others who are different and be better prepared to face the challenges of globalization.According to Seyla Benhabib (2002), ?we should view human cultures as constant creations, recreations, and negotiations of imaginary boundaries between ?we? and the ?other(s)??; she considers culture as a synonym of identity and, as such, it is constantly changing (8). From her social constructivist perspective of culture, cultural interaction should be governed by the principles of universal respect and egalitarian reciprocity. If we agree with the author in that these values should rule our interaction with others, can we instill them in our students? Can we teach our students to face the challenges of globalization and value diversity? Can reading help us achieve our aim? Approaches such as Multicultural Education and Culturally Responsive Pedagogy adhere to Benhabib´s ideas and can help the teacher inculcate the values of tolerance and respect for diversity in their students (Richards, Brown, & Forde, 2006).Considering the ideas and approaches mentioned above, this paper will first try to shed light on the approach that should be taken when studying the interaction between cultures, an approach characterized by respect, equality and contingency. Then, it will focus on the analysis of reading material taken from textbooks for international students of English that verse on the topics of respect, equality, and change. It will describe the cultural content of this material and explain how this content can help foster students? cultural skills, attitudes and knowledge to function in a global society.