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Assessing Intercultural Language Learning

The Dependence of Receptive Sociopragmatic Competence and Discourse Competence on Learning Opportunities and Input

by Veronika Timpe (Author)
©2014 Thesis XVIII, 317 Pages
Series: Language Testing and Evaluation, Volume 31

Summary

Although Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) has become a key objective in foreign language (FL) education, curricula offer little in how language teachers can promote ICC through language instruction. This book responds to the challenge of how intercultural language learning can be accounted for more profoundly in FL teaching. By means of innovative intercultural assessments, the author investigates the development of three language competences central to ICC in relation to learning opportunities as experienced by German learners of English. Audiovisual media were found to be a major input factor in the development of intercultural language abilities. The book ends with a discussion of how audiovisual media can be implemented in secondary and tertiary FL and teacher education.

Table Of Contents

  • Cover
  • Title
  • Copyright
  • Dedication
  • About the Author
  • About the Book
  • This eBook can be cited
  • Acknowledgements
  • Abstract
  • Table of Content
  • List of Tables
  • List of Figures
  • Chapter I: Introduction: ICC, Pragmatics, and Language Learning
  • The Challenge
  • ICC, IC, or ICIC?
  • ICC and Foreign Language Education in Germany
  • Outline of the Book
  • Chapter II: Theoretical Background and Contextualization: ICC
  • Language and Culture
  • Culture as a Speech Community in ICC Research
  • Conceptualizing Intercultural Communication
  • Frameworks of Intercultural Communicative Competence
  • Conceptual frameworks from communication studies
  • Ruben’s (1976, 1989) ‘Behavioral Approach to Intercultural Communicative Competence’
  • Gudykunst’s (1995; 1998) ‘Anxiety/Uncertainty Management Theory’
  • Ting-Toomey’s (1993) ‘Identity negotiation framework’
  • Kim’s (1995; 2012) ‘Cross-cultural adaptation: Integrative system’s theory’
  • Conceptual frameworks from second and foreign language education
  • Byram’s (1997) ‘Model of Intercultural Communicative Competence’
  • Deardorff’s (2006) ‘Process Model of Intercultural Competence’
  • Prechtl and Davidson Lund’s (2007) ‘INCA framework’
  • Risager’s (2007) ‘Intercultural Competence of the World Citizen Model’
  • Summary
  • ICC Frameworks and (Language) Assessment
  • Chapter III: Theoretical Background and Contextualization: Pragmatic Competence
  • Bridging the Gap: ICC and Pragmatics Research
  • Pragmatics – A Brief Historical Overview
  • Hymes’ (1971, 1972) Concept of ‘Communicative competence’
  • Canale and Swain (1980) and Canale (1983): ‘Communicative competence’
  • Bachman’s (1990) ‘Model of Communicative Language Ability’
  • Pragmatic Competence Revisited
  • Pragmatic competence: Universal or culture-specific?
  • Cross-cultural Pragmatics
  • Positive and negative transfer in ILP
  • Interlanguage Pragmatics
  • Interlanguage pragmatics and comprehension
  • Speech acts
  • Conversational implicatures
  • Routine formulae
  • Politeness
  • Interlanguage pragmatics and production
  • Speech acts
  • Routine formulae
  • Politeness
  • Interlanguage pragmatics and discourse
  • Summary
  • Development of ILP: Input and Learning Contexts
  • Theoretical approaches in ILP development
  • Schmidt’s (1993) ‘Noticing Hypothesis’
  • Sperber and Wilson’s ‘Relevance Theory’
  • The study abroad context
  • The foreign language context
  • Pragmatics Assessment
  • Summary and Implications
  • Chapter IV: Research Design and Methodology
  • Language Competences in ICC
  • Aims and Objectives
  • Research Questions
  • Participants
  • Assessment Battery
  • Assessment instrument I – Self-assessment questionnaire
  • Rationale and purpose
  • Development
  • Assessment instrument II – Cambridge Proficiency Test
  • Assessment instrument III – AESCT
  • Rationale and purpose
  • Test Construct
  • Structure of the AESCT
  • Development
  • Assessment instrument IV – Skype role-plays
  • Rationale and purpose
  • Test construct
  • Development of the tasks
  • Development of the rating scale
  • Scoring of the role-play performances
  • Data Collection
  • Data Evaluation and Methods of Analysis
  • Evaluation of instrument performance
  • Self-assessment questionnaire
  • AESCT
  • Skype Role-plays
  • Analysis of data in relation to research questions
  • Chapter V: Results
  • Results for the Self-assessment Questionnaire
  • Results for the Cambridge Placement Test
  • Results for Sociopragmatic Comprehension: The AESCT Scores
  • Descriptive statistics and score reliability
  • Rasch analysis
  • Results for Discourse Competence: Results of the Skype Role-Plays
  • Inter-rater reliability
  • Descriptive statistics
  • Results for Interrelations between the Test Scores
  • Correlation analyses
  • Multivariate analysis of variance
  • Regression analyses
  • Chapter VI: Discussion
  • Research Question One: What, if any, are the Relationships between General Language Proficiency, Receptive Socio-pragmatic Competence, and Discourse Competence as Developed by German University-level Learners of English?
  • Research Question Two: Do German University-level EFL/ESL Learners Vary in Receptive Sociopragmatic Competence and Discourse Competence Depending on Different Types and Amounts of English Learning Opportunities and Contexts?
  • Sociopragmatic Comprehension
  • Discourse competence
  • Individual trajectories within developmental patterns?
  • In need of additional variables?
  • Research Question Three: Which Types of Target Language Input Contribute to Higher Levels of Receptive Sociopragmatic Competence and Discourse Competence?
  • Sociopragmatic Comprehension
  • The Role of English Language Proficiency
  • The Role of Audiovisual Media
  • Discourse Competence
  • The Advantage of the Target Language Context
  • The role of English Language Proficiency and Audiovisual Input
  • Discourse Competence and the EFL/ESL Classroom
  • Chapter VII: Limitations, Conclusions, and Directions for Future Research
  • Limitations of the Study
  • Sample Limitations
  • Instrument and Methodology Limitations
  • Concluding Remarks
  • Implications for Research, Teaching, and Assessment
  • ICC
  • Pragmatics
  • Intercultural language teaching
  • Appendix A: Self-Assessment Questionnaire
  • Appendix B: AESCT Items
  • Appendix C: Sample Role-Play Script (Beer Pong)
  • Appendix D: Skype Role-Play Tasks
  • Appendix E: Role-Play Scoring Sheet
  • Appendix F: Training Manual For Raters
  • Appendix G: Flyer user for Recruiting Candidates
  • Appendix H: Descriptive Statistics. Frequency of Exposure to Target Language Input per Profile Group
  • Appendix I: Table 20. Item Measure Order
  • Appendix J: Table 21. Person Measure Order
  • Appendix K: Figure 35. Scatterplot for each Regression Analysis
  • References

Details

Pages
XVIII, 317
Publication Year
2014
ISBN (PDF)
9783653038842
ISBN (MOBI)
9783653985023
ISBN (ePUB)
9783653985030
ISBN (Hardcover)
9783631650080
DOI
10.3726/978-3-653-03884-2
Language
English
Publication date
2014 (May)
Keywords
Intercultural communicative competence audiovisuelle Medien L2 assessment Auslandsstudium Pragmatic competence
Published
Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Wien, 2014. XVIII, 317 pp., 40 tables, 36 graphs

Biographical notes

Veronika Timpe (Author)

Veronika Timpe is currently a research scientist at Educational Testing Service in Princeton (USA). She holds an MA in Language Testing from Lancaster University (UK) and an Erstes Staatsexamen in German and English as well as a PhD in Applied Linguistics/TESOL from TU Dortmund (Germany). She has worked and taught primarily in the areas of foreign language education, educational assessment/language testing, L2 pragmatics, and intercultural communicative competence.

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