Linguistic landscapes
An experiential learning project for developing intercultural
competence
Some of the key challenges in teaching intercultural
communication (IC) are to engage learners in activities which develop their
critical intercultural awareness and to prepare them for communication in
superdiverse (Vertovec, 2007)
contexts. This paper discusses linguistic landscapes (LL) as an innovative
method for teaching intercultural competence. Undergraduate linguistics students
conducted a LL project to explore linguistic diversity in their chosen suburb of
Sydney and reflected on their own intercultural learning experience. Student
reflections revealed that the project had a strong impact on their perceptions
of diversity and their attitudes towards other languages and cultures. Students
increased their critical awareness of how identity, ideology and attitudes
influence language choices and intercultural interactions. The experiential
learning project also made them reflect on their own identity as intercultural
citizens. The findings of this study highlight the usefulness of the project in
developing intercultural competence (ICC). The paper discusses methodological
implications for teaching IC in the context of increasingly multilingual and
multicultural learning communities.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Linguistic Landscapes – a concept and method
- 3.Opportunities of IC teaching in the Australian context
- 4.The study
- 4.1Research aims
- 4.2The LL Project as an experiential learning task
- 4.3The study
- 4.4Student participants’ background and language abilities
- 5.Findings
- 5.1Research question I: How does engagement in the Linguistic Landscape project
enhance students’ ICC? Which aspects of ICC are developed?
- 5.2Language attitudes and ideologies
- 5.3Research question II: What impact does working in culturally and
linguistically diverse teams have on students’ ICC? What is the nature of
intercultural learning?
- 5.3.1The impact of experiential learning in multicultural teams
- 5.3.2The nature of intercultural learning
- 6.Discussion and conclusion
-
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