透過文化專題提升英語為外語學習者的跨文化能力：臺灣國小學童之個案研究 - 政大學術集成

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(1)國立政治大學英國語文學系英語教學碩士在職專班碩士論文. 指導教授: 許麗媛博士 Advisor: Dr. Li-Yuan Hsu. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. 透過文化專題提升英語為外語學習者的跨文化能力:臺灣國小學童之個案研究. ‧. sit. y. Nat. Developing EFL Learners’ Intercultural Competence through a Cultural Project: A. n. al. er. io. Case Study on Elementary Students in Taiwan. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. 研究生: 蘇稚雅撰 Name: Chih-Ya Su 中華民國 109 年 9 月 September 2020. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(2) Developing EFL Learners’ Intercultural Competence through a Cultural Project: A Case Study on Elementary Students in Taiwan. A Master Thesis Present to. 政治大立Department of English, ‧. ‧ 國. 學. National Chengchi University. n. er. io. al. sit. y. Nat. In partial Fulfillment. i Un. v. of the Requirements for the Degree of. Ch. engchi. Master of Art. by Chih-Ya, Su September 2020. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(3) Acknowledgements. This thesis becomes a reality with the kind support and help of many individuals. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all of them. First, I would like to express my special gratitude toward my advisor, Dr. Li-Yuan. 政治大 have been done without her guidance and suggestions. A debt of gratitude is also 立. Hsu for imparting her knowledge and expertise to this study. This thesis would not. ‧ 國. 學. owed to my Psychiatrist, Jiun-Yi, Li at Kaohsiung Chang Gung Hospital for his professional guidance helping me go through the toughest time in my life. My. ‧. gratitude also extends to Min-Tzu English teaching team including Jason Stuart, Judy. sit. y. Nat. Fang, Patty Wu and Anna Chen.. er. io. Secondly, I would also like to thank my parents for their love and support and take. al. care of my lovely boy Matthew. Thanks for my family to give me strength to reach for. n. iv n C hmy the goals and chase my dreams. Also, e ndeep h i toUmy close friend, Evelyn g cthanks. Chen who helps me a lot in finalizing this thesis. Thanks for her friendship and good humor. It is the best antidote for my anxiety and depression. Finally, I want to give my special thanks to my oral defense committee members, Prof. Yi-ping Huang and Prof. Chieh-yue Yeh. They provided a lot of suggestions for me to complete my thesis.. iii. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(4) 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. iv. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(5) TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................iii Table of Contents .......................................................................................................... iv List of Figures .............................................................................................................. vii Chinese Abstract .........................................................................................................viii English Abstract ............................................................................................................ ix CHAPTER ONE .......................................................................................................... 1 Background ................................................................................................................ 1. 政治大. Research Questions .................................................................................................... 4. 立. CHAPTER TWO ......................................................................................................... 5. ‧ 國. 學. Integration of Culture Teaching in Language Classrooms......................................... 5 Cultural Instruction in Taiwanese Elementary English Classrooms .......................... 6. ‧. Culture Portfolios in Language Classrooms............................................................. 10. sit. y. Nat. Theoretical Frameworks of Intercultural Competence............................................. 12. er. io. CHAPTER THREE ................................................................................................... 21 A Case Study Research Design ................................................................................ 21. al. n. iv n C The Instructional Context ......................................................................................... 22 hengchi U The Participants ........................................................................................................ 24 A Pilot Study for a Cultural Lesson on St. Patrick’s Day ........................................ 25 Procedure of Implementing the Cultural Project...................................................... 27 Teaching Material .................................................................................................... 29 The Procedure of Implementing the Cultural Project .............................................. 31 Data Collection ......................................................................................................... 36 Data Analysis ........................................................................................................... 37 CHAPTER FOUR...................................................................................................... 41 The Students’ Development of Intercultural Competence ....................................... 41. iv. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(6) Development of ICC: Knowledge Domain ...................................................................... 43 Development of ICC Domain: Attitude ........................................................................... 52 Skills of Interpreting and Relating................................................................................... 57. The Student’s Perceptions of the Cultural Project ................................................... 58 Positive Feedback towards the Project ............................................................................ 60 Clarification of Misunderstandings and Dealing with the Culture Shock ....................... 61 Interests and Curiosity towards the World ...................................................................... 61 Problems and Challenges Encountered during the Project .............................................. 62 Suggestions for the Future Cultural Courses ................................................................... 63. CHAPTER FIVE DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSSION ...................................... 65. 政治大. Overview of the Research Findings ......................................................................... 65. 立. Discussion and Implications..................................................................................... 66. ‧ 國. 學. References .................................................................................................................... 72 Appendix B .................................................................................................................. 82. ‧. Appendix C .................................................................................................................. 83. sit. y. Nat. Appendix D .................................................................................................................. 84. er. io. Appendix E .................................................................................................................. 86 Appendix F .................................................................................................................. 89. al. n. iv n C Appendix G .................................................................................................................. 90 hengchi U Appendix H .................................................................................................................. 92 Appendix J ................................................................................................................... 93. v. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(7) List of Tables Table 1 Byram's Five Domains of ICC ........................................................................ 15 Table 2 The Content and the Purpose of the Cultural Project ...................................... 34 Table 3 An Overview of the Result on Students' Development of IC ......................... 42 Table 4 An Overview of the Result on Students' Perceptions of the Project ............... 59. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. vi. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(8) List of Figures Figure 1. Procedure of the study .................................................................................. 28 Figure 3 Henry's List of Questions .............................................................................. 46 Figure 4. Students' Discussion Notes for the Topic of Buildings ................................ 47 Figure 5. Students' Discussions Notes for the Topic of Animals ................................. 48 Figure 6. Students' Discussion Notes for the Topic of Food ........................................ 49 Figure 7. Shirley’s Worksheets on Teaching Chinese and Learning English............... 49 Figure 8. Henry’s Worksheet on Comparing Favorite Dishes ..................................... 50 Figure 9. Iris’s Worksheet on Specialties of Australia ................................................. 51 Figure 10. Emily’s Worksheet on the Differences Between Two Cultures .................. 52 Figure 11. Tina’s Worksheet on the Australian Outback .............................................. 52 Figure 12. Emily’s List of Questions ........................................................................... 53 Figure 13. Ben’s question lists ..................................................................................... 54. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. vii. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(9) 國立政治大學英國語文學系碩士在職專班. 論文名稱: 透過文化專題提升英語為外語學習者的跨文化能力:臺灣國小學童之個案研究指導教授: 許麗媛博士研究生:蘇稚雅論文提要內容: 本研究旨在探討台灣國小中年級學生在參與文化專題課程後之跨文化能力. 政治大台灣南部某國小四年級二十二位學生，研究資料來源主要是學生課程學習單與立發展狀況並且紀錄學生對參與此課程之看法。本研究為質性研究，研究對象為. ‧ 國. 學. 團體訪談。文化專題課程為本研究課程設計之架構，並結合 Byram(1997)跨文化溝通能力指標，藉以用來分析及辨識學生跨文化溝通能力，研究資料為課室學. ‧. 習單、團體訪談。. sit. y. Nat. 研究結果歸納如下:在學生的跨文化能力方面，首先，以 Byram(1997)的跨. io. er. 文化溝通指標五面向中，學生對目標文化知識理解層面，態度以及對兩方文化. al. iv n C hengchi U 目標國文化有正向看法，其次中年級學生給予文化專題課程正面的評價並且對 n. 的詮釋和連結這三層面提昇最為顯著。再者學生皆對運用文化專題方式來學習. 他國文化產生好奇心。最後雖然學生對文化專題課程保持正向態度但卻面臨一些挑戰例如最主要是他們的英文能力有限。本研究希望透過教學現場實施狀況提供未來想透過實施文化專題課程來教授文化課程的教師團隊一個參考課程架構。關鍵字: 文化專題課程跨文化能力外語學習者兒童學習者. viii. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(10) Abstract This case study investigated the development of Taiwanese fourth graders’ intercultural competence through a cultural project. Besides, students’ perceptions of their learning from the project were also examined. Grounded in qualitative inquiry, the participants were twenty-two fourth grade students. Data were collected from two primary sources: students’ worksheets and group interviews. In this research, Byram’s (1997) ICC model was used as the framework to analyze students’ intercultural competence. The major findings were listed as follows. First, regarding the five domains of intercultural competence in Byram’s model, the result showed that after participating. 政治大. in the cultural project in class, students developed their intercultural competence mainly. 立. in three domains: knowledge, attitude and skills of interpreting and relating. Second,. ‧ 國. 學. students showed positive feedback about their learning experience from the cultural project. It was found that the cultural project arose students’ curiosity towards the other. ‧. culture as well as increased their awareness of their own Taiwanese culture. Furthermore, although students held positive attitude towards the project, they also. sit. y. Nat. experienced some challenges mainly about their own lack of English ability. It is. er. io. believed that the findings of this study can provide insights to teachers and researchers who are interested in integrating cultural project into EFL classrooms.. n. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. Key words: cultural project, intercultural competence, EFL, young learners. ix. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(11) CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Background Globalization has shaped the world in different aspects and had a great impact on the economy, politics, and living styles in many countries. Most importantly, it has an. 政治大. enormous impact on the world culture and the way people communicate. In becoming. 立. a global citizen, there is an urgency to cultivate individual’s intercultural. ‧ 國. 學. communication competence in order to understand how to cooperate with people from. ‧. different cultures. To catch this trend, the concept of integrating intercultural learning. y. Nat. al. er. io. sit. into the curriculum has become a hot topic in foreign language education. Byram. v. n. (1997) mentioned that developing intercultural competence (IC) is the key to. Ch. engchi. i Un. successful cross-cultural communication. Therefore, it is vital that we as educators incorporate cultural instruction into our curriculum and encourage our students to explore different cultures as well as foster their ability to communicate effectively in various cross-cultural situations. Over the past decades, language theorists and researchers have been investigating the concept of intercultural competence. A growing number of research studies are now available and many of them emphasize the importance of applying 1. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(12) intercultural competence in language classrooms (Bennett et al., 2003; Byram et al., 2001; Deardorff, 2009). Moreover, several theoretical frameworks have also been proposed in the field of second language education. The concept of intercultural competence was therefore discussed and defined in various ways by different scholars. Among them, Byram’s (1997) model of Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) was particularly influential. According to Byram (1997), the ICC model comprises communicative competence and intercultural competence.. 政治大 Intercultural competence is made 立 of five domains: knowledge, attitude, skills of. ‧ 國. 學. interpreting and relating, skills of discovery and interaction, and critical cultural. ‧. awareness.. al. er. io. sociolinguistic competence, and discourse competence.. sit. y. Nat. On the other hand, communicative competence contains linguistic competence,. n. iv n C Based on Byram’s framework, various studies have he n g c h i U been conducted to. investigate how to foster students’ intercultural competence by incorporating cultural teaching and learning into the language curriculum (Lee, 2001; Liaw, 2006; Elola & Oskoz, 2008; Chen & Yang, 2014; Hsu, 2016). However, despite the considerable amount of research into fostering intercultural competence among second language learners, most of it focused on learners at the secondary and university levels. Relatively fewer studies were found to investigate elementary school students’. 2. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(13) intercultural learning in the English classroom. Among those studies conducted in the primary school setting, most of them, however, focused on teaching mainly one aspect of culture such as holidays in English classrooms as a way to increase student motivation and interests (Feng,2015; Jiang, 2009; Tsou, 2005; Wu,2015). The topic of developing elementary school EFL students’ intercultural competence through extensive cultural lessons has not yet been much explored in the field English language teaching.. 政治大 In recent years, one of the 立effective ways to develop students’ intercultural. ‧ 國. 學. competence is through cultural portfolios. Cultural portfolios are known as a. ‧. systemized collection of students’ works based on certain topics (Brown, 2004).. sit. y. Nat. Research has found that cultural portfolios allow students to monitor their learning. er. io. processes. Byrd and Wall (2009) stated that cultural portfolios offer the instructor a. al. n. iv n C method to guide students to participate of different cultural topics. h einnthegexploration chi U Besides, it provides multiple methods to record students’ learning procedures, the process of student learning, and helps track student progress. Schulz (2007) also encouraged language teachers to make use of cultural portfolios in cultural lessons. It is mainly because cultural portfolios have the advantage of providing clear evidence on how students’ intercultural competence is constructed. They are process-oriented and allow the participants to delve in cultural topics exhaustively. However, since. 3. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(14) cultural portfolios intend to focus on students’ self-awareness and modifications toward the target culture, which might need higher metacognition skills and may not be totally applicable in this study. Therefore, the present study intended to adopt the concept of cultural portfolios into cultural project, in which students’ work was collected throughout their participation in the cultural project. Moreover, cultural project contains a variety of activities which may prepare students for the more advanced skills. Finally, students were also given ample opportunities to reflect on. 政治大 their own learning during the立 process.. ‧ 國. 學. Research Questions. ‧. Given the current emphasis on integrating intercultural learning with language. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. sit. instruction in the English classroom, this study aimed to investigate the effects of. v. using a cultural project on cultivating students’ intercultural communicative. Ch. engchi. i Un. competence in the EFL elementary school context. Additionally, students’ opinions towards the cultural project were also examined. The research questions proposed are stated as follows: 1. Do students develop intercultural competence after participating in the cultural project from their English class? 2. What are students’ perceptions of the cultural project conducted in their English class? 4. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(15) CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter reviews research on culture in the field of language teaching and the theories of intercultural competence. The definition of intercultural competence and studies on using cultural projects in the English classroom will also be included. It can be divided into the following four sections.. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. Integration of Culture Teaching in Language Classrooms. ‧. Culture plays a pivotal role in language teaching. The relationship between. sit. y. Nat. languages and culture is fundamental. Mitchell and Myles (2004) indicated that. er. io. “researchers in the language socialization tradition believe that language and culture. al. n. iv n C are not separable, but are acquired together, each providing support for the h e n gwith chi U. development of the other” (p.235). Furthermore, integrating culture into language learning can be beneficial for students. Learners gain cultural knowledge and cultivate the ability to perceive the target culture based upon new input. Then, they use their skills to analyze discussions and elaborate learned content through metacognitive skills such as comparing their target culture(s) with their own culture (Linda M. Dale L, 1987).. 5. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(16) One effective way to help teachers integrate culture into language classrooms is the use of technology. For instance, instructors can apply Internet and computer technology as resources to provide students authentic cultural materials as well as intercultural communicative environments without going abroad. Numerous studies have proved that the use of technology motivate leaners’ learning interests as well as the intercultural competence (Abrams, 2002; Chun 2011; Su, 2011). Hsu (2016), for example, advocated the inclusion of digital storytelling as a medium for university. 政治大 students to learn about different 立cultures. Her study revealed students’ intercultural. ‧ 國. 學. learning outcomes in the cognitive, affective and behavioral dimensions.. ‧. In addition to the use of technology, Byram et al. (2001) indicated a suggested. sit. y. Nat. syllabus for instructors as references and encouraged teachers to conduct a variety of. er. io. teaching cultural related activities into language teaching such as role play and. al. n. iv n C storytelling. After those activities, Byram also encouraged the instructors h e netgal.c(2001) hi U to design a wrap-up activity such as a take-home survey for students to write and express their reflections towards the lessons. Cultural Instruction in Taiwanese Elementary English Classrooms Ministry of Education in Taiwan published the white paper on educational education for primary to secondary school (MOE, 2012), which refers four workable goals: national identity, international awareness, global competitiveness and global 6. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(17) responsibility. Later in 2014, Ministry of Education in Taiwan published a new structure of educational curriculum and mandated to extend the compulsory education from nine to twelve years. Ministry of Education has divided these holistic competencies into three main domains which include autonomous learning, interactive communication, and social participation. The new policy highlights the objective to cultivate cultural and global understanding by instilling local identity and cultural understanding, expanding international awareness and understanding and. 政治大 cultivating multi-cultural literacy 立 and global sustainability (MOE, 2014). During the. ‧ 國. 學. past twenty years, the change of Taiwan’s curriculum has shifted the instructor’s. ‧. teaching focus. The focus of test-guided instruction has flipped and emphasized on. sit. y. Nat. developing learner’s competencies. Consequently, the objectives of language teaching. n. al. er. io. are not only focusing on form, the instructors are dedicated to offer students crossfield integration classes.. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. With the increasing emphasis on students’ development of cultural understanding and global competence in the local curriculum, several studies were conducted in Taiwan to investigate teachers’ views on cultural teaching (Chuang 2002; Cheng, 2006; Chiang, 2009). Take Chiang’s (2009) study for example; the investigation focused on four dimensions: the instructors’ concept of culture, purposes of culture teaching, and strategies of culture teaching and the assessment of culture teaching.. 7. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(18) The study revealed that holiday teaching was adopted by most of English teachers as materials to conduct a culture lesson. In addition, it provided a method to assess the effectiveness of the culture lesson and the observation of students’ learning. To sum up, these studies reflect the urgent need to put culture into our curriculum and encourage educators to create their own culture lessons through holding teachers training workshops. Over the past two decades, several studies were conducted in Taiwanese. 政治大 elementary schools concerning 立the integration of culture into English classrooms.. ‧ 國. 學. For instance, Tsou (2005) unified culture instruction to 109 fifth graders in the. ‧. elementary school. The study was investigated by both quantitative and qualitative. sit. y. Nat. methods. The results showed the positive effect on applying cultural instruction, and it. er. io. raised students' motivation toward language learning. Also, she indicated that cultural. al. n. iv n C instruction is beneficial for foreign language Likewise, Feng (2015) h e n glearning. chi U. designed a cultural lesson based on holiday culture. The study was conducted by 40 students in the fourth grade of New Taipei City. The research applied mixed methods both quantity and quality. Data collected mainly based on questionnaire and supplemented by interview. The results showed that the instruction could significantly enhance the Western English and American cultural knowledge ability of the children as well as significantly enhance the students' interest in learning English.. 8. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(19) Although research has shown a positive perspective in teaching culture in the elementary school setting, most mainly used quantitative methods to collect data. Furthermore, the topics for cultural teaching were mostly about festivals and holidays. Chang’s (2010) and Wu’s (2015) studies are two of the valuable exceptions. First of all, both studies utilized qualitative methods to document students’ learning. In Chang’s study, she held a cross-culture project by weblogs to communicate with international partners for five months. Three six graders participated in this project.. 政治大 She recorded and examined 立 the dialogue between cross-culture partners and found. ‧ 國. 學. that students were more autonomous and showed higher motivated through this. sit. Nat. communicating to solve cross culture issue.. y. ‧. authentic task. The learner’s intercultural communicative competence was built by. er. io. As for Wu’s study (2015), she conducted a case study on an eight-year-old. al. n. iv n C student and highlighted how a teacher fostered a learner’s he n g c h i U learning attitude by cultural instruction. The learner showed positive feedback and willingness to attend English activities. The research shows that rich and authentic material is key point to prompt students’ learning attitude. She also pointed out that it is a pity that the research only focused on learner’s attitude. It will be valuable to conduct cultural lessons to investigate into different aspects such as intercultural communicative competence. In conclusion, as Byram has mentioned in his book, culture can be considered as. 9. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(20) knowledge which is shared between people and can be taught in diverse elements such as beliefs, values, norms, stereotype, taboo and attitude (Byram, 1989). A review of the literature indicates that the instructor should broaden the topics on cultural teaching in elementary stage instead of limited in festival and cultural teaching. Furthermore, most of the cross-culture projects have been conducted with secondary and university students. Few projects have been conducted on young learners. As a result, more studies are needed to fill this research gap.. 立. 政治大. Culture Portfolios in Language Classrooms. ‧ 國. 學. In this section, the concept and studies concerning culture portfolios are. ‧. reviewed. This is mainly because the present study intended to document students’. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. sit. intercultural development through a qualitative approach. Many of the principles were. v. useful in both as an instructional tool and an evaluation method. The merits of using. Ch. engchi. i Un. portfolios in promoting cultural learning have also been advocated by several scholars. For example, to provide a systematic cultural content and mentor the learner’s cultural studies, Schulz (2007) suggested teachers use cultural portfolios as the assessment tool which provide information on the continued learning process of students as well as the instructor’s guideline and feedback. Byrd and Wall (2009) also designed a long-term cultural portfolio project in a secondary Spanish classroom; the portfolio project included five steps. It started with selecting and determining the 10. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(21) topics; after that, the instructor assigned activities to scaffold students’ knowledge. Most importantly, the researcher placed great emphasis on oral presentations and writing reflections. In the end, the researcher was able to see the learner’s positive change of the attitude towards the selected topics. In a similar vein, concerning the issue of reducing student’ stereotypes about people from other culture, Allen (2004) implemented a culture portfolio project on thirty-one postsecondary students who underwent several stages based on. 政治大 constructivist paradigm. The立 research found that students could acquire the cultural. ‧ 國. 學. heterogeneity, become more aware of their own metacognitive processes, and. ‧. developed critical thinking skills. Conducting the culture portfolio project could. sit. y. Nat. encourage the students to actively involved in the open-ended discussion and foster. er. io. them to build critical thinking and reconstruct the existed cultural concepts toward the. al. n. iv n C target culture. Similarly, Su (2011) conducted cultural portfolio h e n g anc heighteen-week i U. project on 38 graduated students who majored in international business at a private university in south western Taiwan. Data were collected from the 18-week cultural portfolio through the use of self-designed pre and post-questionnaire and reflection interviews. Instead of asking students to memorize cultural facts result, the research result commenced that students went through a self-learning process. During the project, they developed the understanding and knowledge of the target culture and. 11. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(22) were able to respect culture diversity. To sum up, previous studies have shown the benefits of using cultural portfolio projects in language teaching. First, they offer the instructor a method to guide students to explore different cultural topics. Secondly, they provide multiple methods to record students’ learning procedures, the process of student learning, and help track student progress. However, these studies mostly targeted on older learners. Little research has examined the effect of using culture portfolios for elementary school. 立. students.. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. Moreover, among the small number of studies conducted on elementary school. ‧. students, they tended to focus mainly on one cultural topic such as a foreign festival. sit. y. Nat. or holiday without giving students’ opportunities to explore different cultural topics.. er. io. Hence, to fill this gap in the area of culture teaching in the field of English language. al. n. iv n C teaching, this study investigated the h effect of implementing e n g c h i U a cultural project on. a. group of EFL elementary school students’ development of intercultural competence as well as their perceptions of the cultural instruction.. Theoretical Frameworks of Intercultural Competence Because of globalization, the need of an intercultural focus in the language classroom has become a hot topic. Scholars began to argue that cultural content 12. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(23) cannot be alienated from language teaching (Byram,1989; Bennett et al,2003; Deardorff 2011; Kramsch,1991). One of the influential frameworks regarding the role of culture in foreign language teaching was The Standards for Foreign Language Learning for 21st Century (National Standard, 1996), proposed in the United States. The Standards stated that the objectives of language learning include five Cs, which referred to communication, cultures, connection, comparison and communities. Moreover, cultural learning and teaching in the language classroom should. 政治大 incorporate three interrelated立 aspects of culture: products, practices, and perspectives. ‧ 國. 學. (the 3Ps). The important role of culture in the foreign language curriculum was. ‧. particularly highlighted in this framework.. sit. y. Nat. In addition, the roles of culture in language teaching also varied in different eras.. er. io. Kramsch (1993) elaborated the distinction between big C and little c. In1950s, big C. al. n. iv n C turned out to be the target of language major institution, U h elearning h i including n g cwhich historical events, and cultural artifacts. In contrast, when the communicative. competence was grown into the main target in language learning, the concept of big c was replaced by little c which referring to everyday customs of ways of life. Apart from the issue of what aspects of culture should be taught in the language classroom, what constitutes learners’ development of intercultural competence has also been a major concern by many scholars. For instance, Bennett (1993) claimed. 13. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(24) that developing intercultural sensitivity means to foster the ability to distinguish and identify the cultural differences. He proposed the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS). The model was built by the assumption that when people explored in a culturally diverse environments, their sensitive and competent increased intercultural. Furthermore, six stages of learners’ development of intercultural sensitivity were identified, from Denial, Defense, Minimization, Acceptance, Adaption, to Integration. Based on the foundation of DMIS, Hammer and. 政治大 Bennett (1998) further proposed 立 the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) as a. ‧ 國. 學. measure tool. The IDI has been widely applied in North American context and in the. ‧. studies related to intercultural competence in the business field (Nam, 2001; Paige,. sit. y. Nat. Cohen, &Shively, 2004).. er. io. Although Bennett’s DMIS model was popular in the North American context,. al. n. iv n C Byram’s (1997) model of Intercultural h eCommunicative n g c h i UCompetence (ICC) has. received much attention in the field of English language teaching. The model built a bridge between intercultural competence and intercultural communicative competence. Byram pointed out the major components of the two competencies and asserted that a person with intercultural competence can successfully connect with people from another culture. On the other hand, people with intercultural communicative competence would lead an effective intercultural talk. To apply it into. 14. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(25) the educational context, Model of ICC consists of five domains with 29 objectives: (1) the attitude of openness and willing to participant and criticize the target cultures; (2) the knowledge of one’s own culture and interlocutors’ cultures; (3) skills of interpreting and relating; (4) skills of discovery and interaction and (5) critical cultural awareness. The description of Byram’s five domains of ICC and 29 objectives can be found in Table 1. Table 1 Byram's Five Domains of ICC and 29 Objectives (1997). 治政大 to seek out or take up Attitude: Curiosity and openness, a) willingness 立 readiness to suspend disbelief about opportunities to engage with otherness in a relationshp of quality, distinct from seeking out the exotic or the profitable. b) interest in discovering other perspectives on interpretation of familiar phenomena both in one’s own and in other cultures and cultural practices c) willingness to question the values and presuppositions in cultural practices and products in one’s own environment d) readiness to experience the different stages of adaption to and interaction with another culture during a period of residence readiness to engage with the conventions and rites of verbal and nonverbal communication and interaction. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. other cultures and belief about one’s own.. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. Knowledge: of social groups and their a) historical and contemporary products and practices in one’s own and relationships between one’s own and in one’s interlocutor’s country and of the one’s interlocutor’s counties 15. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(26) general process of societal and individual interaction. 立. b) the means of achieving contact with interlocutors from another country (at a distance or in proximity), of travel to and from, and the institutions which facilitate contact or help resolve problems c) the types of cause and process of misunderstanding between interlocutors of different cultural origins d) the national memory of one’s own country and how its events are related to and seen from the perspective of other countries e) the national memory of one’s interlocutor’s country and the perspective on them from one’s own country f) the national definitions of geographical space in one’s own country, and how these are perceived from perspective of other countries. g) the national definitions of geographical space in one’s interlocutor’s country and the perspective on them from one’s own h) the processes and institutions of socialization in one’s own and one’s interlocutor’s country i) social distinctions and their principal markers, in one’s own country and one’s interlocutor’s j) institutions, and perceptions of them, which impinge on daily life within one’s own and one’s interlocutor’s country and which. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. 16. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(27) conduct and influence relationships between them k) the processes of social interaction in one’s interlocutor’s country C: Skills of interpreting and relating ability to interpret a document or event from another culture, to explain it and relate it to documents or events from one’s own.. a) identify ethnocentric perspectives in a document or event and explain their origins b) identify areas of misunderstanding and dysfunction in an interaction and explain them in terms of each of the cultural systems present C) mediate between conflicting interpretations of phenomena. elicit from an interlocutor the 政 a)治 concept大 and values of documents or. y. Nat. n. er. io. sit. b). c). al. events and develop and explanatory system susceptible of application to other phenomena identify significant references within and across cultures and elicit their significance and connotations identify similar and dissimilar processes of interaction, verbal and non-verbal, and negotiate and appropriate use of them in specific circumstances use in real-time knowledge, skills and attitudes from meditation between interlocutors of one’s own and a foreign culture use in real-time an appropriate combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes to interact with interlocutors from a different country and culture taking into consideration the degree of one’s existing familiarity with the country, culture and language and extent of. ‧. ‧ 國. 立. 學. D: Skills of discovery and interaction: ability to acquire new knowledge of a culture and cultural practices and the ability to operate knowledge, attitudes and skills under the constraints of real time communication and interaction.. Ch. engchi d). e). i Un. v. 17. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(28) difference between one’s own and the other f) identify and make use of public and private institutions which facilitate contract with other counties and foreign culture. use in real-time knowledge, skills and attitudes from meditation between interlocutors of one’s own and a foreign culture E: Critical cultural awareness/political education: an ability to evaluate, critically on the basis of explicit criteria, perspectives, practices and products in one’s own and other cultures and countries.. 立. a) identify and interpret explicit or implicit values in documents and events in one’s own and other cultures b) make an evaluative analysis of the documents and events which refers to an explicit perspective and criteria c) Interact and mediate in intercultural exchanges in accordance with explicit criteria, negotiating where necessary a degree of acceptance of those exchanges by drawing upon one’s knowledge, skill and attitude. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. i Un. v. Ever since its introduction, Byram’s model has been widely used in English. Ch. engchi. language teaching field. For instance, the model was employed to evaluate teacher’s professional development in intercultural teaching (Gloub, 2014; Zhou, 2011). Also, it provided the instructors a reliable model with objectives and offered a sound theoretical basis for cultural teaching. For instance, Law (2006) provided the learners an opportunity to communicate with speakers from other countries by assigning topics. During the process, the participants reorganized and rebuilt values and perspectives toward the target culture. 18. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(29) Given the appropriateness of applying Byram’s model of ICC in the EFL context, the present study also utilized Byram’s model to evaluate students’ development of intercultural competence. In particular, the original five domains of ICC and 29 objectives served as a basis for evaluating students’ intercultural learning outcomes; they were also modified to better assess Taiwanese elementary students’ intercultural progress from the cultural project.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. 19. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(30) 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. 20. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(31) CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY This chapter describes a twenty-week case study on teaching culture in an elementary EFL classroom. The first section explains the rationale for the research design. The second section depicts the instructional context and participants. The third section presents a pilot study conducted in the previous term. In addition, the fourth. 政治大. section introduces the procedures of the cultural project. The fifth section states the. 立. instruments while the sixth section describes the procedures of data collection and. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. data analysis.. sit. y. Nat. A Case Study Research Design. er. io. The current research emphasized both the importance of learning processes and. al. n. iv n C intercultural learning outcomes in anhEFL instructionalU e n g c h i setting. A cultural project was implemented in the English classroom to promote students’ intercultural learning. Since the previous studies on EFL students’ intercultural learning were mostly conducted in the secondary and university levels, this study was conducted in an elementary school in Taiwan with the employment of a case study design. The purpose of utilizing a case study approach was to get an in-depth and holistic. 21. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(32) understanding of students’ learning process regarding their development of intercultural competence (Yin, 2003). The instructor was the researcher. This dual role arrangement had several advantages. One advantage was that the teacher has already developed a close relationship with the participants, which may facilitate the implementation of new teaching approach. Another possible advantage of teacher being a researcher had to do with the teacher’s familiarity with the existing curriculum, which tended to make. 政治大 the themes and the procedures 立of the cultural project more easily connected to the. ‧ 國. 學. content of students’ English textbooks.. ‧. The Instructional Context. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. sit. This research was conducted in an elementary school in Southern Taiwan, which. v. prioritized and placed heavy emphasis on English education. The cultural case study. Ch. engchi. i Un. was conducted in the courses offered by the English Village established by Ministry of Education, which has been operated at this school location since 2013. Two foreign English teachers were recruited by the local government to help operate the program. In addition to foreign teachers, other teaching resources such as technological equipment including tablets were also available. Because of the success of the program, the school was assigned by the Ministry of Education to become a mentor school to coach and lead other schools on applying technology into their curriculum. 22. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(33) As for the English courses in this school, in the beginning of the semester, the two foreign English teachers collaborated with Taiwanese English teachers to design the curriculum and lesson plans. Starting from the third grade, students at this school had three English classes per week. Two classes were taught based on the textbook curriculum and one specifically aimed for conducting cultural lessons. In this study, based on the school-based cultural curriculum, the teaching team decided to focus on Australian culture because Jeff (pseudonym) was the new foreign. 政治大 teacher in this school. The main 立 goal of this cultural project was to let students to. ‧ 國. 學. know the Australian culture as well as to get familiar with their new foreign teacher.. ‧. The cultural project implemented in this study was designed by the school. sit. y. Nat. English teaching team including three Taiwanese English teachers and one foreign. er. io. English foreign teacher from Australia. All of them have had some experiences in. al. n. iv n C teaching culture in their English classes. on the team played different h e Each n g teacher chi U role in the cultural project. The researcher was also the English teacher Susan (pseudonym), who was the cultural project leader and conducted the first three lessons in the project; the foreign teacher, Jeff (pseudonym) from Australia, was responsible for providing feedback on both the language and cultural content of the lesson plans and was also invited to deliver the last lesson in the project. As for the other two Chinese teachers, Penny (also pseudonym), who had three years co-teaching. 23. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(34) experiences with foreign English teachers, were the homeroom teacher of the participating students. She observed the class and gave suggestions about the lesson plans. Another Chinese teacher, Ann (also pseudonym), helped brainstorm ideas about the cultural lessons. The Participants The participants in this case study were twenty-two fourth graders in the same. 政治大. class from the school. Eleven of them were male and eleven of them were female. All. 立. participants were provided with the consent forms, which explained the purpose of the. ‧ 國. 學. study. All the forms were signed by the students’ guardians. (See Appendix A for the. ‧. consent form). Regarding the participants’ prior cultural learning experiences, nine of. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. sit. them have had previous exposure and experiences to participate in cultural lessons. In. v. contrast, eleven of them did not have any prior exposure or experiences with cultural. Ch. engchi. i Un. lessons. On average, the participants’ years of learning English were two and a half years. Moreover, three students have learned Japanese and one has learned Vietnamese. In terms of their cross-cultural experiences, eleven participants have never had any cultural engagements or interactions with foreigners. However, eleven participants have had cross cultural learning experiences. Among them, four of them have been abroad. In addition, one participant’s family was from Vietnam. Regarding their experience with learning through cultural projects, none of the participants have 24. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(35) engaged in this kind of learning experience before. To ensure anonymity, all participants of this study were given pseudonyms. A Pilot Study for a Cultural Lesson on St. Patrick’s Day To prepare for the cultural course content, the researcher conducted a pilot study on the cultural topic of St. Patrick’s Day in the in the spring of 2018. It consisted of three lessons.. 政治大. The participants were the same group of students in this research. Students were. 立. interviewed in the study. The reasons to choose St. Patrick Day as the pilot lessons. ‧ 國. 學. were as follows: first, since most of the holiday teaching in Taiwan English. ‧. classrooms focused on celebrating Easter, Halloween and Christmas, fewer students. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. sit. in Taiwan knew about the festival of St. Patrick day. Second, unlike the previous. v. studies, the instructor of this study intended to demonstrate both big C culture (i.e.. Ch. engchi. i Un. wearing a green costume, making a lucky charm and finding a Leprechaun) as well as the small C culture (i.e. the non-verbal language symbols) through the cultural lessons. For instance, students learned that people can pinch you if you forget to wear something green on St. Patrick Day. In the first lesson, the instructor introduced the history and background of St Patrick’s Day as well as taught the vocabulary and its symbolic meanings. In the following week, the homeroom teacher held an activity called, “Finding the 25. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(36) Leprechaun.” Students received a golden chocolate when they found the Leprechaun. In the second lesson, the instructor led students to engage in a kinesthetic experience of making Lucky charms. In the third lesson, the conductor used thinking maps to lead students to compare their own culture and the target culture. Before the lesson began, the instructor interviewed students about their prior knowledge. Among the twenty-two participating students, only four had heard about St. Patrick’s Day. Two of them were already informed about it when they were in kindergarten; their teachers. 政治大 asked them to wear something 立green on March 17 . Two of them had heard about it th. ‧ 國. 學. from a cartoon TV channel. The pilot study had a significant impact on the. sit. y. Nat. cultural project.. ‧. researcher’s understanding of curriculum design regarding the various aspects of the. er. io. Several implications were drawn from the researcher’s pilot experience, which. al. n. iv n C served as basis to modify the designh of the formal study. e n g c h i UFirst, the instructor could. offer certain scaffolding strategies that help link the content with students’ experience or activate relevant background knowledge. For example, instead of teaching students about St. Patrick’s Day’s religious background, the instructor may provide an interconnected schema such as a story or a real object like a world map prior to the instruction to arouse their motivation. Second, the instructor could provide word banks or prompts to help students to help students’ archive the working activities.. 26. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(37) Third, the instructor also needed to take language difficulties of the students into consideration. For instance, when writing the reflection journal, students generally found it difficult to understand the task and to deal with these problems; the instructor could provide some Chinese explanation for the complex content such as historical facts. Fourth, concerning the interview procedure, since these were younger learners, some participants might feel anxious when they talked to the interviewee on their own. Group interviews could be a better option than individual interviews.. 立. 政治大. Procedure of Implementing the Cultural Project. ‧ 國. 學. The cultural project was 20-week long and consisted of four cultural lessons. ‧. implemented during the semester. At the end of each lesson, students’ worksheets. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. sit. completed during the class were collected to document their intercultural learning. In. v. addition, students’ performance on worksheets was also served as the basis for. Ch. engchi. i Un. modifying the next lesson. Finally, after the last lesson, group interviews were conducted to gain better understanding of students’ perceptions of the project (see Figure 1 below).. 27. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(38) Lesson One: An Introduction to Culture Data collection. Adjusting teaching content of the second lesson based on data collection of the first lesson. Lesson Two: Australia Facts. 立. Data collection 治政大. Lesson Three: The Double Bubble Thinking Map. Nat. y. ‧. io. n. al. sit. Data collection. er. ‧ 國. 學. Adjusting teaching content of the third lesson based on data collection of the second. i Un. v. Adjusting teaching content of the fourth lesson based on data collection of the third lesson. Ch. engchi. Lesson Four: Cross-cultural communication. Data analysis. Group interviews Figure 1. Procedure of the study. 28. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(39) Teaching Material This section describes the content of the teaching material used for the four cultural lessons. The first lesson used a self-designed teaching worksheet called, “What is Culture?” (Appendix B), which was adapted from a website (Education.com) to teach students about culture. There are two reasons to utilize the worksheet in the lesson; First, the content of the worksheet helped students learn the different aspects of. 政治大. culture. Secondly, the format of the worksheet was simple and suitable for the age of. 立. the target students. After the students got familiar with the concept of culture, the. ‧ 國. 學. instructor introduced the storybook, “Same Same but Different,” written by Jenny Sue. ‧. Kostecki-Shaw. It is a renowned story to be used for teaching students about cultural. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. sit. differences. The story encourages students to explore each other’s differences in a. v. positive way. After telling the story, the instructor encouraged her students to make a. Ch. engchi. i Un. personal connection with their Australian teacher by imitating the story line from the books. Furthermore, students were divided into three groups. Each student chose one topic and illustrated what were the differences and similarities between Taiwanese culture and Australian culture. In the second lesson, Australia Facts, the instructor adopted a leveled book from the website called Reading A to Z. Leveled books are designed specifically for language learning and for matching the English levels of young learners. The book, 29. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(40) “Are you from Australia?”, was selected for delivering some facts about animals in Australia. It portrays the special animals in Australia with colorful and detailed photographs to help readers imagine what it might be like to see those animals in person. Those teaching materials provide support in both vocabulary and content in this study. Besides, a worksheet entitled “My Country Study” was adopted from a website (https://www.activityvillage.co.uk). These worksheets were designed to encourage children to explore about the culture of the target country, and the. 政治大 instructor asked the students立 to compile all sorts of interesting facts but left room for. ‧ 國. 學. creativity too.. ‧. The material used for the third lesson was a worksheet designed by the teaching. sit. y. Nat. team of this study. The instructor applied the Double Bubble thinking map, which was. er. io. created by the teaching team (shown in Appendix C) to guide the students to compare. al. n. iv n C two cultures. The students started brainstorming h e n g c inh Chinese, i U and then the instructor provided them with a word bank and tablets to help them with the translation. In the fourth lesson, the instructor took on the role as a facilitator to help the participants to gather all the cultural topics that they wanted to discuss with the. Australian teacher since the purpose of the final lesson was to engage students with experience of cross-cultural interaction. The Australian teacher conducted a lesson aimed to answer all the students’ questions about him and his home culture.. 30. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(41) The Procedure of Implementing the Cultural Project During the fall semester of 2018, students participated in the cultural project. The cultural project consisted of four lessons and each lesson took a month to be completed. The instructor chose the culture of Australia as the learning target in the cultural project for the following reasons. Firstly, the project could increase students’ connection with the Australian teacher in the program since they were eager to know. 政治大. more about the background of the foreign teacher. Secondly, this project could also. 立. help students communicate better with their foreign teacher because of the knowledge. ‧ 國. 學. acquired from the lessons and the motivation promoted by the cultural learning. The. ‧. procedure and main content of the cultural project are presented below.. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. sit. The first lesson was called “What is culture?” It contained four activities. The. v. purposes of this lesson were to learn the fundamental elements of a culture,. Ch. engchi. i Un. understand the diversity of people by introducing the story book and observe the similarity and difference between students’ own culture and the target culture. In the first class, the instructor explained the content of the cultural project, as well as the definition. In the next week, the instructor asked her students to define culture. The participants needed to write down their definitions of culture on a worksheet. The completed worksheet showed their perception of culture at the beginning of the class. Next, the instructor told a story called” Same Same but Different,” written by Jenny 31. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(42) Sue Kostecki-Shaw. The instructor briefly introduced the background of the foreign teacher and asked the students to observe the similarities and differences between the teacher and them. Finally, students were divided into three groups and each student was assigned to draw one of the pages of a mini-story book to demonstrate what they found from their observation. When students finished drawing and writing their part of the mini-story, the instructor put all the pages together to become a mini book. The complete lesson plans can be found in Appendix D.. 政治大 The second lesson was about 立facts related to Australia. The objective of this lesson. ‧ 國. 學. was to gain factual knowledge of the target culture from the leveled book and the. ‧. worksheets, cultivate student’s ability to use the equipment, and gather the. sit. y. Nat. information and learn to organize the information and put them in the right categories. er. io. which included the following topics: the meaning of a national flag, location,. al. n. iv n C population, food, sports, geography,h languages, and landmarks. In the first activity, the engchi U instructor guided the students to read a leveled book about wildlife in Australia. Then, in the following three weeks, the instructor had students complete the My Country Study worksheets. Consequently, these lessons focused on informational gathering of the target culture. These lessons set the foundation for continuing the following tasks. The participants demonstrated the worksheets and wrote down their questions for the foreign teacher, which ended this topic. The complete lesson plans can be found in. 32. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(43) Appendix E. The third lesson was about practicing cultural comparison through the Double Bubble thinking map. The purposes of this lesson were to encourage students to compare different topics by exercising their brain to think outside of the box, organize the idea and put them into the frame of thinking map and identify and interpret of two examples. The instructor did a whole class practice on board to demonstrate how the map should be like. Three groups were assigned different topics based on their. 政治大 selection. The instructor did 立 a demonstration as the whole class practice in the first. ‧ 國. 學. lesson. Then, the students did the discussion in Mandarin and translated the key words. ‧. into English by tablets. They learned to make the connections between their own. sit. y. Nat. culture and the target culture. This activity aimed to train students to sort and connect. er. io. information, which was an important skill to display their intercultural competence.. n. al. i n The complete lesson plans can beC found in Appendix F. U hengchi. v. The fourth lesson focused on cross-cultural communication. At the end of the previous lesson, the students wrote down some questions they were going to ask their foreign teacher. The instructor guided the students to organize their questions and ideas and encourage them to speak to their foreign teacher in English. Moreover, the Australian teacher conducted this lesson which included a hands-on learning activity by making lamington and blood rice cake, so the students learned and remembered. 33. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(44) things through physical movements. Furthermore, Jeff prepared the self-designed teaching materials to solve students’ problem. In this lesson, the instructor also acted as a translator to clarify the misunderstanding created by language barriers. The complete lesson plans can be found in Appendix G. Table 2 The Content and the Purpose of the Cultural Project Lessons. Objectives. Activities. Instrument. An introduction to culture (Five weeks: 9/3-10/5). 1. Learn the fundamental factors to form a culture. 2. Understand the diversity of people by introducing the story book. 3. Observe the similarity and difference between their own culture and the target culture.. Introduction of the culture portfolio/ What is culture?. Outline of the cultural project. Story book: Same same but different. Same-same but different story book. n. engchi. 1. Gain factual knowledge of the target culture from the level book and the worksheets. 2. Cultivate student’s ability to use the equipment and gather the. sit. y. Same-same but different story book Mini book. er. io. Facts about Australia (Six weeks: 10/8~11/9). Ch. Making mini book of Same same but Different. ‧. Nat. al. Introduction of the foreign teacher?. 學. ‧ 國. 立. 政治大. i Un. v. Report of mini book. Record of Mini book. Level Book reading: Australia. Level Book. My country study project introduction. My country study worksheet. Resource searching. My country study worksheet. 34. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(45) My country study worksheet. My county study project. My country study worksheet. Report of my county study. My country study worksheet. 1. Learn how to compare different topics by exercising their brain to think outside of the box. 2. Organize the ideas and put them into the frame of thinking map. 3. Identify and interpret two examples.. Double Bubble Thinking Map Demo-Example. Double-bubble map. Whole-class Bubble Map brain storming.. Double-bubble map. Assign groupsDouble Bubble Practice. Double-bubble map. Making groupsDouble Bubble. Double-bubble map. Double Bubble map Presentation Recording. Double-bubble map. 立. 政治大. sit. Short talk Self-designed PPT Communication Topic discussion. n. er. io. al. Ch. ‧. Nat. Cross-cultural 1. List the cultural communication: understanding A chat with between two foreign teacher different cultures. (Four weeks) 2. Learn to compare 12/10~1/4 two foods from different cultures by hands-on learning.. 學. ‧ 國. (Five weeks: 11/2~12/07). Resource Searching. y. The Double Bubble Thinking Map: Compare and contrast based on the selected topics.. information. 3. Learn to organize the information and put them in the right categories.. i Un. Short talk with Australian teacher. engchi. v. Self-designed PPT. Hands on learning-making Lamington. Self-designed PPT. Review of the whole project. worksheet. 35. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(46) Data Collection Data were collected throughout the semester for four months. Multiple data sets were collected from the lessons of cultural project and group interviews. The data collected during the project consisted of worksheets from each lesson which included the worksheets of “what is culture?”, mini books, worksheets of my country study, and the double bubble thinking map. To lower students’ anxiety from the lack of language problem, a word bank and tablets were provided to help students complete the worksheets in English. Besides, students used Mandarin as. 政治大. the primary language while conducting the group discussion in order to encourage. 立. them to express themselves freely. The curriculum design of the study started from. ‧ 國. 學. simple to deep content in order to gradually build up students’ cultural awareness.. ‧. These valuable data helped the instructor to evaluate whether students develop their intercultural competence as well as their perceptions of the cultural project. This. y. Nat. io. sit. design, inspired by Schulz’s (2007) work on cultural portfolios, was to help student. n. al. er. immerge in the culture classes and accumulate these experiences to be prepared for. Ch. further cross-cultural interaction.. engchi. i Un. v. In addition to the worksheets collected during the project, interviews were also conducted after the project. Based on insights gained from the pilot study, in order to gain higher quality of data from younger learners, group interviews were conducted at the end of the cultural project. See Appendix H for the interview questions. Frey and Fontana (1991) pointed out that researchers could use group interviews as a more efficient use of resources and as a means of adding valuable insights to the. 36. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(47) interpretation of a social or behavioral event. Compared to individual interviews, quiet and shy students feel more comfortable and less anxious when expressing their reflections during the learning process. Moreover, the open-ended questions allowed an unlimited range of possible answers and encouraged students to express themselves freely. They also helped the instructor to understand levels and aspects of the participants’ developmental process of intercultural competencies. To allow students to express their feelings and ideas, the interview was conducted in Chinese.. 政治大 Besides, students were divided 立into three groups, each of which consisted 6-7 people.. ‧ 國. 學. Each interview lasted 30 minutes. The process was audio-taped for data analysis.. ‧. Data Analysis. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. sit. Stake (1995) asserted that qualitative data analysis was an instinctive process.. v. The essential part of the qualitative research was to identify and refine important. Ch. engchi. i Un. conceptions. Hence, in the present study, the researcher first examined all the data by focusing on two research points:(a) the development of the learners’ intercultural competence after participating in the cultural project; and (b) the learners’ perceptions of the cultural project. The process of the data analysis included three stages: organization, description and interpretation (Parsons & Brown,2002). In the organization stage, the collected data from worksheets and interview transcripts went through a systematic 37. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(48) categorization. Then, the researcher organized these summaries and categorized them more precisely under the objectives of Byram’s (1997) model of ICC. Originally, there were twenty-nine objectives proposed in Byram’s framework. However, in this study, only nineteen objectives were employed as shown in Appendix J. The reasons to remove those ten objectives were because they were not applicable to the learning and teaching context of this study. For instance, items regarding overseas experience were one example since the participants of this study were not going to reside in other. 政治大 country and instead; they stayed 立 in their own country.. ‧ 國. 學. As for the analysis of group interviews, all the transcripts of the interviews were. ‧. reviewed first, and notes were made about the researcher’s first impression. After that,. sit. y. Nat. the researcher labeled the relevant pieces and sorted out the most relevant categories. er. io. and figured out how they connect to each other. Finally, the researcher wrote the. al. n. iv n C interpretation. To increase the inter-rater reliability, a co-coder was invited to review hen gchi U the coding categories and examples. Disagreements were resolved through discussion. The co-coder was a bilingual teacher whose native languages are English and French. She had taught French and English in Taiwan for two years in cram schools. She also had taught in an international school in New Zealand as an English teacher, who gave English lessons to international students of different levels and cultures. Furthermore, she had taught in a French language school and assisted with their curriculum design.. 38. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(49) She was invited as the co-coder because she was well-experienced in conducting cultural lessons and had a variety of teaching backgrounds.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. 39. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(50) 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. 40. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(51) CHAPTER FOUR RESULTS This chapter presents the results of implementing the cultural project. The first section gives a general description of how students developed their intercultural competence through the course. It is to answer the first research question about whether students have developed intercultural competence after participating in the. 政治大. cultural project. The second section presents the answer to the second research. 立. question regarding students’ perceptions on this cultural project. The data sources. ‧ 國. 學. were from the classroom worksheets and interviews.. n. sit. er. io. al. y. ‧. Nat. The Students’ Development of Intercultural Competence. v. According to Byram’s ICC model, there are five domains. The results showed. Ch. engchi. i Un. that after participating in the cultural project in class, students developed their intercultural competence mainly in three domains: knowledge, attitude, and skills of interpreting and relating. Four themes were classified under the knowledge domain including (a) to gain knowledge of the types of cause and process of misunderstanding between interlocutors of different culture origins, (b) to gain knowledge of social distinctions and their principal makers in one’s own country and one’s interlocutors, (c) to gain knowledge of the historical and contemporary 41. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(52) relationships between one’s own and one’s interlocutor’s countries, and (d) to gain knowledge of the national definitions of geographical space in one’s interlocutor’s country and the perspective on them from one’s own. As for the attitude domain, three themes merged from the data: (a) to seek out or take up opportunities to engage with otherness in a relationship of quality, distinct from seeking out the exotic or the profitable, (b) to discover other perspectives on interpretation of familiar and unfamiliar phenomena both in one’s own and in the other culture’s and cultural. 政治大 practices. As for the domain 立 of skills of interpreting and relating, only one theme was. ‧ 國. 學. found in this study: to identify the significant references to question within and across. ‧. cultures and elicit their significance and connotations. Overall, the most improved. sit. y. Nat. area of students’ development of intercultural competence was the knowledge domain. er. io. with four themes, followed by the attitude and skills of interpreting and relating. An. al. n. iv n C over view of the outcomes of the development h e n g cofhstudents’ i U ICC is also summarized in Table 3. In the next section, the researcher will describe students’ intercultural gains in these three domains in detail. Table 3 An Overview of the Result on Students' Development of IC Dimensions Knowledge. Themes - to gain knowledge of the types of cause and process of misunderstanding between interlocutors of different culture origins -to gain knowledge of social distinctions and their principal makers in one’s own country and one’s interlocutors 42. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.

(53) -to gain knowledge of the historical and contemporary relationships between one’s own and one’s interlocutor’s countries -to gain knowledge of the national definitions of geographical space in one’s interlocutor’s country and the perspective on them from one’s own. As to attitude, there are three themes under the attitude domain Attitude. Skills of. -to seek out or take up opportunities to engage with otherness in a relationship of quality, distinct from seeking out the exotic or the profitable -to discover other perspectives on interpretation of familiar and unfamiliar phenomena both in one’s own and in the other culture’s and cultural practices -to identify the significant references to question within and across cultures and elicit their significance and connotations. 立. interpreting. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. and relating. 政治大. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. sit. Development of ICC: Knowledge Domain. i Un. v. In this study, among the four domains of Byram’s model of ICC, increasing the. Ch. engchi. knowledge of the target culture is the most significant area of students’ intercultural progress after the 20-week cultural lessons in English class. Almost every student showed their understanding of the target culture after participating in the cultural project. Their increased knowledge about the Australian culture is illustrated according to the four themes identified from the data. A: To gain knowledge of the types of cause and process of misunderstanding between interlocutors of different culture origins 43. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001801.