MINISTRY OF HIGHER AND SECONDARY SPECIAL EDUCATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN
 UZBEK STATE WORLD LANGUAGES UNIVERSITY

On the rights of manuscript

ISAMUKHAMEDOVA MADINA

INTEGRATING MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGY IN TEACHING INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

5A120102 Linguistics (The English Language)

DISSERTATION 
 for academic Master’s degree

The work has been discussed
and recommended for defense
The Head of Department
PhD., As.prof.Galieva M.R.
_______________________
“____”_____________2016	Scientific advisor:
D.S.,prof.Makhkamova G.T.
______________________	

Tashkent–2016

Ministry of the Higher and Secondary Special Education of the Republic Of Uzbekistan
Uzbek State World Languages University

ANNOTATION

Faculty: 3 English Language MA Student: M.Isamuhamedova 
Department: Linguistics and English Literature Scientific advisor: G. T. Makhkamova
Year: 2015-2016 Specialty: 5 A 120102 

Topicality of the research is stipulated by 1) the requirements set to the specialists of FL in language HEIs; 2) the necessity to develop intercultural competence for improving the quality of professional communicative competence at the level of C1; 3) the need to improve the quality of learning and teaching through incorporating multimedia. 
Goal and tasks of the research: theoretical proof and designing a model of blended learning for developing intercultural competence in line with contemporary requirements, trends and conditions for learning and teaching FL in language Universities. 
Object and subject of the research: the process and conditions for teaching intercultural communication to students of language Universities. 
Methods of the research: socio-pedagogical, comparative, pedagogical experiment, statistical.
The degree of novelty of the research: 1) the theory of psychological aspects of intercultural communication and structural components of intercultural competence were summarized; 2) linguodidactic potential of multimedia in teaching intercultural communication has been revealed; 3) the blended module for teaching intercultural communication has been designed.
Practical value and degree of embed: the material of research can be used in developing lectures on ET Methodology and in the practice of teaching intercultural communication, as well as in writing research works.
The results obtained: 1) the nature and peculiarities of teaching intercultural communication through the means of multimedia were defined; 2) ways and conditions of blended learning and teaching the intercultural communication were outlined; 3) the material was selected and a course on intercultural communication have been developed; 4) the assessment criteria for blended learning were specified. 
The structure of the dissertation: consists of introduction, three chapters, conclusion, list of used literature and appendix. 
General summary and recommendations: the proposed model of blended learning will enable developing students’ communicative competence effectively; the developed materials and assessment criteria can be used both at a Bachelor’s and Master’s courses of language Universities. 

Scientific advisor: G.T. Makhkamova, D.S., professor

MA student: M.Isamukhamedova
Министерство Высшего и Среднего Образования Республики Узбекистан
Узбекский Государственный Университет Мировых Языков

АННОТАЦИЯ 
Факультет: 3 английского языка Студентка магистратуры: Исамухамедова М. Кафедра: Лингвистика и английская Научный руководитель: Махкамова Г.Т
литература	
Учебный год: 2015-2016 Специальность: 5А120102 
 
 Актуальность работы данного исследования обусловлена 1) требованиями, предъявляемыми к специалистам ИЯ для языковых вузов; 2) необходимостью развития межкультурной компетенции для повышения качества профессиональной коммуникативной компетенции на уровне С1; 3) необходимостью повышения качества обучения посредством внедрения мультимедийных средств.
 Цели и задачи исследования: теоретическое обоснование и создание модели смешанного обучения межкультурной коммуникации в соответствии с современными требованиями, течениями и условиями обучения ИЯ в языковом вузе. 
 Объект и предмет исследования: процесс и условия обучения межкультурной коммуникации студентов лингвистического вуза. 
 Методы исследования: социально - педагогический, сравнительный, педагогический эксперимент, статистический. 
 Степень новизны исследования: 1) обобщена теория психологического аспекта межкультурной коммуникации и структурные компоненты межкультурной компетенции; 2) выявлен лингводидактический потенциал мультимедийных средств в обучении межкультурной коммуникации; 3) разработан модуль смешанного обучения межкультурной коммуникации.
 Практическая значимость исследования: материалы исследования могут быть использованы при чтении лекционного курса по методике преподавания ИЯ и в практике обучения межкультурной коммуникации, а также при написании научных работ.
 Структура диссертации: Диссертационное исследование состоит из введения, трех глав, заключения и списка использованной литературы.
 Основные результаты исследования: 1) определены природа и особенности обучения межкультурной коммуникации посредством использования мультимедийных средств; 2) установлены способы и условия смешанного обучения межкультурной коммуникации; 3) отобран материал и разработан курс по межкультурной коммуникации; 4) разработаны критерии оценки смешанного обучения. 
Общие выводы и рекомендации: предлагаемая модель смешанного обучения позволит эффективно развить у студентов коммуникативную компетенцию; разработанный материал и средства оценки могут быть использованы как в бакалавриате, так и в магистратуре языкового вуза.

Научный руководитель Махкамова Г.Т. д.п.н., профессор.

Студентка магистратуры: Исамухамедова М.

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................5 
CHAPTER 1. THEORETICAL BASIS OF INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
1.1.	 Language and culture in the angle of FLT……………………………….....11
1.2.	 Intercultural communication and intercultural competence…………………...18
1.3.	 Linguodidactic issues of mastering intercultural communication……………..26
 Summary of the first chapter....................................................................................35
CHAPTER 2. MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN TEACHING INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
2.1. The features and types of multimedia technologies…………………………...38
2.2. Approaches, methods of teaching intercultural communication……………....48
 Summary of the second chapter……………………………………………………58
CHAPTER 3. TEACHING MATERIAL FOR MASTERING INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION. 
3.1. Preparation for the experiment - needs analysis ……………………………...60
3.2. Experimental teaching and its results…………………………………………65
 Summary of the third chapter……………………………………………………..70
CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………...71
THE USED LITERATURE……………………………………………………...75
APPENDIX..............................................................................................................79

INTRODUCTION
 For various historical and economic reasons there is a huge demand for English language training in many parts of the world. Development of reforming of all education system the question of the world assistance to improvement of quality of scientific-theoretical aspect of educational process is especially actually put. The president of Uzbekistan I.A. Karimov declared in the programme speech “Harmoniously development of generation a basis progress of Uzbekistan”. “… all of us realize, that achievement to the great purposes put today before us, noble aspirations it is necessary for updating a society”. The effect and destiny for our reforms carried out of the name of progress and the future, results of our intentions are connected with highly skilled, conscious staff, the experts who are meeting the requirements of time.
Thanks to the independence gained by our republic, lots of positive changes have taken place in our life. With political economic and social development and foreign relations of the country, the demand for foreign languages and translation has risen rapidly for the last decade. The language universities, once not very popular have become one of the top choices for students. Thousand of linguistic have been trained in the country, and at the same time many works about Uzbekistan, culture of Uzbek people and other different materials have been translated into different languages of the world.
According to the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan I.A. Karimov “On measures for further improvement of the system of teaching foreign languages”, we should pay attention for modernization and development of teaching foreign languages especially English language. This Decree represents complex system for learning and teaching of foreign languages focused on upbringing of comprehensively developed, educated and intellectual young generation of people, and further integration of the republic with the global community has been established within the frames of the Law on Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the National Programme for Personnel Training (1997).
 In view of entire enhancement of the system of teaching youths the foreign languages and training of specialists able to communicate in foreign languages fluently, by introducing progressive teaching methods using modern teaching and information-communication technologies thus enabling them to access the achievements of the world civilization and globally available information resources, ensuring international collaboration and communication. Nowadays, culture has taken an important place in foreign language teaching and learning and a lot of researches have been done in this field in recent years. It has been recognized that language is used as a main medium through which culture is expressed. It is believed that students know the rules of language, but are not always able to use the language sufficiently as they are not fully aware about the target culture. Nevertheless, “pure information” is beneficial but does not lead learners’ insight; while the development of people’s cultural awareness leads them to better critical thinking.
Topicality of the research is stipulated by the necessity to develop students’ communicative competence at the level of C1. As the educational standards (both local and international like Common European Framework of Reference) it is almost impossible to achieve competence in a foreign language without taking into consideration the socio-cultural, intercultural aspects. Speakers of foreign languages are expected to serve as mediators of not only languages, but cultures as well. 
There are ample methodologies of developing learners’ intercultural competence. However, incorporating multimedia into the process of learning and teaching in this field is quite a new area in Uzbekistan. Thus the present study seeks to develop a model of blended learning course on intercultural communication to fill in this gap. 
Problem development status. Conceptual and applied aspects of inter/cross-cultural communication were studied by such international scholars as E.Hall, R.Scollon, M.Bennett, M.Byram, A.Vereshagin, V.Maslova, I.Khaleeva, S.Ter-Minasova, V.Kabakchi and others. 
In the domestic methodology the most prominent research in the aspect of development intercultural competence in linguistic universities were done by G.T.Makhkamova (2008-2013). Other local researchers like D.Ashurova, M.Djusupov, Sh.Safarov, D.Khashimova, A.Mamatov, D.Abduazizova, A.Tadjibaeva and others were also looking at different aspects of cross-cultural communication, the relation between language and culture from the linguistic and cognitive perspectives. 
Thus, the above mentioned researches made important contributions to the working out approaches, methods and techniques for teaching intercultural communication in different types of educational establishments. However, modern trends teaching intercultural communication through multimedia technologies in the conditions of linguistic universities has not investigated yet. The present work is devoted to study ways of implementation multimedia technologies in teaching intercultural communication that will enable to improve the level of intercultural competence and fulfill the orders of society. 
The goal of the research is to ground specificity of intercultural communication and apply multimedia technologies in designing a course “Intercultural communication” . 
 To achieve this goal the following objectives were solved:
-	study of the psychological aspect of intercultural communication;
-	analysis of approaches, methods and techniques in teaching intercultural communication;
-	revealing the most successful multimedia tools for teaching intercultural communication;
-	design of a course “Intercultural communication” in the electronic format and trial it in the practice of teaching.
 The object of the research is the process of teaching intercultural communication to students of the linguistic university.
 The subject of the research is pedagogical conditions of using multimedia tools in teaching intercultural communication at the linguistic university.
Hypothesis:
 Effective teaching intercultural communication at the linguistic universities can be achieved under two conditions:
1.	If the valuable teaching material for intercultural communication will be selected and adapted to the language level of students; 
2.	If teaching material can be designed in electronic format.
 Methodological basis of the research is 1) the directive documents on the Higher professional education; 2) the main educational conceptions of teaching intercultural communication and intercultural competence: 
 Methods of the research:
 1) Socio-pedagogical: critical analysis of the scientific literature, theoretical generalization, description of the teachers’ experience; 
2) Comparative: comparative description and analysis of the teaching approaches, instructions of FLT;
 3) Pedagogical experiment: observation, lessons’ analysis, questionnaire and experimental teaching. 
4) Statistic: qualitative and quantitative data processing. 
Novelty of the paper is 1) the psychological aspect of intercultural communication and content of the intercultural competence have been summarized; 2) linguodidactic potential of the multimedia technologies has been revealed; 3) the electronic course of “Intercultural communication” has been designed. 
The theoretical value: the theoretical backgrounds help to understand the nature of intercultural communication and intercultural competence and necessity of using multimedia technologies for designing educational course. 
 The practical value of research is the theoretical and practical material can be used in the course of methodology of teaching English and in the practice of teaching intercultural communication at linguistic universities.
 Experimental verification was carried out at UzSWLU during active scientific-pedagogical practice (02.09.2013 - 28.01.2014). In verification the 1-st year students were enveloped.
 Publications:
1. Isamukhamedova M. Gender stereotypes of the British and American people.// Замонавий тилшунослик, адабиётшунослик, таржимашунослик ва хорижий тиллар укитишнинг муаммолари: IV- Ilmiy-amaliy konferensiya. -Tashkent: UzDJTU, 2015. – Pp.352-354.
2. Isamukhamedova M. Approaches to teaching intercultural communication.// Замонавий тилшунослик, адабиётшунослик, таржимашунослик ва хорижий тиллар укитишнинг муаммолари: V- Ilmiy amaliy konferensiya.- Tashkent: UzDJTU, 2016. – Pp.169-172.
 Structurally research work consists of introduction, three chapters, the two of them describe theoretical material of the work, and the last one is connected with practical applying the course “intercultural communication”.
In the introduction we ground the topicality of the research, define the subject, formulate the goal and, objectives, working hypothesis, and reveal scientific novelty, theoretical and practical value of the research, choose the methods of the research.
 The first chapter is devoted to summarizing and featuring the theoretical background for the concept of “intercultural communication”. We start by looking at the language and culture issues from the perspectives of teaching foreign languages, then seek to define the notions of intercultural communication and intercultural competence. Further, linguodidactic issues of mastering intercultural communication are highlighted. 
	In the second chapter we look into multimedia technologies in teaching intercultural communication. In particular, the features and types of multimedia technologies are outlined. Besides, various approaches and methods of teaching intercultural communication are analysed. 
	The third chapter seeks to present the issues in evaluating and developing materials for teaching intercultural communication. Also here we present the results and findings of the conducted experiment.
 In the conclusion we gave inferences, summaries of the result of the conducted research.

CHAPTER 1. THEORETICAL BASIS OF INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
1.1.	Language and culture in the angle of FLT

Language, the most commonplace of all human possessions, is possibly the most complex and the most interesting. Since it is an instrument for humans' communications with each other, the growth and development of their talents, causing creativity, innovation, and novelty, exchanging and transferring their experiences, and on the whole, for formation of society(s). Concern with language is not new. From the earliest recorded history, there is evidence that people investigated language. Many of the assumptions, theories and goals of modern linguistics find their origin in past centuries. 
English-speaking people do not fully realize the significance of teaching English to foreigners for the simple reason that they are the lucky owners of the language which has become the most important means of international communication.
They get this generous gift from their English-speaking parents and acquire the knowledge of their mother tongue effortlessly while millions of foreigners spend years trying to master the language which they desperately need for their work. That is where the social aspect comes in.
English is learnt in Uzbekistan not for fun, not as a luxury or as prestigious evidence of culture, education and the social rank of parents, not even so much as a means to open a new world. It is all that, but that is not the main thing.
The knowledge of English has become an objective social need because for millions of people the English language is now a tool of their trade. Businessmen, tradesmen, engineers, scientists and scholars all over the world must know English because it is the international means of exchange of information and experience.
It is widely recognised that any language conceals cultural heritage of the nation as a language is the only instrument that conveys traditions, customs, stories, written manuscripts that indeed make up cultural legacy and historical background of a nation.
Nowadays, culture has taken an important place in foreign language teaching and learning and a lot of works has been written in this field in recent years. Among the outstanding scholars we can distinguish Byram (1997), Smith (1985), (Brown 1994), Kramsch (1993), Bygate (1987) and many others. 
It has been recognized that language is used as a main medium through which culture is expressed. It is believed that students know the rules of language, but are not always able to use the language sufficiently as they are not fully aware about the target culture. Nevertheless, “pure information” is beneficial but does not lead learners’ insight; while the development of people’s cultural awareness leads them to better critical thinking.
It is widely believed that knowing a language demands not only grammar, lexis and phonology, but certain features and characteristics of the culture as well; which probably leads us to some cultural differences. These kinds of dissimilarities exist in every language and are expressed through the voice tone, an appropriate topic for conversation, place of silence, expressions, gestures and etc. In addition, Smith (1985:2) adds that the presentation of an argument in a way that sounds fluent and elegant in one culture may be regarded as clumsy and circular by members of another culture. 
Coming out from the ideas above, it can be claimed that language is a part of culture and culture is a part of language. The two are complexly interwoven so that one cannot separate the two without losing the significance of either language or culture (Brown 1994:164). 
Every culture has its own standards for conversation and these standards are different from one culture to another; furthermore, some of the norms can be completely different and conflict with other cultures’ norms. Thus, communicational misunderstandings may ascend among speakers who do not know or share the principles of other culture. To solve such problems in the target language in the EFL classrooms the learners need to learn the target culture within the syllabus. 
Culture might be interpreted in a different way by different people. In the anthropological sense culture is defined as the way people live (Chastain 1988:302), while Trinovitch(1980:550) defines culture as “...an all-inclusive system which incorporates the biological and technical behavior of human beings with their verbal and non-verbal systems of expressive behavior starting from birth, and this “all-inclusive system” is acquired as the native culture. 
According to Brown (1994:170) culture is deeply ingrained part of our character, but language is the means through which we communicate among members of a culture. Hence, a person’s outlook, self-identity, thinking, acting, feeling, and communicating can be disrupted by a change from one culture to another.
The view proposed by Tang (1999) was that culture is language and language is culture. He claims that to speak a language well, a person has to be able to think in that language. Both, language and people who speak it are the soul of the country. Language and culture are inseparably linked, and as such we might think about moving away from questions about the inclusion or exclusion of culture in foreign language curriculum.
Besides, as the approval of interrelation between language and culture Sapir and Whorf Hypothesis can be taken into account. Sapir and Whorf Hypothesis is a Hypothesis built up and expanded by B. L. Whorf (1897 – 1941) and derived from linguistic approach of his teacher, E. Sapir (1884 – 1939). This hypothesis, in fact, suggests that a language determines and resolves the thought and perception of its speakers. In the sense that, no language can subsist except it is in the context of culture and reciprocally, the culture which does not have at its centre the structure of a standard and ordinary language cannot survive (Sapir, 1921; Berlin and Kay, 1969). Whorf himself called this view the „linguistic relativity principle‟ (Whorf, 1952; Lucy, 1992a, 1992b; Levinson, 2000; Gilbert, et al. 2008). Consequently, Sapir – Whorf hypothesis is, indeed, a theory of the relationship between language and thought expounded in its most explicit form by the American anthropological linguists Edward Sapir (1884 – 1939) and Benjamin Lee Whorf (1897 – 1941). This hypothesis is also known as the theory of the linguistic relativity. The main idea in this hypothesis, as Whorf (Whorf, 1952, 1956; Levinson, 2000; Gilbert, et al. 2008) puts it, is that every human being views the world by his own native language. In other words, just as time, space, and mass (according to Einstein) can be defined only in terms of a system of relationships, human knowledge similarly arises only in relation to the semantic and structural possibilities of natural languages. In fact, Sapir and Whorf hypothesis (Sapir, 1921; Whorf, 1952, 1956; Berlin and Kay, 1969; Lucy, 1992a, Lucy 1992b; Levinson, 2000; Gilbert, et al. 2008) comprises two consistent and unified ingredients as follows:
- Linguistic Relativity: In accordance with linguistic relativity the languages which are completely different in their vocabulary and structure, put across and convey different cultural significances and meanings. This belief, indeed, maintains that the way people view the world is determined wholly or partly by the structure of their native language.
- Linguistic Determinism: In proportion to linguistic determinism in its strong version, models and samples of thought and observation and comprehending of reality are settle on, agreed on and found out by one‟s native language.
The first part which is linguistic relativity, indeed, has a more important role in forming Sapir and Whorf hypothesis. The main idea in this hypothesis, as Whorf puts it, is that every human being views the world by his own native language.
In brief, culture is a way of life (Brown, 1994:163). It is the environment within which we exist, think, feel and relate others. It is the “glue” that combines together a group of people. It can be defined as a scheme that monitors the behavior of people in community. It determines our behavior in groups and helps us to know what others expect of us and what will happen if we do not live up to their expectations. Thus, culture indicates how far we can go as individuals and what our responsibility is in the group. 
In EFL classrooms, together with teaching the language, culture is automatically taught to a certain extent. For instance, the forms of address, greetings and other words found in the dialogues students hear. Non-verbal communication, body movements, and distances kept by speakers should raise cultural understandings. Students’ academic interest is stimulated and satisfied when they learn that there exists another manner of expression to talk about feelings, wants, needs and when they read the literature of the foreign country. If language learners communicate at a personal level with individuals with other cultural backgrounds, they will need not only to understand the cultural influences at work in the behavior of others, but to recognize the deep influence patterns of their own culture over their thoughts, activities, and their forms of linguistic expression as well.
Moreover, as Selye (1968) claims, the teaching of the target culture serves to the development of cross-cultural communication. This goal is possibly achieved with the preparation of an organized inventory which would include both linguistic and extra linguistic aspects of the target culture. This way the language could build bridges from one cognitive system to another.
Lado (1963:110) states that if language is described as a type of human behavior and culture as “patterned behavior”, it is evident that language is a vital component of culture. It was mentioned earlier that each culture has a unique pattern and the behavior of an individual, linguistic or otherwise, demonstrated through that is also unique. Consequently, foreign language will mean changing the learner’s behaviour and implementing a new way of life and new standards of life into his already established behavior pattern. Therefore, there is a close connection between the language and culture. This relationship of language and culture is commonly recognized, communicative behaviour and cultural systems are connected, as there is relation between the form and content of a language and the beliefs, values, and needs existing in the culture of its speakers. 
Teachers are responsible for making students aware of cultural differences and teach them not to make any judgments on these very differences. Students which have been learning a foreign language should integrate many new classifications and arrangements if they are to understand and speak the language as its native speakers do. All languages which have been closely studied seem to possess the potentiality for expressing all kinds of ideas and making all kinds of distinctions (Rivers, 1982). Students should be open to these peculiarities as much as possible in the foreign language teaching classrooms.
As is mentioned by Brown (1994:167), both learners and teachers of a second language need to understand cultural differences, to recognize openly that everyone in the world is not “just like me”, that people are not all the same beneath the skin. There are actual differences between groups and cultures. 
As a result, language teachers cannot avoid conveying impressions of another culture whether they realize it or not (Rivers,1981;315). We cannot separate language completely from the culture in which it is deeply rooted. The introduction of the cultural elements into the classroom can be done by any listening to the statements of native speakers, any reading of original texts, any examination of pictures of native speakers.
The cultural side of foreign language teaching can be observed from two viewpoints. The first is the external view. In this we try and place English language teaching in our educational system within a global framework of English language teaching worldwide. On the contrary, this perspective needs to take into account the role of English as the international language. The second view is the internal. It focuses on the relationship between language learning and culture learning. Foreign language learning implies and embraces culture learning. As foreign language educators and teachers, we have to be aware of this relationship and be able to suggest ways in which it may be implemented in English language teaching syllabuses and methods. 
It is generally accepted that language learning" and culture learning are linked. Learning a language therefore involves learning something about culture as well. One might even say that learning about another culture in depth is only possible by learning the language as well.
Cultural learning in the foreign language classroom touches three spheres: understanding, knowledge and communicative skill. A foreign language course which includes all these three aspects trains its learners for intellectual competence and is likely to be an enriching experience.
Teaching English for intercultural competence in the areas of attitude, knowledge and skill outlined in this paper requires teachers who can bring the foreign culture into the classroom. That does not mean that a teacher needs to have an encyclopedic knowledge of all English language cultures plus his own; neither does it mean that teachers of English have to be bilingual. But it does imply that an English teacher remains curious and willing to learn about English speaking cultures, that he or she has embarked on this lifelong road of discovery and is willing to let the learners share some of this experience. If teaching the English language for intercultural competence is meaningful for the teacher on a professional as well as on a personal level, then it may become meaningful for some of her students as well. 
 Many language educators support the inclusion of a cultural component in the teaching of English. Adaskou, Britten, and Fahsi (1990), for example, summarize the following arguments for having a cultural component in language teaching: it can promote international understanding, deepen an understanding of one’s own culture, facilitate learners’ visits to foreign countries, and motivate learners.
Robinson-Stuart and Nocon (1996, p.435) make the following statement with regard to culture teaching and learning: “together, these elements reflect a current direction in language pedagogy, which is recognizing the importance of second culture acquisition”. How should the word “acquisition” be interpreted when it comes to culture? Does it have the same meaning with respect to culture as it does in case of linguistic development, or does it mean something different? Byram (1989, p.42), for instance, claims that the cultural experiences that teachers can provide for learners are “vicarious” and argues that “it would be misguided to teach as if learners can acquire foreign cultural concepts, values and behaviors, as if they were a tabula rasa” (Byram, 1991, p.18).
Thus, culture became an integral part of FLT. However, there is a lack consensus on how to introduce cultural elements into FLT. One challenge a teachers face is what approaches to take for development of intercultural competence.

1.2.	Intercultural communication and intercultural competence

The phrases «intercultural communication» or «cross-cultural communication» have been widely used in many different disciplines since the 1950s, mostly as synonyms. The globalization process and the movement towards European cooperation have heightened the interest in the area and, as a result, intercultural communication has become an academic field of study. This independence seems to be confirmed by the extensive number of scholars, publications, conferences, dissertations, etc. that are devoted to intercultural communication research. The dispute arises when we have to quote its theories or methods, because this field has drawn on many other disciplines. However, these other perspectives are vital to a comprehensive analysis of intercultural communication. Thus, intercultural communication is a field of interdisciplinary research, accommodating different subject areas: anthropology, social psychology, sociology, communication studies and linguistics.
The term intercultural communication is defined as situated communication between the representatives of different linguistic and cultural origins. The following statement is derived from the fundamental definitions: communication is the active relationship between people through language, and intercultural means that this communicative relationship is between people of different cultural backgrounds where culture is the structured demonstration of human behavior in social life in frames of national or local context, for instance, political, linguistic, economic, institutional and professional. Intercultural communication is identified as both a concept and a competence. Intercultural competence is the dynamic possession by individuals of qualities which lead to effective intercultural communication. It can be defined in terms of three primary attributes: knowledge, skills and attitudes. 
 Targowski and Metwalli (2003) believe that intercultural communication gibe opportunity for analyses the communicative process between people of different cultures. Another explanation of the term is provided by Lustig and Koester: «(intercultural communication is) a symbolic, interpretive, transactional, contextual process in which the degree of difference between people is large and important enough to create dissimilar interpretations and expectations». (1998, p. 51). This perception presupposes an intercultural continuum for every communicative instance. Vilá (2004) thinks that intercultural communication takes place when people of diverse cultural backgrounds overcome their cultural and personal differences and reach a basic mutual understanding. Vilá also brings into question the willingness of the speakers in the intercultural exchange. A successful communicative act between people of different cultures accounts for the participants’ will to overcome the existing barriers stemming from cultural distance or cultural novelty. Then, the speakers’ willingness and motivation come as the main difference between a multicultural and intercultural act. While the multicultural exchange is a passive action, the intercultural process suggests active cooperation between people.
Intercultural communication is a dynamic field incorporating social, economic and political contexts which are constantly changing. 
Analysis of the scientific literature (Travisani, 2005; Brislin & Yoshida, 1994; Makhkamova, 2011) shows that the term intercultural is chosen over the synonymous word cross-cultural because it is straightly linked to language use. According to the researcher Daniele Travisani (2005), intercultural communication properly refers to the study of the interaction between people from different cultures, while cross-cultural communication specifically refers to the comparison of how people from different cultures communicate. It is stressed that cross-cultural communication is a static differential image depicting differences in communication patterns across different cultures, while intercultural communication studies dynamic interactional patterns, what happens when people from at least two different cultures meet and interact, and what frames are generated from this interaction, for instance understanding vs. misunderstanding, agreement vs. disagreement, cultural adaptation vs. cultural isolation, emerging of “third cultures”, conflict vs. cooperation, intercultural team cohesiveness vs. team misunderstandings, intercultural project success vs. project failure, emotional improvement vs. emotional deterioration, and any other relational outcome. 
For successful undertaking intercultural communication learners should acquire intercultural communication. That’s why it is necessary to deal with this term taking account the concept “intercultural communication”.
Intercultural competence focuses on social issues, thought patterns, moral values. It also deals with understanding different cultures, languages, customs and traditions of people from various countries. So, the intercultural competence has complex structure. In particular, structural components of intercultural competence have been dealt with several aspects. 
The first and foremost aspect is context. A judgement that a person is competent is made in both a relational and situational context. Situational speaking competence is defined differently for various cultures. For instance, as a part of non-verbal communication the eye contact means confidence in western cultures whereas, in Asian cultures too much eye contact shows disrespect. 
The second aspect is appropriateness. Under this component proper behavior is understood. This means that people’s behavior is acceptable for the expectations of any given culture. 
The third aspect of intercultural competence is effectiveness. Effectiveness represents the behavior that leads to the desired outcome being achieved.
The fourth and the main constituent of this competence is knowledge. It is connected with the vast information a person has to have on the people’s culture he is interacting with. This is essential so that a person is able to interpret and understand culture-general and culture-specific knowledge. 
The last one is motivation which partially means emotional associations as people communicate interculturally. Feelings in terms of reaction to thoughts and experiences tightly connected with motivation. Intentions are thoughts that guide people’s choices; in addition it is a goal that directs individual’s behavior. Thus, these two entities play a considerable part in motivation.
In the 1970s Hymes (1972) introduces the concept of communicative competence when he argued that, in order to understand first language acquisition, it was crucial to take into account not only how grammatical competence but also the ability to use language appropriately were acquired, thus placing emphasis on sociolinguistic competence among native speakers. This idea was further developed by Canale and Swain (1980) in North America and Van Ek (1986) in Europe, who applied it foreign language acquisition and turned it into an essential concept in the development of communicative language teaching. The aim of this methodology was to obtain the necessary skills in order to communicate in socially and culturally appropriate ways. 
Canale and Swain (1980) suggested that communicative competence was minimally composed of grammatical, sociolinguistic and strategic competence (1980: 27-31):
•	Grammatical competence includes the knowledge of lexical items and rules of morphology, syntax, sentence grammar semantics and phonology.
•	Sociolinguistic competence is made up of two various sets of rules: sociocultural and discourse. The former focuses on the extent to which certain propositions and communicative functions are appropriate within a given sociocultural context, and the extent to which the appropriate attitude and register or style are conveyed by a particular grammatical form within a given sociocultural context. Rules of discourse are concerned with cohesion and coherence of groups’ utterances. 
•	Strategic competence consists of verbal and nonverbal communication strategies that the speaker may resort to when failures in communication take place. 
Moreover, they insisted on the necessity to establish interaction with “highly competent speakers” of the language, so that learners would be able to respond to genuine communicative needs in realistic second language situations. On the other hand, Canale and Swain also proposed that learners should be taught about the second language culture in order to be able to understand the social meanings or values of utterances of this language. 
However, a few years later, Van Ek (1986) proposed that foreign language teaching was not consisted only with training in communication skills, but should involve the personal and social development of the learners as well. Therefore, he presented a framework for comprehensive second language objectives which included aspects such as social competence, the promotion of autonomy or the development of social responsibility (1986: 33-65) quoted by Byram (1997: 9). The model he presented consists of six dimensions of communicative competence which are in fact mutually dependent: 
•	Linguistic competence: the ability to produce and interpret meaningful statements which are formed in accordance with the rules of the language concerned and bear their conventional meaning, that meaning which native speakers would normally ascribe to an utterance when used in separation. 
•	Sociolinguistic competence: this competence covers the relation between linguistic signals and their situational (contextual) meaning. Here, the awareness of ways in which the choice of language forms is determined by such conditions as setting, relationship between communication partners and intention is considered. 
•	Discourse competence: the ability to use the relevant strategies in the construction or interpretation of texts. 
•	Strategic competence: by this competence the situation when learners or communicators face some difficulties “getting their meaning across” or “finding out what somebody means” is understood, where they tend to find out certain communication strategies in terms of rephrasing or asking for clarification. 
•	Sociocultural competence: every language is situated in a sociocultural context and implies the use of a particular reference frame which is partly different from that of the foreign language learner; socio-cultural competence presupposes a certain degree of familiarity with that context.
•	Social competence: it involves both the determination and the skill to interact with others, including motivation, self-confidence, empathy and the ability to handle certain social situations. 
It is clearly seen that both proposals are very similar except for the integration by Van Ek (1986) two additional points of view, sociocultural and social competence which reflect values and beliefs, on one hand, and attitudes and behaviors on the other. 
It is vivid that native speaker is implicit as a model in both the linguistic and sociolinguistic competences. The language presented in the classroom should be as authentic as possible, to represent the reality native speaker language use. It has been one of the views of the communicative approach (Alptekin 2002: 61). As regards to sociocultural competence, the trend is to consider the learner as an imperfect native speaker, who is not able to use the appropriate body language, intonation or even life view. However, different scholars have varied in their assumptions concerning this concept of communicative competence. The problem of taking a native speaker as a model is that it becomes impossible for learner and in the end he is absolutely frustrated. As Cook (1999) has put it, “the prominence of the native speaker in language teaching has obscured the distinctive nature of the successful L2 user and created an unattainable goal for L2 learners” (1999:185). Even in the case that learner should manage to acquire this degree of perfection, it might not be the correct kind of competence, as the learner has to abandon one language and blend into another linguistic environment which might lead him to become linguistically schizophrenic (Byram 1997:11). 
The term “intercultural competence‟ is difficult to define as there has been “a lack of consensus about the precise meaning of the term‟ (Guo 2010: 23). Byram & Guilherme (2010: 5) discuss the tensions and dichotomies in research and teaching as to what is meant by „intercultural competence‟:
Coined relatively recently, intercultultural competence has been the object of various attempts at theorisation, from different disciplines or research fields, from different regions of the world and nations, from different professional or organizational contexts. The expression intercultural competence seems to entail quite paradoxical meanings within it. The concept of competence is often used to seize the dynamics of something fluid and unpredictable implied by an intercultural relation and communication with notions of skills, abilities and capacities, and then to describe and evaluate them. On the other hand, the word intercultural expresses the impact of the unexpected, the surprising, the potential rather than the pre-structured, the foreseen or the expectable. [italics in original; emphasis added]
The term „competence‟ itself has been a contested concept and Fleming (2006b: 6) has examined the arguments for and against the „competence‟ debate, noting that the use of competence statements are „attractive because they appear to offer structure, order, stability and transparency‟. However, Fleming warns that „there is limit to the degree of structure, order, stability and transparency that can be expected‟ since „objectivity, clarity and transparency is an elusive goal‟. Even more so as we attempt to define „intercultural competence‟, a concept that, in Byram and Guilherme‟s terms, needs to encapsulate something „fluid‟ and „unpredictable‟ and to capture „the unexpected, the surprising, the potential‟. I agree with Fleming‟s argument in that competence statements ought to be „seen more as a starting point rather than the end of a process‟ for they are „often thought to be a final and definitive way of capturing achievement in a particular domain (and sometimes criticised for that very reason) instead of being seen as a focus for the evolution of shared understanding‟.
The definition put forward by the Council of Europe in 2005, which views competence as „a combination of knowledge, skills, attitudes, values and behaviours‟ (Byram & Guilherme, 2010: 5) is a useful one as it highlights the processes involved in managing intercultural interactions. However, it ought to be stressed that competence statements can be, to use Fleming‟s terms, „narrow, reductive and functionalist‟. Fleming contends that „competence statements‟ can become „behaviourist‟ and not allow for „creative or unexpected outcomes‟, particularly in concepts like „intercultural competence‟ where „the unexpected, the surprising, the potential‟ are aspects to be considered. In sum, the term itself is an elusive one, with little agreement across disciplines. The field of intercultural education is relatively young and there are yet no definite answers with regard to its teaching and assessment.

1.3.	 Linguodidactic issues of mastering intercultural communication

The present world is changing rapidly and becoming increasingly multicultural. Hence, increasingly complex skills and knowledge are required of people. Yet educational institutions are not fully prepared to accommodate these needs of modern world, nor is the human potential to learn and obtain such “new” competencies fully adequate. Almost seventy years ago John Dewey expressed: Learning...means acquisition of what already is incorporated in books and in the heads of the elders. Moreover, that which is taught is thought of as essentially static. It is taught as a finished product, with little regard either to the ways in which it was originally built up or to changes that will surely occur in the future. It is to a large extent the cultural product of societies that assumed the future would be much like the past, and yet it is used as educational food in a society where change is the rule, not the exception (Dewey , 1938:19).
If the native speaker is not suitable as a model for L2 learner, communicative competence is perhaps not the most appropriate approach either. According to Byram (1997), when individuals with different linguistic and cultural background interact they bring to the situation their knowledge about their own country and that of the other’s. Thus, success of such interaction will mainly depend on the establishing and maintenance of human relationships. At the same time, both aspects, knowledge and attitude are influenced by the process of intercultural communication, that is to say, the skills of interpretation and establishing relationships between two cultures and the skills of discovery and interaction. Finally, all these factors should be integrated within the development of the learners’ critical cultural awareness of all cultures involved (1997:32-33). Byram presents these factors as saviors to be developed by the learner who is the future intercultural speaker:
•	Savoir etre, which is concerned with attitudes and values and consists in showing curiosity and openness, readiness to suspend disbelief about other cultures and belief about one’s own;
•	Saviors, which refers to the knowledge of social groups and their products and practices in one’s own and in one’s interlocutor’s country, and of the general processes of societal and individual interaction;
•	Savoir comprendre, related to the skills of interpreting and relating, that is to say, the ability to interpret a document or event from another culture, to explain it, and relate it to documents from one’s own;
•	Savoir apprendre/faire, connected to the skills of discovery, and interaction or the 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;
•	Savoir s’engager, in relation to critical cultural awareness and political education, which means having the ability to evaluate critically and on the basis of explicit criteria perspectives, practices and products in one’s own and other cultures and countries (Byram 1995: 57-66, Byram 1997: 31-54). 
In the introduction to his monograph, Byram (1997) sets up a dichotomy between the tourist and the sojourner. The tourist is a traveler to foreign lands who sets out to see foreign peoples, cultures, and artifacts with the hope that these encounters with otherness will enrich his or her current way of life, but not fundamentally alter it. The sojourner, on the other hand, "produces effects on a society which challenge its unquestioned and unconscious beliefs, behaviours and meanings, and whose own beliefs, behaviours and meanings are in turn challenged and expected to change" (Byram, p. 1). The key to becoming a sojourner, or an intercultural speaker, is the ability to decenter (e.g., Berger & Luckmann, 1966; Kohlberg, 1983; Kramsch, 1998). This process is evidenced when an individual can relativize his or her own beliefs, practices, values, and meanings when faced with those of the other. Byram (p. 3) argues that it is the qualities of the sojourner that constitute IC, and that this, in turn, is an integral and definitive part of what it means to learn a foreign language. The proposed model consists of five distinct but interdependent components, some of which Byram rather unfortunately refers to as "skills." The first four are attitudes, knowledge, skills of discovery and interaction, and skills of interpreting and relating. In an educational setting geared toward politische Bildung (Byram, 1997, p. 43), the interplay of these first four components ideally should lead to the fifth, namely, critical cultural awareness or an evaluative orientation (Byram, p. 43) toward the examination of difference, where learners' evaluative points of reference are made explicit and where the new evaluative orientation toward difference fosters a readiness for political engagement (Byram, p. 44). The choice of the word skills to designate components three and four of IC is unfortunate because it carries with it the negative connotation that these components might be "learnt by a simple technology and transferred unproblematically" from one context to another (Ivanic, 1998, p. 168; see also Byrnes, 2001, p. 520; Kumaravadivelu, 1994), when, in point of fact, intercultural interpretation, relation, discovery, and interaction are complex human activities that shape and are shaped by an intimate interface of macro- and micro-sociological factors, including both history and power (Archer, 1995; Layder, 1993; see Belz, 2002b, pp. 61-63). In the following sections, each of these four components are examined in turn, focusing, in particular, on attitudes.
The intercultural speaker must exhibit a "readiness to suspend disbelief and judgment with respect to others' meanings, beliefs and behaviours" and a "willingness to suspend belief in one's own meanings and behaviors, and to analyse them from the viewpoint of the others with whom one is engaging" (Byram, 1997, p. 34). Interestingly, communication theorist Susan Herring (2002, p. 144) also uses the phrase "suspend disbelief" in order to refer to what computer users must do in order to interact in virtual environments. According to Herring, the requirement to suspend disbelief in computer-mediated communication may render the user subject to virtual deception and, I would add, instances of miscommunication.
Concrete curricular objectives for the component of attitudes include developing in the learner 
(a) a willingness to seek out interaction with the other in a relationship of equality; 
(b) a genuine interest in the other's point of view on phenomena in one's own culture and in the other's culture; 
(c) a readiness to interrogate the value systems and assumptions behind one's own cultural practices; 
(d) a readiness to examine one's own affective reactions to the experience of otherness and to cope with these reactions; and
(e) a readiness to engage with culturally appropriate verbal and non-verbal communication in the corresponding contexts (Byram, 1997, p. 51). 
In general, the interest of the intercultural speaker in the other is distinct from the interests of those whose interaction with the other is motivated by economic profit or by a fascination with the "exotic." For the assessment of all aspects of IC, Byram (1997) suggests criterion-referenced performance in particular situations as opposed to norm-referenced exhibition of facts; qualitative progression in contrast to quantitative display; and leaps in insight as compared to incremental increases in knowledge (pp. 104- 105). Furthermore, progress is defined in terms of frequency of occurrence of particular "intercultural behaviors" rather than as an all-or-nothing phenomenon. Byram suggests that the key factor to consider in assessing the attitudes component of intercultural competence is "the existence or absence of a perspective shift" (p. 108). Thus, a linguistically grounded analysis of the development of attitudes of curiosity and openness in telecollaboration would need to establish both the frequency and distribution of those lexico-grammatical features that index "shifts in perspective."
According to Byram (1997), the intercultural speaker does not only "gather facts" about the foreign culture (p. 35), but he or she is able to put this information into dialogue with information about his or her own culture (see Byram, p. 90, for "shallow" learning; Entwistle cited in Gipps, 1994, p. 24, for "deep learning"). 
Byram (1997) defines the skills of discovery as "the ability to recognize significant phenomena in a foreign environment and to elicit their meanings and connotations, and their relationship to other phenomena" (p. 38).5 These skills are needed in situations where individuals have little prior knowledge of the foreign culture or when interlocutors are unable to explain what is obvious for them in their "takenfor-granted reality" (Byram, p. 99). One important mode of discovery is social interaction. Byram (p. 61) characterizes the skill of interaction as the "ability to operate knowledge, attitudes and skills under the constraints of real time communication…" Byram (1997) defines the skills of interpreting and relating as the "ability to interpret a document or event from another culture, to explain it and relate it to documents from one's own" (p. 52). The outcome of the application of these skills is not necessarily a "balance of opposites, or a moderate pluralism of opinions" (Kramsch, 1993); instead, relating phenomena in one culture to those in another may result in "paradoxical, irreducible confrontation that may change one in the process" (p. 231).
In fact, the learner would acquire intercultural competence or intercultural communicative competence. While analyzing the different saviors, no linguistic aspects have been mentioned and all the attention has been on culture and relationships between cultures – interculturality. However, the fact that interculturality means interaction and interaction is communication which is language, should not be forgotten. In any case, Byram (1997: 70-71) distinguishes two competences: in intercultural competence, individuals have the ability to interact in their own language with people from another country or cultural background, collecting their knowledge about intercultural communication, their attitudes of interest, and their interpreting skills; while in intercultural communicative competence interaction takes place between people from different cultures and countries, the knowledge of the participants of the participants of another culture is linked to their language competence through their ability to use language appropriately and their awareness of the specific meaning, values and connotations of the language. 
It is urgent to consider that intercultural communicative competence does not mean using a new methodology in the classroom. Some others such as Byram (2002: 7) and Corbett (2003: 14) defend the idea that introducing the intercultural approach in classrooms does not mean introducing new methods and approaches, and majority of the practices well-known to many FL teachers such as role play or projects can be still actively used there. However some other authors have also shown the objections made by some teachers about the impossibility of the implementing new aspects or new contents in an already busy curriculum (Muller 1995: 61).
Despite some of these objections, the interest of some educational institutions and authorities from different countries to present their own L2 teaching curricula has been evident since the late 1980s. In brief, as the examples of this interest some products can be shown in terms of the guidelines and documents issued by certain countries. Even they vary in their origin; these guidelines mainly support the idea of teaching culture with the language. 
Either inspired by the guidelines issued by different governments or by their own desire to innovate and improve their teaching practices a lot of L2 teachers throughout Europe have shown an increasing interest in implementing and introducing an intercultural approach in their classes. In fact, two different surveys were carried out in frames of two projects, first organized by Michael Byram in 2000 and second by the European Centre for Modern Languages in 2001. Not going into the results of these surveys in detail, some aspects should be commented broadly. In both surveys, the respondents claimed the importance of introducing cultural dimension in second language teaching and recommended to make emphasis on intercultural communicative competence in L2 classroom. Moreover, teachers stated that they give preference to different kinds of textbooks, videos, films, press articles, inviting native speaking guests, organizing exchange programs for students in order to make them understand other cultures. In contrast, another part of the respondents recognized that they still attach much more importance to the teaching of the language itself rather than teaching cultural aspects. The most important fact is that, when asked about the cultural contents, they considered most important in teaching L2, issues like customs and traditions, history, geography, political system and other aspects more closely connected to what we should understand as intercultural communicative competence – developing attitudes of openness and tolerance towards other people and cultures, promoting the ability to handle intercultural contact situations, promoting reflection on cultural differences or promoting increased understanding of the students’ own culture - came in lower positions.
It was mentioned above that intercultural communicative competence was not a part of new methodology, nevertheless the implementation of it is mainly connected with the attitude and training of the teachers in these aspects. According to the results of the survey which has just been mentioned above, it was clear that attitude is there, but there is something wrong with the training. Teachers were asked if they had received any intercultural competence training and all of them answered that, even though some implicit aspects of intercultural competence might be included in subjects dealing with sociolinguistics, literature, history, etc., they had not studied intercultural competence in a systematic way. As it was explained before, intercultural communicative competence goes beyond the concept of language learning as just the acquiring skills in a language together with some factual knowledge about the country where this language is spoken. The teacher now becomes the moderator that has to give the priority to the amount of knowledge, but to the development of new attitudes, skills and critical awareness in the student. The task of the teacher is not to provide comprehensive information or bring the foreign society into the classroom for learners to observe and experience, but to develop in students the competence that will make them relativize their own culture values, beliefs and behaviors and investigate for themselves the otherness, what is different to their “norm” (Byram et al. 2002: 13-33; Byram et al. 2001: 12). Consequently, it is obvious that, non-native teachers become valued for their ability to move between the home and target cultures (Corbett 2003; 12), although, open-minded native teachers who widely travelled, can be equally or even better valued. In fact, the best teacher is neither the native nor the non-native speaker, but the person who can inspire students to see the connection between their own and other cultures, as well as developing their curiosity about difference and otherness. Byram (1997: 64-73) differentiates three locations in the process of intercultural communicative competence acquisition: classroom, fieldwork and independent learning. Each has different degree of teacher-student interaction: the highest participation of the teacher is in the classroom, in fieldwork it is reduced to a degree of a supervisor while independent learning implies that full responsibility is student’s and teacher may act as a teacher or guide. The figure of the teacher never disappears completely, because sooner the achievements of the students need to be assessed properly. Many authors (Steele 1996: 79; Jaeger 2001: 53) believe that the primary role of the teacher in intercultural communicative competence is to develop students’ independent learning skills. 
The idea that teachers are responsible for developing students’ intercultural competence was fully supported by many scholars. Intercultural competence shows itself in the ability to recognise, respect, value and use productively –in oneself and others– cultural conditions and determinants in perceiving, judging, feeling and acting with the aim of creating mutual adaptation, tolerance of incompatibilities and a development towards synergistic forms of cooperation, living together and effective orientation patterns with respect to interpreting and shaping the world (Thomas, 2003, p. 143). But also, it was mentioned that as L2 teachers this intercultural training should go beyond general competences and focus on communicative skills. Chen and Starosta state that intercultural communication competence is «the ability to negotiate cultural meanings and to execute appropriately effective communication behaviours that recognise the interactants’ multiple identities in a specific environment» (1996, p.358). This definition emphasizes the importance of appropriateness and effectiveness. The first draws attention to the capacity of being contextually flexible in one’s behaviour. The second refers to the complexity of the process, to the complex layers involved in successfully co-constructing and conveying meaning. A common goal for researchers of different disciplines has been to identify the components of intercultural communicative competence (ICC). 
It was discussed above that taking a native speaker as a model presented for L2 learners has its negative influence on the teaching and learning process. The problem is that most part of textbooks and teaching materials follow that model. Alptekin (2002: 61) criticizes that most teaching materials of English contain database of native speaker usage. They mostly involve interactions of native speaker with a native speaker instead of interactions between native speaker and non-native speaker or between non-native speakers. At the same time, an idealized image of the English-speaking country is portrayed, thus creating a number of stereotypes. 
When dealing with the culture associated to a language and specifically in the case of English, which culture or which English-speaking country is meant? Traditionally, it has been British or American culture but, on the one hand, there a several English-speaking countries and, on the other, in the last decades English has become an international language or a lingua franca which not represents the mother tongue of either speaker. There are a number of arguments about organizing cultural material in the textbooks. For instance if the textbook only represents the target culture, its strangeness may provoke rejection in the student, and when books try to include representations of several cultures, the result may be unconnected topics and issues that make no sense. A real representation of the society where the language is spoken and some historical and cultural aspects of such countries lead learners to better understanding of the language structures, vocabulary, idioms and the status of the language in the world. Furthermore, it is preferable to introduce elements of the learner’s own culture, as well as other cultures, so that by with the help of contrast and comparison values and openness of mind can be raised. Together with reflecting one culture, textbooks and teaching materials should help to develop discovery skills that will allow students to get necessary information in each situation, not only in the learning process. 
Nowadays, the view strongly defended by experts is that teaching materials should be designed for particular communities with country-specific publishing (Corbett 2003: 212; Pulverness 2004: 7). In other words teaching material should reflect target and national contexts to get necessary information for successful organization intercultural communication. 
Summary of the first chapter
Particular languages are associated historically with particular cultures; the languages provide the key to the associated cultures, and especially to their literature; the languages themselves cannot be fully understood otherwise than in the context of the cultures in which they are inextricably embedded; subsequently, language and culture are studied together. It so happens that English and the other major languages of Europe are, in many respect, highly unrepresentative of the languages of the world. English, in particular, has been used in the administration of an empire of great cultural diversity. It is spoken as a native language by members of many different ethnic groups and adherents of many religions, living in many parts of the world. It is widely employed by anthropologists, missioners and writers of all kinds, not only in the description of every known society, but also in novels, plays and etc., which have their setting in countries and societies in which English is not normally spoken. The above points indicate that English, to an even greater extent than other European languages, has been enlarged and modified by loan-translation in almost every area of its vocabulary. The correlation between the semantic structure of English and the cultures of its native speakers are therefore much more complex and diverse than are the correlations between language and culture in the vast majority of human societies. It is also much easier for a native speaker of English or one of the major languages of Europe to think that all human languages are inter-translatable than it would be for a While there is no definitive conclusion to exactly how language and culture are related, it is evident through the linguistic choices that people employ that a relationship exists. There is a need for language learners to understand why people think and speak the way they do, and to understand possible agreements that may be in place between a culture and its language. Integrated studies of language and culture are needed if language learners are to become competent language users.
From the mentioned points and discussion, it can be concluded that there is a very close relationship between language and culture in general, and a specific language and its culture in particular. That is, culture has a direct effect on language. In fact, the two issues are closely correlated and interrelated. Language is the symbolic presentation of a nation or a specific community. In other words, language is the symbolic presentation of a culture.
The intercultural dimension of foreign-language education is about more than teaching communicative competence and, in addition, passing on an extensive body of information about the foreign culture(s) which tend(s) to be associated with the foreign language one is teaching. The acquisition of intercultural communicative competence, of course, requires that one increases one’s familiarity with foreign cultures, with one’s own culture and with the relationships between cultures. In addition, it implies that one acquires the competence to learn cultures autonomously. We hope to have made it clear why current societal developments compel us to move away from a teacher-led language-and-culture pedagogy to a student-centred autonomous learning approach. 
Therefore, the teaching of communicative competence must be continued at the same high level as at present. It is, however, high time that language educators also realise that speaking a foreign language always means entering a cultural world that may to a lesser or a larger extent be different from one’s own. Therefore, all language education should always also be intercultural education. Moreover teachers and students need linguopragmatic and sociopragmatic knowledge and skills. 

CHAPTER 2. MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN TEACHING INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
2.1. The features and types of multimedia technologies
It is becoming increasingly frequent for language teachers to incorporate new teaching and learning approaches into their classroom practice, including the use of computer technology. Commonly known as Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) or sometimes called ILT (Information and Learning Technology), these technologies have been greatly influential in creating new opportunities for innovative teaching approaches, especially in language teaching. Indeed, many teachers are fast becoming aware of the potential for “interactive”, language-in-use projects which have ITC as a key element of the teaching process. Innovative uses of Internet and other ICT tools can easily provide opportunities for collaborative language projects which focus on “using the language to learn the language”. Perhaps even more importantly, the new practices developing from the integration of Internet use in EFL or ESL classrooms is ushering in unexpected changes in language teaching objectives.
 One such change is the need for a new understanding of communicative competence which includes interculturality. International collaborative projects which use Internet as the tool for communication are providing much wider opportunities for students to contact and communicate with other individuals outside of their own country. This entails learning communicative skills which may not have been the focus of language classes before the integration of such projects. For instance, many times the goals of language lessons deal with contexts within local arenas such as restaurants, offices or schools, however, international collaborative projects will necessarily require other types of communicative skills: intercultural communicative skills.
It may seem to be self-evident that an internationally collaborative ICT project will incorporate intercultural knowledge, awareness and communication skills as goals to be achieved during the project. However, it could be argued that there is a difference between intercultural knowledge (knowledge and understanding of other cultures) and intercultural communicative skills. Many Internet projects are designed for the exchange of different types of knowledge about the students’ respective cultures. This allows for an increased understanding of the other culture, however, this is not necessarily the same as developing intercultural skills. It is up to the teacher who is designing the task to decide if the development of intercultural communicative skills is an aim of the project and then to incorporate steps which will help develop such skills.
Virtual learning environments provide new and unique ways in which to convey cultural knowledge and develop intercultural communication skills. High-fidelity graphics, sound, and animation make it possible for them to simulate many tangible aspects of a specific culture, such as buildings, streets, art, dress, speech, gestures, and more. This enables the provision of more authentic computer-based practice environments than may otherwise be feasible using traditional live role-play and media based approaches. 
Cultural training programs have evolved substantially in the last six decades. The earliest examples began to surface after World War II when international travel and collaboration became more prevalent in business and government work. As the need for these programs became more evident, scientific interest in creating theories of intercultural growth, identifying underlying cognitive processes, and demonstrating their effectiveness also grew. The field of intercultural training is highly interdisciplinary, attracting researchers from a variety of fields, including anthropology, cognitive psychology, social science, business, and more. Surprisingly, very little of this work leverages state of the art computing technology. The usual structure of intercultural training programs includes a blend of didactic and experiential components, including methods such as lectures, discussion, film, case study, and role playing (Landis, Bennett, & Bennett, 2004). Many of these methods are based on a classroom instruction model and seek to leverage peer interaction and debate to engage learners. Typically, the goal is to induce changes in knowledge, skills, and/or attitudes. Knowledge includes basic facts about a new culture, such as common values and beliefs, preferences for physical contact, or typical eating and drinking patterns. Skills usually refer to the learner’s ability to interact with someone from the new culture, including communicating their desires and interpreting the behaviors of others. Finally, attitudes have to do with basic beliefs a learner has about people of a different culture and whether a positive, neutral, or negative disposition exists towards them. Evaluations of intercultural training programs also tend to focus on these three dimensions.
Although intercultural training is often motivated by immediate need, such as international travel, researchers and educators are also interested on its longer term impact on cultural learning and development. There is widespread agreement that intercultural growth occurs in stages and can take many years (Savicki, 2008). Whether it is a student studying abroad, or a business executive starting a new branch in a foreign country, the assumption that people acclimate gradually is both intuitive and generally supported by psychometric measures of cognitive, affective, and emotional change (Paige, 2004). 
The differences are as follows:
• Intercultural knowledge: research about or exchange of information concerning cultures different from one’s own. This results in knowledge about the other culture.
• Intercultural communication skills: recognition of personal value system and preconceptions + added knowledge about other cultures. This results in empathy with the other culture.
It is possible to introduce yet another term into this ever-growing field of interculturality: intercultural awareness. In the field of language teaching (including ESL and EFL), it is becoming more frequent to hear of language teaching and (inter)cultural awareness as being integral to each other. Along these lines, however, this intercultural awareness in language learning is too often seen as yet one more “skill” to be acquired, along with reading, writing, listening and speaking skills; in other words it is fast becoming the “fifth” skill to be learnt in the language classroom. However, as Claire Kramsch (1993) points out, “if language is seen as social practice, culture becomes the very core of language teaching”. This means that it cannot be extrapolated as an isolated skill from the “whole competence” of a language user.
It also means that understanding a language goes beyond being grammatically and lexically competent in that language. The student must be aware of not only the target language’s culture but also be able to see how the target language’s culture relates to their own. In order to develop students’ intercultural communicative competence, their awareness of cultures (own and others) will help them interpret and understand other languages and cultures. Thus, intercultural communicative skills must be seen as a competency which requires not only knowledge and skills but also attitudes. Quite rightly, Internet, due to its multicultural and multilinguistic nature, has been proclaimed as a significant tool for teaching intercultural competency.
Added to all of this is the increasingly popular movement which champions English as an International Language (EIL); promoting English as an international lingua franca. Still, this position is not without its detractors, notably because of the quite political and imperialistic attitude which can be attached to it. Perhaps a more diplomatic orientation might be positioning English for Intercultural Communication. Placing English as just one of several possible international lingua francas implies a focus on interaction between non-native-speakers who may come from very different language and cultural backgrounds. The objective becomes one of communicating effectively and appropriately, thus bringing us back to the definition of intercultural communication – in this case, using English as the means of communication. This focus shifts the teaching goals from language norms (usually pertaining to native speakers) to a focus on negotiation wherein the speakers must learn to accommodate each other’s different levels and backgrounds.
Some goals of such a programme designed to teach is not just language, but also entail the student be able to:
• observe, identify and recognise elements of their own culture and others’ cultures
• compare and contrast
• negotiate meaning
• tolerate ambiguity
• effectively interprete messages
• limit the possibility of misinterpretation
• defend one's own point of view while acknowledging the legitimacy of others’ perspectives
• have the ability to accept differences between individuals
Stemming from the premise that language teaching is not simply teaching a language based on “imitation of native-speaker’s norms”, then the goals set out above become part of an overall objective of enabling the student to increase critical awareness, analysis and appreciation of diversity in order to better communicate in diverse situations. By all appearances, the incorporation of ICT in language classes can help promote those very objectives.
Many foreign language teachers first become interested in using multimedia technologies and Internet because of the opportunities provided for language use and “authentic communication”. Nonetheless, it is important to point out that there are different ways of “communicating” through Internet, and not all of them require the same level of intercultural competence and collaboration. According to Judi Harris (April 2004), internet communication projects can be classified according to purpose. Evidently, the purpose of the student task will influence the amount of communication and possible intercultural communication required. 
Harris classifies the three types of internet tasks as:
• Independent: This work requires a minimal amount of intercultural or even interpersonal communicative skills. This would include any work which requires browsing or searching for particular information on one’s own, as in research.
• Interdependent: This includes any type of information exchange such as emails or discussion groups. These tasks usually require interpersonal and intercultural skills, according to the way the project or communicative effort is set up.
• Problem-solving: Tasks designed for problem-solving also involve a high level of communication and subsequently will require developing or enhancing interpersonal skills.
These different task purposes must be kept in mind when designing an international collaborative ICT project because the need for intercultural skills is more of a requisite for some tasks than it is for others. Learning intercultural skills can even become a part of the design of the task. Projects involving interpersonal exchange can become sites for bringing together cross-cultural partners for discussion about a wide range of topics, including cultural aspects of different areas of life. Some ideas for designing interpersonal exchange include:
• Key pals
• Global classrooms
• Internationally organized meetings
•“Electronic interviewing” of a personality known by all the partners
•Collaboratively created webquest (partners exchange information to be included in the final version)
• Collaborative writing of an electronic journal
All of these type of projects can facilitate the exchange of ideas amongst students from different cultures. These can be complemented by setting up common databases or electronic publications based on the exchange of information amongst partners. All of these tasks require knowledge and use of intercultural communication and therefore will help the students develop and further their intercultural communication skills.
The third type of Internet use, problem-solving, integrates most fully the use of communicative skills, especially if the problem-solving is done collaboratively. If the project is designed to incorporate global partners, it will necessitate the development and use of intercultural communicative knowledge quite extensively. By involving the students in different areas of problem-solving, they will be required to use communicative skills for many different purposes. To name just a few:
• request and organize information
• deliver and exemplify their knowledge about information requested from them
• clarify and request clarification about information
• analyze and negotiate possible answers
One example of this type of collaborative projects could be information searches wherein each partner has only part of the information necessary to resolve a problem which is in common to all the partners involved. Another example is parallel problem solving wherein each partner works on similar problems and then the students are asked to compare results. These problem-solving projects can be linked to simultaneous discussions as well, whether textually (through keyboard chatting) or audio-video links, thus increasing the use of different intercultural communicative skills even further.
Hopefully, through guided reflection, as students experience linguistic and cultural otherness, they will integrate this into their existing linguistic and cultural understandings. This will lead to greater intercultural awareness and self-awareness as well. Some writers (e.g. Byram 1989, Holliday 1994) feel that reflecting on self-identity as well as other’s identity can help students break away from stereotypical beliefs about others. This would be a welcome complement to the intercultural element of a success internationally collaborative ITC project! And it may well be the first step towards a new more egalitarian era of English for Intercultural Communication (EIC), wherein native and non-native speakers alike are all more interculturally aware.
While increasing cultural awareness in the EFL classroom it should be kept in mind that understanding a foreign culture should help students of another language to use words and expressions more skillfully and accurately; to understand levels of language; to act naturally with representatives of other culture, while recognizing and accepting their different reactions, and to help speakers of other tongues feel as if at home in the students’ own culture. 
Although intercultural communicative competence has been considered a significant goal of English as a foreign language (EFL) for some time (Byram, 1997; Kramsch, 1993), many of the methods and materials used to train learners or raise cultural awareness are limited in scope to learning about culture rather than learning from culture (Widdowson, 1998). Materials tend to provide irrelevant and largely trivial snapshots of cultural knowledge, and tasks and methods often fail to actively engage learners or promote skills required for negotiating meaning.
According to J. Willis (1996), an appropriate classroom task is “a goal-oriented activity in which learners use language to achieve a real outcome” (p. 53). Willis also suggests that language use in tasks should reflect language use in the outside world. Though, language use in the outside world is quite unclear, and activities and tasks based on structured scenarios tend to miss the nuances and subtleties of meaning negotiation, which is essential to accurate and successful communication. Nunan (1989) similarly states that a task “is a piece of classroom work which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing, or interacting in the target language while their attention is principally focused on meaning rather than form” (p. 10). As such, according to Nunan, a language learning task is an activity that has a nonlinguistic purpose with a clear outcome and that uses any or all of the four language skills in its completion by conveying meaning in a way that reflects real-world language use. 
This approach to language learning and teaching is practical on a local or classroom level. However, the problems that persist center more on what exactly constitutes real-world language use and how meaning can be created or negotiated through a common target language between people of different backgrounds and communication styles in unfamiliar contexts, where even basic common sense, values, and perspectives are in a constant state of change. Acquisition of these skills requires a refocusing of goals and ideas for communicative competence. Shehadeh (2005) claims that “what is needed, therefore, is an approach to L2 [second language] learning and teaching that provides a context that activates language acquisition processes” (p. 14). However, if such contexts are indeed constantly changing and unpredictable, how can they be reproduced in a classroom or structured language learning environment for the purpose of practicing tasks for acquiring real-world skills? 
According to Widdowson (1998), learners cannot be prepared in patterns of cultural behavior because these are too unpredictable and cannot be imitated in the classroom. Nevertheless, he also suggests that the classroom context is a community with its own cultural reality, and that this offers a unique environment in which language and culture are not just learned but learned from. Tasks which are more demonstrative of the real world can then be included into the classroom as a methodology that will provide for communicative competence. 
As Widdowson states, these tasks should then be systematically linked to the things learners need to do in the real world, incorporate what is known about the nature of successful communication, and embody what is known about second language acquisition. 
Similarly, Bygate (1987) suggests that oral interaction tasks in which participants are constantly negotiating meaning, such as an interview or a dinner party, helps learners to practice skills such as evaluation, explanation, justification, and predication, and generally learn how to manage interaction.
On the other hand, Byram (1997) proposes that “learners need to see their role not as imitators of native speakers but as social actors engaging with other social actors in a particular kind of communication and interaction which is different from that between native speakers” (p. 21). Byram’s model proposes that the ultimate goal of language teaching should not be to become a native speaker but an intercultural speaker. In addressing the requirements for an intercultural speaker, Byram establishes a comprehensive model of intercultural communicative competence geared toward developing culture-specific as well as general knowledge and skills for learning about, becoming involved in, and successfully negotiating intercultural communicative interactions.
In some EFL settings, classes consist of students of different cultural backgrounds; in others, classes consist of student with the same culture. In the former case, learning about diverse cultures and developing intercultural awareness are often not new issues—in multicultural classrooms, students learn about each other’s cultures through various activities, and not only during English lessons. Classes of learners with the same cultural backgrounds, on the other hand, do not present a pressing need to raise cross-cultural awareness, so multicultural education is absent from school curricula. 
Human-computer interaction of multimedia technology provides an innovative platform for foreign language education. Particularly, assisted by multimedia technologies, case-based teaching is widely being implemented in teaching intercultural communication, which is a new area in English curriculum system. This pedagogy awakens great concern for its effectiveness of theory input and students’ criticality development. 
Multimedia technologies play one of the best roles in creating an authentic learning context. It embodies a task-based principle, a widely supported in language learning practice. 
Nowadays, multimedia assisted case-based teaching is broadly used in teaching intercultural communication. Different from traditional exemplification, it values the specifically designed task involvement and teacher-student interaction based on learning targets. Besides, it fortifies students’ analyzing abilities, their introspection and critical thoughts that are important evaluating criteria for students in intercultural communication. Therefore, this pedagogy is accepted as the most effective, attractive and desired teaching method in intercultural communication. 

2.2. Approaches and methods of teaching intercultural communication
It has been evident that an integral part of learning a foreign language is acquiring some familiarity with the culture associated with it. The problem here is, developing and working out the ways of incorporating cultural knowledge in English language classes. Simply knowing grammar, syntax, phonetics will not give the students real insights of the daily life of the people whose language they are learning and hope to speak. More and more language teachers are recognizing the need no incorporate sociocultural factors into their classrooms (Palmer and Sharifian 2007); however, there is still not solved problem on how to introduce these necessary cultural elements into the lessons. 
One challenge that almost all teachers face is what approach to take. The reason for this problem is that many EFL teachers have had no formal training in incorporating cultural elements, and there is no universally accepted criteria that instructor could use as a guide (Byrnes 2008). Michael Paige’s (in Cohen et al. 2003, 53) dimensions of culture learning model would be to adapt, though. Paige groups culture learning into the following categories:
•	The self as cultural;
•	The elements of culture;
•	Intercultural phenomena (culture-general learning);
•	Particular cultures (culture-specific learning);
•	Acquiring strategies for culture learning.
By exploring and using these dimensions, the connection of the students to the target culture can be achieved as well as their awareness raising and intercultural communicative competence improving (Byram 1997). 
All people belong to different cultures all over the world. The culture individuals belong to affects the way they think, interact, communicate and transmit knowledge from one generation to another. In addition, the ability to ask and answer questions based on people’s own culture and the process of making connections across cultures. English teachers are to activate in students their “cultural antennas” by explaining them significant elements of their own culture which shaped them (Byram 1997; NSFLEP 1999, 9). Kramch (1993) calls this process forming a “sphere of interculturality”. 
People differ in their understanding of a culture. While some of them claims that culture is believed to be artifacts such as food, clothing, music, literature or art, others associate culture with social interaction patterns, moral values, ideas and attitudes. The teachers’ role here is to defining what culture is before students can engage in interactive cultural discussions. Anthropologist John H. Bodley (1994, 22) describes culture simply as “what people think, make and do”. Supporting Bodley’s viewpoint teachers can guide students to think about what people “think, make and do” in their own cultures by asking them to consider questions like these:
•	What behaviors reflect our culture and how they are learned and shared?
•	What important factors (social, religious and economic) influence our culture?
•	What are some important traditions that are unique to our country?
•	What ideals and values bind our culture together?
•	How does culture in our country function as a way for humans to live with one another?
•	What symbols are prevalent in our culture?
Classroom discussions based on these questions can create an atmosphere that encourages EFL students to think and brainstorm about their own culture and make connections across other cultures while studying English language. In order to create the “sphere of interculturality” in EFL classrooms, teachers can encourage students to make their own notions of culture instead of giving them preformed information on these topics. 
Under the elements of culture the beliefs, values, customs and the communication styles are understood (Cohen et al. 2003). The Standards for Foreign Language Learning (NSFLEP 1999) provides a framework for students to integrate “the philosophical perspectives, the behavioral practices, and the products – tangible and intangible – of a society” (47). This has become known as 3P model of culture:
•	Perspectives – what members of a culture think feel and value.
•	 Practices – how members communicate and interact with one another.
•	Products – technology, music, art, food, literature, etc.; the things members of a group create, share and transmit to the next generation.
While products may be easily identified because they are often seen, touched, tasted or heard, perspectives and practices are not as easily recognized because they are often deep-rooted in a society. Brooks (1968, 1997) differentiates “formal culture” (literature, fine arts, history, etc.) and “deep culture” (patterns of social interactions, values, attitudes, etc.). 
Edward T. Halls (1976) developed a tool called “cultural iceberg” useful for conceptualizing elements of culture. Hall’s analogy illustrates differences between what people readily see when they come across to a new culture (the tip of the iceberg) and the embodied aspects of culture not readily visible (the submerged part of the iceberg). Using this iceberg analogy can be one of the fun ways for students to reflect on different elements of culture and make distinctions among those which are visible and those which are ingrained. To be exact, students list elements of culture that may be found in each of the three kevels: surface, sub-surface culture and deep culture. 
Surface culture includes elements such as food, national costumes, music, dance, literature and holidays. Sub-surface culture mainly consist of notions such as body language, gestures, touching, eye-contact, personal space, conversational patterns and the concept of time. Teachers can give specific examples of English speaking countries and give the students opportunity to compare these examples with their own culture. The deep culture is represented by unconscious values and attitudes which are usually complicated to identify. Such characteristics can be so deeply ingrained that people feel that are simply “right” and “normal” way of doing some things. While it might seem strange and abnormal for American parents share their bed with their child, many cultures around the world view this as a normal practice. The idea is, to raise awareness of cultural elements and identify unique values or beliefs that explain why people behave in this way. 
Thus, it is very important for EFL teachers to be cultural informants as well as language experts. 
Intercultural phenomena include culture shock, cultural adaptation and the fact that people from with different cultural backgrounds may interpret similar situations in a different way (Cohen et al. 2003). The responsibility of an EFL teacher is to inform and prepare students for challenges they may meet while travelling or moving to an English speaking country. The process of adapting to a new culture is called “acculturation”. According to Brown (1994), acculturation consists of four stages:
•	Excitement (about being in a new country)
•	Culture shock (feelings of frustration and hostility)
•	Recovery (emergent comfort in the new culture)
•	Adaption (bringing cultural barriers and accepting the new culture)
To begin, stage one can be compared to “honeymoon” phase of a relationship. However all cultures has some good and ban sides. People tend to overlook the negative and only new, fresh and exciting aspects are seen in a new environment. Once the novelty disappears, individuals face culture shock, they move to stage two. People may start making prejudicial comparisons between their own and host culture. As a result, being in an unfamiliar culture may lead people to withdraw. This stage is believed to be the most complicated. 
As individuals become familiar with the new environment, they step by step move to the third stage. They start making friends, communicate using the target language, and, finally, in the stage four the newcomer will adapt and accept the new culture. 
When specific cultural community is defined, the focus mainly is given to elements of particular culture such as history, geography or political systems. Again Hall (1976)’s works help us to characterize the ways that members of different cultures see reality. The key factor is Hall’s notion of “context”. This is about cultural backgrounds in which communication occurs. When people from different cultural backgrounds communicate, the interaction can break down as they do not share the same cultures. Hall’s theory of high- and low-context cultures gives the explanation of characteristics affecting communication. 
In high-context cultures, people try to emphasize impersonal relationships and prefer group harmony and consensus over individual achievement. Words are less important than a speaker’s intent. People from high-context cultures generally share a high degree of commonality of knowledge and viewpoints. There is little need to spell the things out, and meanings tend to be implicit or can be communicated in indirect ways. High-context cultures are typified by long-lasting social relationships, spoken agreements, and mutual trust (Guffey and Loewy 2009).
Low-context culture representatives tend to be individualistic and goal-oriented, while people from low-context culture value directness. These differences usually can be the cause of interaction problems between communicators. Sometimes, individuals from a high-context culture may find individuals from low-context culture to be overly blunt. At the same time, people from low-context cultures may seem to the opposite group to be highly secretive. Hence, communication breakdowns can occur as people from different types of cultures may have dissimilar assumptions of shared knowledge. 
Most native English-speaking countries are classified as low-context cultures, while many Asian or Middle Eastern are classified as high-context cultures (Copeland and Griggs 1985). Elashmawi and Harris (1993) describe the difference in examples that low-context American culture differs from high-context Japanese culture. While Americans value independence and equality and self-reliance, Japanese favor group harmony, collectiveness and cooperation. Moreover, Americans are usually open and direct while Japanese pay more attention to the context in communications. Japanese speakers get ahead other’s need through their facial expressions, behavior and gestures rather than verbal messages. 
People from different cultures not only communicate in a various ways, but experience a situation contrarily as well. By contrasting cultural values, successful negotiation can be achieved by representatives of diverse cultures. An interesting activity is to have students reflect on Hall’s classifications (see Appendix 2) to determine whether theirs is a high- or low-context culture. Students can be encouraged to group work or can be given the quiz individually. After taking the quiz (Appendix 2), with their new grasp of high- and low-context cultures, students can think of possible scenarios where communication may breakdown based on cultural differences. In addition, students may prepare some presentations on how misunderstandings from different cultural contexts could cause problems, develop and include there the strategies to avoid potential conflict. 
 The matters of teaching intercultural communication have been a focus of attention from a variety of perspectives for the recent years. However the problem of applying approaches into the national context has been still discussed in the local methodology. 
Coming out from these elements above certain approaches in raising students’ intercultural competence are to be selected. However, before choosing the relevant approaches and methods of teaching intercultural communication the principles as initial bases should be considered. In our view, approaches to teaching intercultural communication should:
•	be based both on personal and social development;
•	provide learners with opportunities to access and analyze a broad range of cultural practices in spite of their social status;
•	assist learners to develop and understand processes which are connected with interaction of people from different cultural backgrounds or any communicative event producing;
•	equip learners with means of analysis and reflection on their encounters; help them identify any conflict areas and ways of avoiding such situations and gaining experience in their future actions and behavior. 
In the local methodology the intercultural-action method has been suggested by G.Makhkamova (2011) for intercultural teaching in the linguistic universities. This method is realized on the based of the formula “language -> culture -> communication”. That’s why intercultural competence is developed in incorporated teaching intercultural competence on the practical course of the English language and theoretical course ‘Theory of intercultural communication”.
Suggested by G. Makhkamova initial groundings of the intercultural-action method are intertwined with these principles. In spite of this fact, we would like to describe some effective approaches in which these principles underlie:
1.	Comparative-contrast approach
2.	The ‘emic’ and ‘etic’ approaches
3.	The experiential learning approach
Via comparative-contrast approach teachers and learners have opportunity to reveal and understand culture differences in terms of potential barriers. Learners are encouraged to understand and respect these differences. Mainly two or three cultures are chosen for comparison. Learners aim is not only identifying differences, but also finding aspects in common. One of the advantages of these approaches is an opportunity to reveal students stereotypical opinion as well. 
 While ‘emic’ approach implies studying cultures inside, ‘etic’ approach focuses on understanding cultures from outside. This means that the learners by the help of teachers attempt to understand cultures as the members of the cultures do; in contrast, the latter compares cultures using predetermined characteristics. The Table 1 sets out the main differences between the emic and etic approaches.
 Table 1. Emic and etic approaches
Emic Approach	Etic Approach	
Studies the behavior from within the system 	Studies the behavior from outside the system	
Examines only one culture	Examines many cultures, comparing them	
Criteria are relative to internal characteristics	Criteria considered absolute or universal	

The experiential learning approach relies on empirical learning, the concept of which is based on Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle (1984). It is not efficient to read many culture based books or to listen to the lectures about different cultures. It is necessary for every individual to face new and unknown situations, to experience fear, rejection as well as trust and sympathy. Moreover, it is also necessary to learn culture via interacting with native-speakers and non-native speakers. 
 In the scientific literature on methodology also the cognitive, active and intercultural methods are distinguished.
 Cognitive methods presuppose using different types of material:
Text-based materials: They are commonly used in training sessions to transmit facts, ideas and concepts. The materials can be as diverse as readings, textbooks, articles, workbooks, letters, stories, fables, fairy-tales, tourist materials, postcards. These written texts are used to illustrate issues about different cultures. 
Computer-based materials: Although they are frequently used to acquire conceptual information, we can also find materials that develop skills and /or modify attitudes. The training takes place by means of CDs, DVDs, online programs and web sites. On these web pages, one can find information about different countries and diverse cultures, with the help of quizzes, cultural profiles, intercultural tests, articles, forums, etc.
Films: Educational, documentary films or commercial films are a motivating material to transmit knowledge and provide scenarios for cultural debates. In our area of studies, teachers can be made aware of cultural values of English speaking countries 
Case Studies and Critical Incidents: Case studies present a situation and students must work on assessing the problems entailed and finding possible solutions. Some cases are based on real-world dilemmas so the students get the opportunity to deal with concrete situations and specific cultural problems. This method is highly productive to train business executives. The following web page offers some intercultural cases that can be helpful for classroom practice:
Critical incidents are shorter than case studies and refer to cross-cultural misunderstandings, problems and clashes. The incidents do not illustrate the cultural differences of the interacting parties; rather these are discovered as the activity is carried out. The use of critical incidents can bring about students’ understanding of their own personal and cultural identity.
An example of this is the intercultural dilemmas section comprising delicate situations, where the user finds an outline of a situation where cultural difference can lead to misunderstanding of the intentions of others. The user is required to think up possible explanations and alternative ways of curing the situation or advising on solutions, before referring to a pop-up box which offers a possible explanation and/or strategy.
Active methods involve learners in active tasks to build up specific skills, where students learn by doing^
Role plays: Role playing puts information and skills into practice in a safe context and can be focused on content or processes. Participants have the opportunity to rehearse diverse roles in real-life situations for a specific purpose.
Simulation games: They are highly motivating and versatile. Educational and entertaining elements combine to build knowledge and develop skills.
Intercultural exercises: These activities usually combine two or more techniques (physical response, discussion, or written assignments) and involve learners in content while providing practice. Intercultural exercises are commonly used to raise awareness about cultural differences and develop strategies to adapt to diverse working environments. 
 The aim of intercultural activities is to develop cultural self-awareness, promote intercultural competencies and achieve effectiveness.
Contrast culture training: This method has been widely used in the U.S.A. It turns to an experienced actor as the foreigner ‘Mr. Khan’ to point at cultural differences and elicit a reflection on the learners’ own culture.
Cross-cultural analysis and dialogues: Cross-cultural analysis is an experiential exercise similar to the previous method but it is not dependent on an actor. Students deal with cultural analysis from their own cultural perspective and from the point of view of one or more target cultures. The discussions also involve a person from the target culture so the participants take note of contrasting dimensions from a member of this target culture. Cross-cultural dialogues are short conversations between two people of different cultures. Each dialogue shows the speakers’ values, attitudes and points of view and includes a subtle mistaken assumption in the conversation.
Area studies: Most commonly called culture-specific training, these studies build expertise about a specific country. They are highly appropriate for people who plan to live or work in the target country providing an excellent resource for understanding and interacting with people from that culture. 
Brief review of some approaches and methods enables to understand their content-based, research-based and interaction experience-based character and their importance in teaching intercultural communication in the national contexts.
Summary of the second chapter
Incorporating multimedia technologies in teaching intercultural communication can be provided an innovative platform in EFL classrooms. They create new opportunities in innovative teaching language as speciality. Moreover, they open new boundaries for both learners and teachers. Majority nowadays prefer to use virtual learning environment because this is believed to be a new way of conveying cultural knowledge. In order to develop students’ intercultural communicative competence, their awareness of cultures (own and others) will help them interpret and understand other languages and cultures. Thus, intercultural communicative skills must be seen as a competency which requires not only knowledge and skills but also attitudes. Quite rightly, Internet, due to its multicultural and multilinguistic nature, is a significant tool for teaching intercultural competence. Different from traditional methods, using multimedia technologies fortifies students’ analyzing abilities and critical thinking. Therefore, this pedagogy is claimed as the most attractive and desired ways of teaching intercultural communication. Together with ICT and multimedia technologies, methods and relevant approaches are significant in teaching process organization. The ability of teachers is to implement particular methods and approaches and incorporate them with multimedia technologies to achieve effective results. One challenge which most teachers face is what approach to choose. Michael Paige’s (in Cohen et al. 2003, 53) dimensions of culture learning model would be to adapt here. These five criteria (the self as cultural; the elements of culture; intercultural phenomena, particular cultures, acquiring strategies for culture learning) are considered to be the most useful in teaching intercultural communication. 
In the scientific literature effective approaches and methods have been worked out based on the following principles: comparative-contrast approach, the ‘emic’ and ‘etic’ approaches and the experiential learning approach. Besides cognitive, active and intercultural methods can be singled out as the most effective methods and tools in teaching intercultural communication.
Analysis of these approaches and methods shows that they are closely used with integration of multimedia technologies and integrate theory and practice. Such integration will enable to optimize and intensify the teaching and learning process in the linguistic institute. 

CHAPTER 3. TEACHING MATERIAL FOR MASTERING INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

3.1	Preparation for the experiment - needs analysis
Within this study we conduct survey among the students of experimental group of Master’s Degree Department within the Language teaching methodology course. We tried to determine Uzbek students’ attitude to British and American in the term of “gender stereotype” (simplistic generalizations about the gender attributes, differences, and roles of individuals and/or groups). 
 According to the first step of the survey, the students were suggested to define the word “stereotype”. 
Here are some of their answers:
Stereotype is determined as 1) imagination about one country’s nation or about people; 2) is a false or true opinion about one culture, nation or a group of people; 3) an oversimplified idea about group of people; 4) the first idea which comes to one’s mind about something. It may be true or not, believable or not.
As we see responses of student give us evidence that they understand the meaning of this term. They also claimed that stereotypes cannot be always true. We used this fact to impact some of the learners’ false beliefs on American and British culture. 
To reveal students’ viewpoints about British and American people interview was applied to the students. The questions and results of interview held by the students are summarized in the Table 2.

 Table 2. Survey questions and answers
Questions	The Most popular answers
	
How do you imagine British men are like?	Punctual, responsible, gentle, intelligent, handsome, pale skinned, blue-eyed, well-built, smart, family-oriented, polite, tolerant, modest.	
How do you imagine American men are like?	Outgoing, dark-skinned, rude, aggressive, active, overweight, self-confident, independent, handsome, quick-tempered, critical.	
How do you imagine British women are like?	Caring, romantic, kind, punctual, blond, slim, intelligent, tall, pretty, hospitable, good cookers.	
How do you imagine American women are like?	Rude, passionate, gossipers, self-confident, workaholic, selfish, outgoing, easy-going, beautiful, irresponsible, big-eyed, dark-haired, modern. 	
Do you think relationships between British men and women are like?	Loyal, respect each other, open-minded, helping hand, family-oriented, jealous to each other, equal rights in family, prefer to have less children, trust each other, similar hobbies in family, solve problems together.	
Do you think relationships between American men and women are like?	Cannot come to any decision together, open, passionate, they have equal rights, self-esteem, selfish, too close to each other, the divorce rate is high, no children, and unstable relationship, changeable, go to compromises.	

The table content indicates that the interviewees have more critical comments about American people and a couple of negative beliefs about Brits. It can be explained by the lack of information about these two cultures or the existence of some wrong stereotypes. During the research the students were also given a chance to compare students’ responses about British and American men and women to reveal how they confirmed or contradicted. 
Most students idealize British men (punctual, responsible, well-built, polite) and British women (romantic, caring, slim, pretty etc.).
On the contrary, most students seem to have prevailingly negative stereotypes about American men (aggressive, overweight, rude) and women (rude, selfish, irresponsible etc.).
Thus, majority of students have idealistic preconceived views on British men and women, while stating mostly negative gendered stereotypes that of the American. 
To conclude, stereotypes are the inalienable part of human life, even though they may present one-sided exaggerated view of any ethnic group, religion, as well as classes of people. Stereotypes are certainly not reliable description of individuals as one cannot judge about the whole nation through one or two bad examples. That’s why; we should to develop students’ cultural awareness as one of the component of communicative competence to overcome negative stereotypes in the English classroom.
As a next step, Needs analysis questionnaire (See Appendix 2) was conducted among students to reveal their desire of learning material and methods used by teachers. 
Data indicates that participants have different views on useful content of the course. 63.8% choose verbal and nonverbal communication; 51.2% choose culture and communication; 49.5% choose interpersonal communication; 47.19% choose improving intercultural communicative competence; 38.9% choose social organization; 38.6% choose value and belief; 22.7% chose intercultural awareness and 11.3% choose cultural identity.
Data indicates that 26.26% students regard theories as the most difficult because they are theoretical and abstract, thus hard to understand; 19.1% think the differences between Eastern and Western culture is the most difficult; 16.31% think the course is not easy to learn due to the lack of practice in reality; 9.28% think the difficulty is caused by learners’ personal knowledge and language efficiency.
These finding have some implications for teachers in what material to choose according students, and what methods to use. 
Two questions were set to find out the commonly used teaching approaches in the course and students’ perceptions of effective approaches. Five items were included to find out the answers. These items are: lecture, role play, group discussion, case analysis, and field work. 
Findings indicate that there is a distance between the commonly used approaches and students’ perception of effective approaches (Table 3). For example, 93.7% respondents identify lectures as commonly used method, while only 50.6% regard it as an effective approach. Role play and field work are less used but perceived effective by the students. 

 Table 3. Approaches Used and Approaches Perceived Effective
Item	Approaches used	Approaches perceived effective	
Lectures	93.7%	49.10%	
Role play	13%	38%	
Group discussion	54.6%	53.2%	
Case analysis	51.5%	67.8%	
Field work	3.2%	34.9%	

Five items are used to find out the perceived effective teaching techniques in the course, and what are actually used. Figure 5 and Figure 6 show the result respectively.
Data also indicates similar findings from this item. For example, video and movie watching takes 80.9% for perceived effective techniques, while only 45.6% indicate it is often used. Lecturing is also regarded less effective than it is taken. 
The 9 items used for answers regarding effective teaching approaches and effective teaching techniques are what is often used in intercultural communication teaching course. Finding for these two have implications for teachers when choosing their methods and techniques. 
To know students’ motivation for learning the course and be adaptive to the students are important the results of questionnaire. To give respondents enough space for expressing their views, answers were drawn by open-end questions. 86.3% of the respondents wish this course could help them know cultures of other countries, and to compare cultural differences; 57.2% of the respondents wish they could have better communication with culturally different people with the help of this course; 34.2% respondents want to take the course because it is part of the curriculum, which indicates the passive attitudes of the students, and teachers should try to motivate students’ interest in the course; 10.6% of the respondents wish the course could be helpful for their future study abroad; and 2.5% mentioned it is out of their interest. 
Data also shows that students are concerned with application of what they have learned in classroom into practice. 78.6% mention that they very occasionally have chance to use what they have learned, while 14.9% students said they had never had any chance. This can partially explain why 16.31% of the students think “lack of practice” is one of the difficulties of the course. What can teachers do to balance theories and practice or help students develop their communicative competence is an issue for teachers.
To achieve these goals, first of all, teachers should help students to develop positive attitudes to the course. A passive attitude will decrease the effectiveness of the teaching. Let the students know that learning intercultural communication can help them to achieve cultural tolerance and behave properly in diverse cultural context, and to achieve cross-cultural understanding, i.e., awareness of their own culture as well as that of the target culture. 
It is also important for students to know that intercultural communication not only refer to communication with English-speaking countries or the Western countries, it also means communication between nations, and ethnic groups. 
Conclusion: we should implement multimedia tools and learner-centered approach, integrate theory with practice; increase independent-study. 
Thus based on the results of the questionnaire we need to design blended learning course of Intercultural communication. 

3.2. Experimental teaching and its results
In order to prove the importance and effectiveness of teaching intercultural communication via multimedia technologies in the linguistic university we have studied psychological aspect of intercultural communication and different courses in teaching intercultural communication, as well as pedagogical conditions of using multimedia technologies in the MA department We have designed course “Intercultural communication” (ICC) and conducted experiment in the 1-st year MA department of UzSWLU. 
 The purpose of experiment in pre-experimental stage is to identify whether the course syllabus provides a good opportunity for teaching ICC. Moreover, it is important for the researcher to collect data on the current level of intercultural knowledge and skills. The goal of experimental teaching is revealing the degree of efficacy of the created module content and multimedia means in development of intercultural communication. In the experimental stage we focus on proving the importance of electronic teaching material. Furthermore it is important for us to check the entry and final indicators in the process of development of ICC via blended learning format. 
The stages of experiment: 
1-st stage – data collection: study and information processing; need analysis through questionnaire.
2-d stage – experimental teaching: evaluation, selection and design module and uploading into electronic format; approbation of the module for teaching intercultural communication.
3-d stage – qualitatively and quantitatively analysis of the result of experimental teaching: creation of tests and conducting cutting; statistic data processing; interpretation of the results of experimental teaching.
 We have defined as hypothesis of experiment effective teaching intercultural communication at the linguistic universities can be achieved under two conditions:
3.	If the valuable teaching material for intercultural communication will be selected and adapted to the language level of students; 
4.	If some teaching material can be designed in electronic format.
Verification of the hypothesis in the implementation of the experiment required the following tasks:
1.	To define pedagogical conditions and study Moodle platform under which the implementation of created module can be possible.
2.	To select teaching material and design module “Intercultural communication”.
3.	To work out tools for evaluating the efficacy of the module content.
The module “Intercultural communication” for blended learning was designed by G.Makhkamova, A.Amirkulov and M.Isamukhamedova. 

Syllabus “Intercultural communication”
Course description
 As many scholars in foreign language education and applied linguistics have noted, culture is one of the most widely-used and least agreed-upon concepts in our field. This course is intended to embrace that complexity but also lead toward some clarity in the principles that can guide our pedagogical decisions and practices in regard to teaching intercultural competence. The course begins by considering the theoretical underpinnings of culture and intercultural communication. Following that, we will explore frameworks for teaching intercultural competence, and finally we will focus on the implications of these issues for teaching intercultural competence. The tasks for this course, which parallel the components of the intercultural competence framework (per Byram & Zarate, 1997), include reflective tasks, observation tasks, activity design tasks, and an investigative task in which you will use ethnographic interviews to engage with the themes of this course as they relate to specific individuals and contexts.

Course objectives
 This course has the following primary objectives: 
1. To promote reflection on your own concepts of culture and your cultural background and identity as a foundation for the process of organizing intercultural communication. 
2. To guide you in engaging with the complexities of culture as a concept and its relationship to identity, otherness, intercultural experience of communication. 
3. To increase your awareness of culture and intercultural communication in the classroom. 
4. To develop your ability to investigate culture and intercultural experience through observation and interviews with informants, to analyze your findings in light of current theory, and to apply your findings to intercultural communication. 
Content of the module:
Unit 1. Psychological aspect of intercultural communication.
Lesson 1. Culture and language.
Lesson 2. Types of attribution.
Lesson 3. Culture shock.
Unit 2. Types of the cultures
Lesson 1. Monochromic and polychromic cultures.
Lesson 2. High-context and low-context cultures
Lesson 3. Collectivism-individualism.
Structurally each of the lessons includes:
1. Objectives and outcomes of the lesson.
2. Spark.
3. Input.
4. Follow-up activities.
5. Assessment.
6. Key reading.
7. Glossary.
Proportion: Face-to face (60%) and on-line-teaching (40 %).
During scientific pedagogical practice this module was approbated in the 1-st year MA department by the researcher. 
 We will show procedure of the experimental teaching on the base of the lesson “Culture shock” in the Unit 1 (See Appendix 1). During the experiment three input assignments and four follow-up activities as well as final assessment have been conducted and have been assessed. 
As the first part of the lesson Spark questions were given to students for brainstorming. The warm up questions helped the teacher to reveal students’ initial knowledge on issues of intercultural communication and got the information whether they have experienced communication with native speaker of the language they are learning and their behavior patterns in such situations. Almost 90 percent of students declared that they experienced some misunderstandings and culture shock while communicating with the representatives of other cultures. 
As the next stage of the lesson, students were given the picture to describe and brainstorm on some of the strategies they might use to combat culture shock. For this assignment teacher divided class into groups and encouraged them to collaborate with each other. The strategies were presented in a short presentation by the members of the group, and the most effective ones were selected by teacher and students. 
The lessons were enriched with reading tasks as they are informative and fully describe different life situations connected with intercultural communication. As the texts were small and situational, students’ easily did all the assignments connected with them. 
The Table 4 shows the scores for each assignment (max) scores and grades in the percent correlations taken by students. 

Table 4. Results of teaching

Activities	
Max. scores	Max. scores (16 students)	Factual scores in percent	
Input 1	1	16	88%	
Input 2	1	16	74%	
Input 3	1	16	71%	
Follow up activity 1	2	32	80%	
Follow up activity 2	2	32	77%	
Follow up activity 3	2	32	65%	
Follow up activity 4	2	32	83%	
Final assessment	4	64	78%	
Average 	15	240	77%	

The indicators showed that the module is effective and relevant to the students’ needs and abilities. Students did all assignments (for comprehension, for analysis, comparison and discovery) that give evidence that they acquired intercultural competence and research skills. 
The lesson was aimed at familiarization with culture shock concept. By the end of the lesson students were able to identify the reasons of misunderstandings during intercultural communication. They also, realize the importance of strategies to avoid culture shock during the interaction with one another. 
As the indicators showed, both face to face teaching and online activities were perceived quite efficient by students. However, there was more interest displayed to online activities as they were supplemented with motivating and thought-provoking videos. 

Summary of the third chapter
In this chapter, preparation for the experiment in frames of survey and needs analysis questionnaire is presented. In the first section of this chapter students’ needs, interests and current knowledge and skills are revealed and further methodical recommendations have been referred. To identify students’ motivation for learning the course and be adaptive students were given the questionnaire containing both open-end and close-end questions. As a result, data shows that it is urgent for students to know that intercultural communication not only refers to communication with English-speaking countries or the Western countries, it also means communication between nations and ethnic groups. 
Within this study it was proved that multimedia tools and learner-centered approach should be implemented, theory and practice should be integrated and independent-study should be increased. 
Based on the results of the questionnaire blended learning course of Intercultural communication has been designed and conducted. The course consists of three units and each unit includes reflective tasks, observation tasks, activity design tasks, and an investigative tasks. In the syllabus the goals and objectives of the course has been fully presented. The lessons consist of two parts: direct teaching (face to face) and independent teaching (online format) as well as final assessment. The results of the experimental teaching proved that multimedia technologies integrated in the teaching module is effective and relevant to the students’ needs and abilities. 16 MA students of UzSWLU participated in the experimental teaching in total and they also fulfilled all the given tasks on time that gives the evidence that they acquired intercultural communicative competence and research skills.

CONCLUSION

This research was designed to investigate the main issues of teaching intercultural communication in EFL classrooms via multimedia technologies. 
Nowadays, it is becoming increasingly frequent for language teachers to incorporate new teaching and learning approaches into their classroom practice, including the use of computer technology. Virtual learning environments provide new and unique ways in which to convey cultural knowledge and develop intercultural communication skills. High-fidelity graphics, sound, and animation make it possible for them to simulate many tangible aspects of a specific culture, such as buildings, streets, art, dress, speech, gestures, and more. This enables the provision of more authentic computer-based practice environments than may otherwise be feasible using traditional live role-play and media based approaches.
 In this paper we tried to look at modern approaches of FLT in terms of increasing students’ intercultural communicative competence. Together with the explanation and the field of usage of modern methods and approaches, the principles of choosing materials and the role of teacher in learning process is presented in the work. Teaching English for intercultural competence in the areas of attitude, knowledge and skill outlined in this paper requires teachers who can bring the foreign culture into the classroom. That does not mean that a teacher needs to have an encyclopedic knowledge of all English language cultures plus his own; neither does it mean that teachers of English have to be bilingual. But it does imply that an English teacher remains curious and willing to learn about English speaking cultures, that he or she has embarked on this lifelong road of discovery and is willing to let the learners share some of this experience. If teaching the English language for intercultural competence is meaningful for the teacher on a professional as well as on a personal level, then it may become meaningful for some of her students as well. 
For conducting online lessons “Moodle” platform which is widely used in Europe and being worked out in Uzbekistan was taken as a basis. It gives a plethora of chance both for teachers and students. In addition, it gives opportunity to integrate this tool with other applications and programs. It has recently allowed in the integration of Moodle with Google Apps Education which is highly prevalent in European universities. 
The main part of this study has been devoted to creating and implementing a syllabus in the format of blended learning. The issue of “Intercultural communication” has been chosen as a module for MA first year students. 
The primary objectives of the course were:
1. To promote reflection on students’ own concepts of culture and your cultural background and identity as a foundation for the process of organizing intercultural communication. 
2. To guide students in engaging with the complexities of culture as a concept and its relationship to identity, otherness, intercultural experience of communication. 
3. To increase learners’ awareness of culture and intercultural communication in the classroom. 
4. To develop learners’ ability to investigate culture and intercultural experience through observation and interviews with informants, to analyze your findings in light of current theory, and to apply your findings to intercultural communication. 
The purpose of experiment in pre-experimental stage was to identify whether the course syllabus provides a good opportunity for teaching ICC. Moreover, it was important for the researcher to collect data on the current level of intercultural knowledge and skills. The goal of experimental teaching was revealing the degree of efficacy of the created module content and multimedia means in development of intercultural communication. In the experimental stage we focus on proving the importance of electronic teaching material. Furthermore, it was important for us to check the entry and final indicators in the process of development of ICC via blended learning format. 
The experiment consisted of three stages which had been conducted, data collected, lessons held; the results were analyzed and counted. The overall results of the experiment have proved that teaching module of Intercultural communication via multimedia technologies is effective and interesting both for teachers and learners. 
 Moreover, it has plenty of advantages such as, creating a collaborative link between the students and the teacher, increases students’ understanding of issues like attribution, stereotypes, culture shock and intercultural communicative competence. However, some drawbacks are to be mentioned. For instance, students who have lack of E-literacy had some difficulties to get access to the course material. Thus, reliable and easy to access resources and tools are preferable to use. 
 The results of this study permit us to formulate the following conclusions and recommendations, which, in our opinion, will help to improve the students’ language proficiency and intercultural competence:
1. It is the necessary to develop intercultural competence for improving the quality of professional communicative competence at the level of C1.
2. Successful development of intercultural competence is possible via implementation of blended learning. 
3. Results of this research enable to make decisions about the adequacy of the teaching material and their effectiveness.
4. The proposed model of blended learning will enable developing students’ intercultural competence effectively.
5. The developed materials and assessment criteria can be used both at a Bachelor’s and Master’s courses of language Universities. 
The perspectives of our research are see in the further study of intercultural interference in the context of comparative methodology. 

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APPENDIX

Appendix 1

 Module “Intercultural communication”
Unit 1. Psychological aspect of intercultural communication.

Lesson 1. Culture and language

Objectives and outcomes: The lesson familiarizes with the definitions of culture and language, intercultural communication essence. By the end of the lesson you will understand the interrelations between culture and language; identify key conceptions and cultural mistakes in the intercultural communication. 

I. Direct teaching

Spark
1. Reflect to the question:
How can we define the concept of “culture”?
What forms of culture do you know?
Can you give examples of spiritual and material forms of culture?
What behaviours reflect our culture, and how they learned and shared?

2. Discuss in the group the essential features of culture.

Wang et al., (2000:1-3) identify the essential features of culture. They are: 
• Culture is the human made part of the environment. 
• Culture reflects widely shared assumptions about life. 
• Culture is so fundamental that most people do not and cannot discuss or analyse it. 
• Culture becomes evident when someone encounters someone from another country who deviates from their own cultural norms. 
• Culture is transmitted from generation to generation 
• Even in new situations, people can make a judgement about what is expected in their own culture. 
• Cultural values endure and change takes place over a number of generations. 
• Violations of cultural norms have an emotional impact 
• It is relatively easy (although not necessarily helpful) to make generalisations about cultural differences. 

Input

1. We should understand these key features and interrelations between language, culture and behaviour presented below because these knowledge are useful to when we consider communication between cultures. 
A. Read the statements and fill in the chart with your examples of representation of values and mentality in the language and behaviour to prove these statements.
* Language can be seen as a way to describe and represent human experience and understanding of the world, and members of a language community share systems of beliefs and assumptions which underlie their constructions of the world. These constructions, views of objective phenomena, belief, and histories are communicated through language, thus establishing a connection between language and the culture of community. (Sapir, 1920). concluded that language systems, discourse, and lexis reflect ways of looking at the world and its various realities. (Whorf, 1956).
* Behaviour articulates culture and determines how language is used to express meaning. , Geerts (1973)
* Uses of language and its analysis are inseparable from society, specific sociological situations, the interlocutors’ social backgrounds and identities, and social meanings that are “encoded linguistically” (Gumperz, Hymes, 1972:18).
* Culture is a pattern of learned, group-related perceptions – including both verbal and nonverbal language, attitudes, values, belief systems, disbelief systems and behaviours that is accepted and expected by an identity group (Singer, 1998:5)

Language	Behaviour	

B. To understand the relationships between culture and language we should use the Iceberg method-analogy. Think about elements of culture and make distinctions between visible and invisible elements. Reflect to the questions given below.

What are some important traditions that unique to our country?
What ideals and values bind our culture together?
What symbols are prevalent in our culture?

2. Read two texts (A,B) and reflect to the questions:
What are cultural mistakes are described in the text?
What do we mean by intercultural communication?
Is it necessary to acquire intercultural knowledge and skills for organization successful intercultural communication?

A. While modern technology has made it easier for us to communicate with people anywhere in the world, such interactions can be difficult if we do not know how to deal with people and cultures different from our own. Here are examples of some of the obvious mistakes politicians and businesses have made when it comes to dealing with other languages cultures: 
• In Germany, a Berliner is a jelly donut. In his speech a the Berlin Wall, President Kennedy, when he said “Heute, ich bin ein Berliner” actually said “Today, I am a jelly donut” when he really meant “Today, I am Berliner (a native of West Berlin) 
• In China, KFC’s “finger-licking good” was translated as “eat your fingers off”. 
• Chevrolet attempted unsuccessfully to market its Nova compact car in Latin American countries. In Spanish, no va means “does not go” or “it doesn’t run”. 
• In Australia, President Bush flashed a backhanded peace sign in motorcades. Many in Australia interpret that gesture as obscene. 
(Source: Jandt, 2001, Intercultural Communication: An Introduction)

B. These language and cultural mistakes can clearly be avoided if we increase our knowledge and understanding of other people and their cultures. The study of intercultural communication addresses this need by examining the communication and interactions between people of different cultures or subcultures. Fundamental to intercultural communication is the belief that it is through culture that people learn to communicate. A Chinese, an Egyptian, or an Australian, for example, learns to communicate like other Chinese, Egyptians, or Australians. Their behavior conveys meaning because it is learned and shared. In other words, it is cultural. Thus, the ways in which people communicate, their language patterns, style, and nonverbal behaviors are all culturally determined (Klopf & Park, 1982). 
Samovar & Porter (1997) point out that as cultures differ from one another, the communication practices and behaviours of people will inevitably vary as a result of their different perceptions of the world. Intercultural communication, more precisely then, is defined as the study of communication between people whose “cultural perceptions and symbol systems are distinct enough” to alter their communication (Samovar and Porter, 1997: 70). In their model of intercultural communication, Samovar and Porter (1997) illustrate the process of how the meaning of a message changes when it is encoded by a person in one culture and decoded by a person in another culture in the context of his or her own cultural background. In some cases, the message may be interpreted to carry a different meaning than was intended.
(Intercultural communication 1. Materials of The University of Melbourne, 2010).

II. Independent teaching (on-line format)

Follow-up activities:
1. Read information about intercultural blunders taken from the source: Jandt, 2001, Intercultural Communication: An Introduction. Find your own 10 examples.
 
• Coca-Cola wanted Chinese characters for a phonetic equivalent of Coca-Cola, so it chose Ke Kou Ke La, which translates as ‘bite the wax tadpole’ or ‘female horse stuffed with wax’ depending on the dialect. 
• In Taiwan, the translation of the Pepsi slogan ‘Come alive with the Pepsi generation’ was translated as ‘Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the dead.’ 
• In a Bucharest hotel lobby: ‘The lift is being fixed for the next day. During that time we regret that you will be unbearable.’ 
• On a menu of a Swiss restaurant: ‘Our wines leave you nothing to hope for.’ 
• At a Hong Kong dentists: ‘Teeth extracted by the latest Methodists’ 
• In a Greek tailors: ‘Order your summer suit. Because is big rush we will execute customers in strict rotation.’ 
• In a Copenhagen airline office: ‘We take you bags and send them in all directions.’ 
• In an Acapulco hotel: ‘The manager has personally passed all the water served here.’ 

2. Find the material proved effects of body language, eye contact.

3. Watch the video ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMyofREc5Jk)
of Pellegrino Riccardi’s (cross-cultural expert) speech which was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Having watched the video, brainstorm on the question: What do you think of personal and professional experience about how very different cultures can successfully coexist next to each other? Please note that your answer will be presented in a written form of video review. 

Assignment for mid-term assessment:
Project work: “Researches into manifestation of culture in FLT”. 2 pages in the written form.

Key reading
1. Samovar, L. A., & Porter, R. E. (Eds.). (1997). Intercultural communication: A reader (eighth ed.). Belmont, Ca: Wadsworth Publishing Company. 
2. Wang, M. M., Brislin, R., Wang, W., Williams, D., & Chao, J. H. (2000). Turning bricks into jade: Critical incidents for mutual understanding among Chinese and Americans. Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press.
3. Махкамова Г.Т. Махкамова Г.Т. Концепция формирования межкультурной компетенции студентов факультетов английского языка. – Tashkent: «Фан» РУз, 2010. - 208 с.

Glossary:
Culture - is a group of people who share a background because of their common language, knowledge, beliefs, views, values, and behaviours. Culture often results in hidden patterns of communication, viewpoints, and expressions that people in that specific culture share. These hidden patterns have an effect on the way people behave, perceive the world, and interact with others.
Cultural blunder - is a stupid or careless mistake. Related to cultural knowledge
Forms of culture - material, spiritual, interactional
Intercultural communication - communication with representatives of different culture using lingua franca
Lesson 2. Types of attribution

Objectives and outcomes: The lesson gives an overview of attribution conceptions and its influence on interpretation during intercultural communication. By the end of the lesson you will understand the terms related to world perception and will be able to identify types of attribution, analyse influence of attribution on behaviour.

I. Direct teaching
Spark
1. Reflect to the questions.
What have you found out from the information described interrelations between language, culture and behaviour?
What does influence our perception of the world?
What do you understand by psychological aspect of intercultural communication?
Is it related to belief, values, mentality?

2. Discuss in the group definitions of “perception”, “belief” and “value”

* Perception is defined as “the internal process by which we select, organise and interpret information” from the outside world (Klopf & Park, 1982:26). In other words, our perceptions of the world are what we tend to notice, reflect upon and respond to in our environment that are meaningful and significant to us. As a result, no two of us perceive our surroundings in exactly the same way. This is especially the case if we interact with people who come from cultures very different from our own. The way in which each one of us perceives the world is learned and is part of our cultural experience. Whether it be the judgment we make of a certain kind of food or the responses we have to going to see the doctor, we all react to these different events in the way that our culture has taught. Our perceptions are culturally determined and in turn influence the way we communicate with others.

* Beliefs are the judgments we make about what is true or probable. They are usually linked to objects or events that posses certain characteristics that we believe to be true with or without proof (Samovar & Porter, 1997). For example, we have beliefs about religion (there is a God), events (the meeting was successful), other people (she is friendly) or even about ourselves (I am hard-working). According to Price (2000), most of our beliefs are ideas about how things work, why things are the way they are, and where things come from. Many of our beliefs are also concerned with providing an explanation for things which would otherwise be unpredictable or inexplicable, such as the weather, death and romance. Like our perception, our beliefs are determined by our cultural backgrounds and experiences. We are taught very early on what to believe based on what our culture considers worthy and true. Subsequently, our belief systems form the basis of our values, which determine in large measure how we behave and relate to others. 
* Values are defined as “an enduring set of beliefs that serve to guide or direct our behaviour” (Klopf & Park, 1982). They represent the norms of a culture and specify, for instance, what is good or bad, right or wrong, rude or polite, appropriate or inappropriate. In other words, they provide us with a set of rules for behaving, making choices and reducing uncertainty. Like our perceptions and beliefs, values are learned and hence subject to interpretation. When we interpret behaviour, an object, or an event, we are applying value judgments, which reflect our particular culture. For instance, an English person who values personal space very highly may consider it rude when a Mexican stands too close. A Japanese who values conformity may find it inappropriate when an American express too much of his or her own opinions. The relative importance of values within each culture can also be revealed through sayings, such as “Time is money” (American), “A zebra does not despise its stripes” (African) or “No need to know the person, only the family”(Chinese). Such sayings impart values that are important in each culture and can provide us with a better understanding of others’ cultural beliefs. 

* Mentality is the characteristic way of thinking of a person or group.
 
Input
1. Read the texts (A,B,C) and fill in the chart with attribution types giving their examples.
A. Attribution is ascribing the meanings to the facts, events, phenomena, behaviour, or character. Categorization is preceded to attribution. The processes of attribution are functioning on the basis of categories of the native culture and everything which is out its frames is categorized as “alien”. 
 Attribution can be reflected via stereotype, prejudice, generalization, preconception, bias.
 A stereotype is a fixed set of ideas that is generally held about the characteristics of a particular type of person which are wrongly believed to be shared by all the people of that type. It is a dangerous thing to judge about a people or a group of people by existing stereotypes but nevertheless a certain stereotype does exist. There are experimental ways of investigating stereotypes. Often attribution and evaluation of the behaviours of "strangers" are based on the value and belief systems of the observers.

B. “Identities are enacted across contexts through avowal and ascription processes. Avowal has to do with what an individual portrays to others and is analogous to the face or image shown to others. In a way, avowal is the individual showing to others. “This is who I am) as a member of this group or these groups.
Ascription is when individuals or group members come to know that others attribute particular identities to them as members of a group. Stereotypes and attributions are communicated are examples. In part, identity is shaped by others’ communicated views of us. We can say that cultural identities have both subjective and ascribed meanings. Some cultures emphasize ascription, or orientation to others.” (Coller. Understanding cultural Identities. A ten-step inventory.?? In the book: L.A.Samovar, R.E.Porter. Intercultural Communication: A Reader. New York, 2003. P.24)

C. Have you heard or made any of the following statements? Guilty or not?
 Americans are cold.
 Americans don't like their parents. Just look, they put their mothers and fathers in nursing homes.
 The Chinese are nosy. They're always asking such personal questions.
 Spaniards must hate animals. Look what they do to bulls!
 Marriages don't last in the United States.
 Americans are very friendly. I met a nice couple on a tour and they asked me to visit them.
 Americans ask silly questions, they think we all live in tents and drink nothing but camel's milk! They ought to see our airport!
 Americans just pretend to be friendly; they really aren't. They say, "Drop by sometime" but when I did, they didn't seem very happy to see me. Of course, it was ten o'clock at night!
 How should such statements be received? With anger? With explanation? With understanding and anger? Should one just ignore such patent half-truths stereotypic judgments, and oversimplifications? Before indulging in any of the above actions, consider what can be learned from such statements. First, what do these statements reveal? The speakers appear to be concerned about families, disturbed by statistics, apt to form opinions on limited data (friendliness), given to forming hasty and unwarranted generalizations (Spanish bullfighting), and angered by the ignorance of others. No one cultural group has a corner on such behavior. Second, we might be able to guess how certain speakers might feel about divorce, hospitality, or even animals. Third, the observations, while clearly not
applicable to all members of the groups about which the comments were made, represent the speakers' perceptions. To many, Americans are seen as cold and uncaring. Because perceptions and native value and belief systems play such important roles in communication, it is important to recognize and deal with these perceptions-correct or incorrect, fair or unfair.

Types of attribution
	Examples	

		

2. Watch the following video (https://youtu.be/LQQtoyStMe4) on Stereotypes and Intercultural Communication and brainstorm on some of life situations where your stereotypical beliefs confirmed and/or contradicted. Please provide your answers in table. 

II. Independent learning (on-line format)
Follow-up activities:
1. Read and describe the norms of the English people in detail giving examples. Then compare these examples with the Uzbek culture.
 “Suppose you went to England. You have learned about the country in school, from television, from the Internet, and so forth. You also know the language. You don’t want to offend the people there. However, you might offend the people there without wanting to. In your language courses, you cannot learn all the latest idioms. Knowing all about Buckingham palace will not help you in everyday life in London. News programs do not tell you about the subtle meanings of gestures. TV serials do not tell you what is acceptable in your city but insulting in Liverpool. (David Reid: http://www.culturaldiversity.com.au/resources/direct-care-services/cultural-awareness).
 Being “culturally aware” means to know enough about a society so that we can act in that society without offending others unintentionally. This means that we need to familiarize ourselves with that society’s norms. Going against these norms can go under various names. A few of them, from the strongest to the weakest:
a. breaking a taboo,
b. being rude,
c. being impolite, 
d. being tactless, 
e. committing a faux pas, 
f. being politically incorrect,
g. not setting the bon ton.

2. Attribution influences the language use. Examine the situation described by G.Elizarova “Culture and teaching foreign languages” (2005:137-138).
The Russian student passed his test and got bad mark. He wanted to improve his final mark that’s why he asked professor for giving him chance to do it.

Вербальное поведение, соответствующее всем лингвистическим нормам	Атрибуция культурно-обусловленных значений лингвистическим безупречным высказываниям	
American Professor: How long will it take you to do this project?
	Американец: Я предложил ему принять решение. 
Русский: Он профессор, он знает степень трудности материала и определяет необходимые сроки. Почему он спрашивает меня?	
Russian student: I don’t know. How long should it take?
	Американец: Он отказывается принять на себя ответственность.
Русский: Я попросил его дать мне распоряжение.	
American Professor: You are the one to analyse time requirements for yourself.	Американец: Я показываю ему, что он должен принять ответственность за собственные действия.	
Russian student: May be, in ten days.

	Русский: Не понимаю, что ему надо? Лучше скажу что-нибудь.
Американец: он не способен оценить ни свои знания, ни объем работы. Такие сроки нереальны.	
American Professor: Take 15. Do you agree to bring it to me in 15 days?
	Американец: Я хочу, чтобы он принял на себя обязательства.
Русский: Наконец-то он дал мне распоряжение, что и когда я должен сделать, чтобы исправить отметку.	
Через 15 дней	
American Professor: Where is your project?	Американец: Я хочу, чтобы он выполнил принятые на себя обязательства.
Русский: Он спрашивает про работу. Я еще ее недоделал. 	
Russian student: It will be ready tomorrow.	Оба понимают, что работа незакончена.	
American Professor: But we agreed that you would bring it to me today.	Американец: У русских нет чувства ответственности и представления о том, что такое сроки, как ценно время.
Русский: Ну и придурок! Мало того, что он отдает неосуществимые распоряжения, он не ценит того, что я выполнил такую огромную работу в такие короткие сроки, и еще придирается по пустякам. Какая ему разница сегодня принесу работу или завтра? Будто он ее сегодня же читать будет.	

The American culture is characterized as individual-oriented culture, only individual is responsible for everything what happen with him, he/she has a freedom of choice, specific attitude to the time as value limited resource of human. That’s why such behaviour of the Russian student is interpreted as avoiding the responsibility, misconducting academic norms, that the Russian student can’t distributes the time. The Russian culture’s attitude to the time is other, they consider that the time is unlimited resource. The power of distance takes place in it that’s why the professor must give the capacity of works and limit the period to do it. The behaviour of the professor is seemed to the Russian student unfriendly and non-sequitur.
 The American professor (result-oriented value) didn’t evaluate the Russian student’s efforts (process-oriented value). This example gave evidence of misunderstanding because of the attribution. They couldn’t achieve the general meaning. 

Assignment for mid-term assessment:
Write a letter in which you ask for advice on a cultural problem with British people (50 words) Send your letter to your classmates to share with cultural problem and to have an advise from your classmates. 

Key reading:
1. Coller M.J.. Understanding cultural Identities. A ten-step inventory.?? In the book: L.A.Samovar, R.E.Porter. Intercultural Communication: A Reader. New York, 2003. P.17-33.
2. Culture Matters. How Values Shape Human Progress» / Lawrence E. Harrison, Samuel P. Huntington // Basic Books, A Member of the Perseus Books Group, the United States of America, 2000.

Glossary
Attribution is ascribing the meanings to the facts, events, phenomena, behaviour, or character.
Behaviours are the way we act based on our learned beliefs and values.
Beliefs are our conviction in the truth of something that we learned by living in our culture; they are the core of our actions and tell us how to behave in the world. Our beliefs are the basis for our values.
Stereotype is the belief or opinion held by one group that the majority of a different group can be classifies by the actions, appearance, or attitudes of a few members of that group.
Values are a set of beliefs that are made up of rules for making choices that we have learned. They tell us what is right and wrong, good and bad, they tell us how to live our lives.
Taboos are things you do not talk about or do without strong social condemnation.

Module “Intercultural communication”
Unit 1. Psychological aspect of intercultural communication.

Lesson 3. Culture shock

Objectives and outcomes: The lesson familiarizes with the culture shock concept. By the end of the lesson you will be understand the necessity of the intercultural knowledge, you will be able to identify misunderstanding causes and use appropriate strategies for avoiding misunderstanding during intercultural communication.

1. Direct teaching
Spark
1. Reflect to the questions:
Do you have experience in intercultural communication?
Do you understand everything during communication with the native speakers?
Should you adapt your behaviour to others?

2. Read and discuss in the group the stages of acculturation.
The process of adaptation to a new culture is called “Acculturation”. It has four stages: 1) excitement (about being in a new country); 2) culture shock (feelings of frustration and hostility); 3) recovery (adjustment and emergent comfort in the new culture); 4) adaptation (bridging cultural barriers and accepting the new cultures). (Brown, 1994).

Input

1. Look at the picture and describe it. What is the culture shock? Give examples of culture shock from your experience of communication with representatives from other cultures. Are there any strategies to combat culture shock?

2. Read and analyse the symptoms of cultural shock appeared in the form of different emotions (according to Wagner, 1996). 
•	Simple embarrassment 
•	Homesickness 
•	Identity confusion 
•	Depression 
•	Frustration (feeling dissatisfaction)
•	Strain on family ties 
•	Feeling confused and uncomfortable 
•	Stereotypes are being reinforced 
•	Friction (conflict, disagreement)
•	Anxiety 

3. Read and reflect to the questions given below.
When it comes to invitations, Americans are very forward. They’ll invite you to come to their house, and they’ll expect you to turn up. If you don’t go, they’ll ask you why you didn’t come, “What happened? Did you forget?” Americans have no problem telling someone to go away if that person turns up unannounced. You’ll be told, quite literally, to go away. “Hey, I’m sorry,” Americans will say, “but I’m right in the middle of something. Could you come back later?” Or, “Hey, buddy, this isn’t a good moment. I’ll see you another time. And lastly, if you ask an American out, and they don’t want to go, they’ll simply say, “I’ll take a rain check on that”, which means that they don’t want to go this time, but may go on another occasion. 
 Of course, the British are very different. When the British invite you to their house, they don’t actually expect you to turn up. Of course, if you do go, they will be “delighted” to see you. “How wonderful to see you!” they’ll say. Or, “I can’t believe you came.” Or “What a nice surprise!” At the same time, they’ll be cursing you for ever believing that their invitation was sincere.
 Having to say “no” to an invitation is perhaps one of the most agonizing things for a British person. They find it really painful to reject someone or potentially hurt their feelings. When trying to say no, they’ll make a whole series of apologies, excuses and pathetic lies such as, “Oh, I just remembered that I had to go to my uncle’s funeral. I’m awfully sorry.”

Questions:
What differences of national characters are described in the text?
What phrases do Americans and British use to not lose their face?
 What can you say about cultural differences in the attitude to invitation of somebody in comparison with our culture?

II. Independent learning (on-line format)
Follow-up activities

1. Read the text and discuss issues reflected in it in the forum. What do you think what ways help to achieve a good accent in English? 

We have considered evidence that points to many ways in which culture differences can lead to prejudging another’s character and ability based on language use alone. The same language differences also can lead to discrimination. Oftentimes, when others sound different from us, we not only think unfavorably of them, but also in many cases treat them unfairly. This fact has been most clearly demonstrated in the case of people who speak with ‘different’ accents.
There are a few contexts in which someone else’s behaviour is more important for our own well-being than in the employment interview or in the courtroom.
In the case of a job interview, individuals with different ethnic or racial accents made telephone inquires about jobs advertised in a newspaper. Job applicants who spoke with nonstandard accent were most often told that jobs had been filled. Applicants with a standard accent, however, were most often invited to appear for personal interview, even after the nonstandard speakers were informed that applicants for the position were no longer being accepted.

 2. Watch the video: Cultural misunderstanding (part 1,2) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYbynThuONs; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glywa5MxbE4). 
The video demonstrate different types of cultural misunderstandings at negotiations. 
While watching these video take notes on the cultural mistakes made by the actors, try to classify them and think how these misunderstandings could be prevented? What should they have done not to fail the business?

Discuss what cultural aspects were touched by the film makers? Make the list of the problematic issues of the film.
Was the first greeting appropriate? What was wrong? 
Analyze the appearance of the negotiators?
Speak about non-verbal behavior of the participants

 3. Read the incident where the race and language identity is demonstrated. Discuss in the forum “Why did the boy use the race identity, and the women – the language identity?”

 Two women from Denmark traveling about America asked an African boy “What is your culture?”. The boy’s reply was “I’m Black. That is my culture. What is yours?” Women smiled and answered “We speak the Danish language and came from Denmark”. 
 
4. Listen to the interview of a well known writer on intercultural awareness: UK Manners (http://c0953132.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/uk-culture-manners.mp3).
Discuss the given questions in the forum:
Did the modern manners change in UK? What way did they change?
What are the main rules of good behavior in UK?
Should tourists follow the rules of UK? Or should they obey the rules of their own country?
Make a list of do’s and don’ts for being good-mannered in the written form. 

Assignment for the mid-term assessment:
Find other possible scenario of cultural misunderstanding and prepare PowerPoint presentation. 

Key reading

1.The Five Stages of Culture Shock: Critical Incidents around the World By Paul Pedersen Greenwood Press, 1995
2.Communicating and Adapting across Cultures: Living and Working in the Global Village By Riall W. Nolan Bergin & Garvey, 1999
Librarian’s tip: "Culture Shock: The Adjustment Curve" begins on p. 15
3.Communicating across Cultures By Stella Ting-Toomey Guilford Press, 1999

Glossary
Culture shock - a feeling of confusion felt by someone visiting a country or place that they do not know.
Homesick - unhappy because of being away from home for a long period.
Friction- disagreement or unfriendliness caused by people having different opinions.

Module “Intercultural communication”
Unit 2. Types of culture
Lesson 2. Monochromic and polychromic cultures

The objectives and outcomes: This lesson is devoted to matters of managing time and intercultural dimension in the frame of monochromic and polychromic cultures types. By the end of this lesson, you will be able to identify how different cultures manage their time and analyse the cultural patterns according the given parameters. 

I. Direct teaching
Spark
1. Reflect to the questions.
Is it necessary to know your own culture and yourself to be a good intercultural communicator?
What you should know to understand the partner’s behaviour?
Why is culture has dynamic character?

2. Discuss in the small group the given statement:
Learning about cultural diversity provides students with knowledge and skills for more effective communication in intercultural situations.

Input
1. Read the text and reflect to the questions:
Who suggested the values dimension theory?
What cultures are differentiated in accordance with time orientation?

Klukhohn (1961) offers different types of values dimensions, then this conception was developed by Hofstede as Cultural Dimensions Theory. According to this theory, the cultures are distinguished in accordance with long vs. short term orientation. In our world, we have cultures that are either past-oriented, present-oriented, or future-oriented. Cultures place emphasis on events that have happened or will happen during period that they view as important. In other words, a society's "time horizon," or the importance attached to the future versus the past and present. In long-term oriented societies, people value actions and attitudes that affect the future: persistence/perseverance, thrift, and shame. In short-term oriented societies, people value actions and attitudes that are affected by the past or the present: normative statements, immediate stability, protecting one's own face, respect for tradition, and reciprocation of greetings, favors, and gifts. 
Therefore, 1) long-term: values oriented towards the future, like saving and persistence - short-term: values oriented towards the past and present, like respect for tradition and fulfilling social obligations.

2. Watch the video “ Managing time in different cultures” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYt7qPDnEyw then fill in the following table with main differences between the US ( Western) people and Asian people concerning perception of time:

	USA ( Western)	Asia	

Watch the video again and discuss the following questions:
1)	Why for the US (Western) people time is so important?
2)	Why for Asian people time is not so important?
3)	What are the essence of the monochromic and polychromic cultures?
4)	According to the author “ It is important when we are working in a multinational context to be flexible and to be observant “ do you agree or disagree with him? Why?

II. Independent learning (on-line format)

Follow-up activities 
1. Read information about attitude to time taken from “Cultural Patterns of the Maasai by Lisa Skow and Larry A. Samovar// In the book: Intercultural Communication. A Reader. New York, 2003. p.95-96). Reflect to the questions and write an essay (100 words) about Uzbek people’s attitude to the time.
 The meaning cultures attach to time also reveals something of their view toward life and other people. The Maasai are unique in their treatment of time. Unlike Westerner, for the Maasai there is always enough time: Their life is not governed by the clock, they are never in a hurry. This causal attitude produces a people who are self-possessed, calm, and most of all, patient.
Children are taught very early that there is never a need to rush. The vital chore of tending the family cattle requires that children stay alert and attentive to the herd’s needs and safety, but such a chore also requires eight to ten hours of patient solitude.
This endless display of patience by the Maasai people is in direct contrast to time-conscious Americans. For example, public transportation in Kenya is not run on a firm schedule; buses and ‘matatus’ (covered pick-up trucks) leave for their destinations when they are full. As do most Kenyans, the Maasai understand this. Inquires from Americans as to when a vehicle, will be departing are often answered with “just now”. It, however, can mean anywhere from five minutes to an hour.
Even through the present is fully enjoyed, the Maasai culture is very past-oriented. This strong tie to the past stems from the view that wisdom is found not in the present or the future, but rather in the past. The future is governed by the knowledge of the elderly, not by the discoveries of the young. The insignificance of the future is apparent in how the Maasai perceive death. There is nothing after death unless one is a “laiboni” (wise man).

Questions;
Why is Maasai not in a hurry?
How attitude to the time influence the character of people?
Why is it considered that Maasai culture is past-oriented?
What is their attitude to the death?

2. Analyse the British, American, Russian and Uzbek cultures and compile a corpus of linguistic, behavioral or discourse cultural patterns which illustrate their past, present and future orientation. 

3. Watch the video“ Reverse culture shock in USA” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izMYmP_NDbc) then contrast her home country (Germany), the US and your country by listing the main shocking habits related to the time management in the following table:
Germany 	USA	Uzbekistan	

			

4. Discuss the following questions in the forum:
Have you ever been to abroad? What kind of reverse cultural shock have you experienced?

Final assessment
Write 5 instructions for analysis cultures in the long vs. short term orientation

Key reading:
1.Samovar L.A., Porter R.E. (2003). Intercultural Communication. A Reader. New York.
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYt7qPDnEyw2. 
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izMYmP_NDbc
4. http://study.com/academy/lesson/the-effect-of-culture-socialization-culture-shock-on-education.html

Glossary: 
Cultural pattern is collective term to describe a cluster of interrelated cultural orientations. Cultural patterns, are made up of interrelated cultural behaiviours which are influenced by values that are shared by a cultural group.
Diversity is the state of being different or of unlikeness. In the context of society, diversity means differences in various factors that interact to define the society of a particular culture
Value dimension is a set of interrelated values that exist along a continuum of relative importance

Module “Intercultural communication”
Unit 2. Types of the cultures

Lesson 2. High-context and low-context cultures

The objectives and outcomes: This lesson is devoted to description of low-context and high-context cultures, the ways of their dimension. By the end of this lesson, you will be able to identify low-context and high context types of cultures and make a research using presented parameters as well as understand the communicative style and behaviour of the low-context culture. 
I. Direct teaching.
Spark
1. Reflect to the questions: Do you have ability to
- use your knowledge of a culture in authentic situations?
- relate something from another culture and make it comprehensible to members of one’s own?
- critically evaluate the cultural practices and products of one’s own culture and that of other countries? 

2. Discuss in the small groups the given statement: “People from different cultures might not only communicate in different ways but also experience a situation differently. By contracting cultural values, we can examine how to successfully negotiate these differences and consider how people from different cultural backgrounds might respond in certain situations.”( Jerrold Frank. Raising cultural awareness in the English language classrooms.// English teaching forum. V.51, No4, 2011. p.6)
Input

1. Read the text “High-context and Low-context Culture Styles” and reflect to the questions.

Anthropologist Edward T. Hall’s theory of high- and low-context culture helps us better understand the powerful effect culture has on communication. A key factor in his theory is context. This relates to the framework, background, and surrounding circumstances in which communication or an event takes place. The following summary highlights the problems facing low-context North Americans when they interact with people from high-context cultures.
 
High-context cultures (including much of the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and South America) are relational, collectivist, intuitive, and contemplative. This means that people in these cultures emphasize interpersonal relationships. Developing trust is an important first step to any business transaction. According to Hall, these cultures are collectivist, preferring group harmony and consensus to individual achievement. And people in these cultures are less governed by reason than by intuition or feelings. Words are not so important as context, which might include the speaker’s tone of voice, facial expression, gestures, posture—and even the person’s family history and status. A Japanese manager explained his culture’s communication style to an American: “We are a homogeneous people and don’t have to speak as much as you do here. When we say one word, we understand ten, but here you have to say ten to understand one.” High-context communication tends to be more indirect and more formal. Flowery language, humility, and elaborate apologies are typical.
 
Low-context cultures (including North America and much of Western Europe) are logical, linear, individualistic, and action-oriented. People from low-context cultures value logic, facts, and directness. Solving a problem means lining up the facts and evaluating one after another. Decisions are based on fact rather than intuition. Discussions end with actions. And communicators are expected to be straightforward, concise, and efficient in telling what action is expected. To be absolutely clear, they strive to use precise words and intend them to be taken literally. Explicit contracts conclude negotiations. This is very different from communicators in high-context cultures who depend less on language precision and legal documents. High-context business people may even distrust contracts and be offended by the lack of trust they suggest.	

1)	What is key factor for hall’s notion of “context”. Does it refer to the cultural background in which communication takes place?
2)	Do you consider that Hall’s assumptions are objective? If so, what examples can you give that demonstrate high- and low-context cultures? 
3)	How would context help explain instances of miscommunication between North Americans and Japanese?
4)	How could you become a better international communicator?

 In the following table it is listed the name of some countries choose if they are Low or High context cultures countries according to Edward T. Hall’s theory and give a short description:

Countries 	Low 	High	Why?	
China				
USA				
Australia 				
Japan				

2. Watch the video “Low and High Context Cultures” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tIUilYX56E) and fill in the chart with the main characteristics of Low and High context cultures.

Low context cultures
	 High context cultures

II. Independent learning (on-line format).
Follow-up activities:
1. Discuss in the forum the following situation taken from N.Tanaka “It is my fault. Japanese and English Responses to Unfounded Accusation” ( Culturally Speaking. –L./NY: Continuum, 2000). Chinese student studied at Great Britain was invited to the lunch, when guest was going to leave the presented talk took place. What was owner's confusion exactly? Can we consider that there was a misunderstanding? Give arguments from the position of low-context and high=context cultures.

Chinese student: Sorry, I’ve caused you a lot of bother this evening.
British host: Bother? It’s been no bother. What do you mean? I hope you’ve enjoyed yourself.
Chinese student: Yes, of course. But I’ve really given you trouble. I’ve taken up so much of your time.
British host: But we invited you to come... . we want you to come.
Chinese student: Next time you must come to my home and I’ll cook you a Chinese meal.

2. Read dialogue and define the type of the culture proving your statements with specificity of communicative style. 
A: Stay with us for the dinner tonight.
B: No, thanks, please don’t bother.
A: No trouble at all. Just some dishes, it’s not complex. We will have it in just a few minutes.
В: I’m not hungry now so I will go back. Next time I will stay and bother you.
A: Since you are here, make yourself at home. All we can offer you is a simple diet, and we ourselves will have it.
Please stay with us. You will give me the face, won’t you?
B: Well, then...then... I will stay.

3. Answer “Yes” or “No” to the given quiz to identify your native culture resembles. Quiz was suggested by . Jerrold Frank (Raising cultural awareness in the English language classrooms.// English teaching forum. V.51, No4, 2011. p.6). If your answer “yes” to six or more questions you are from low-context culture. After taking a quiz analyse your responses with your partner to reveal differences and similarities.

1.	In your culture, it is okay to call your teacher or boss by his or her first name?
2.	D you feel frustrated when people do not answer your questions directly?
3.	Is it important to you that many people know about your personal accomplishments?
4.	Do you feel comfortable with short-term causal friendships?
5.	Do you rely more on words than nonverbal means to express yourself?
6.	Do you seek national solutions to problems or personal ones?
7.	Do you prefer an individual approach over group decision-making processes for learning and problem solving?
8.	Are results just as important as personal relationships in terms of achieving goals?
9.	Is your identity strongly defined outside of group associations (family, work, culture)?
10.	Do you feel conflict is a necessary part of human relations and should not be avoided?

4. Collect the intercultural situations and analyse them from the position of values representations in the language, behaviour and communicative style 

Assignment for mid-term assessment:
Write commentaries to the given scenarios (A, B) below.
Scenario A.
You are from high-context culture, and you just moved to a law-context country. You meet your neighbor, who tells you to “drop by” anytime. You don’t have may friends yet, so you decide to accept the invitation, and you show up at his/her door unannounced. Your neighbor, who seemed so friendly before, seems surprised to see you and tells you he/she is busy now and doesn’t invite you in.
Scenario B.
You want to marry your girlfriend/boyfriend from a low-context culture and move away with her/him, but your parents want you to marry someone from high-context country. Explain your mother/father why you should be permitted to marry your low-context culture girlfriend/boyfriend.

Key reading:
Hall E. (1977) Beyond culture. Garden City, New York: Doubleday.
Hofstede G.(1980) Culture’s consequences: International differences in word-related values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publishing.
Kluckhohn F.R. 91961) Variations of value orientations. New Your :Row & Peterson.
Samovar L.A., Prter R.E., Stefany L. (1997) Communication between cultures. Belmont, Ca.: Wadsworth Publishing Co.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tIUilYX56E)

Glossary:
Context is understood by Hofstede as density of information nets, 
Communication style is meant the topics people prefer to discuss, their favorite forms of interaction –ritual arguments, self disclosure – and the depth of involvement they demand of each other. It includes the extent to which communicants rely upon the same channels – vocal, verbal, physical – for conveying information, and the extend to which they are tuned to the same level of meaning, that is, to the factual or emotional content of messages” (Berglund, 1979 in// Samovar L.A., Porter R.E. Communication between cultures. –Wadsworth/ Thomson Learning. 4-th ed. 2001. –P.281).

Module “Intercultural communication”
Unit 2. Types of the cultures

Lesson 3. Collectivism-individualism
Objectives and outcomes: This lesson is devoted to description of individualism versus collectivism and ways of their dimension. By the end of this lesson, you will be able to identify individualism and collectivism cultures and make a research using presented dimensions and understand the behaviour of the individualism culture. 

I. Direct teaching.
Spark
1. Reflect to the questions:
How and where do Uzbek people prefer to live?
How Uzbek people prefer spend their time?
How and where do English and American people prefer to live?
How English and American people prefer spend their time?

2. Study the given definitions and say what do we mean by privacy as a main value of the American people?
“Privacy - the desirable state of being away from other people, so that they cannot see or hear what one is doing, interest themselves in one’s affairs, etc. In many western countries this is usually given particular value and people expect to have their privacy respected by others” (Longman Dictionary).
2. “Privacy – the quality or state of being apart from company or observation; freedom from unauthorized intrusion (one’s right to…)” (Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary)
3. A. Wierzbicka gives the following definition: ‘have privacy – to be able to do certain things unobserved by other people, as everyone would want and need to… it is assumed that every individual would want … to have a little wall around him/her. At least part of the time, and that it is perfectly natural, and very important’.

Input
1. Read the text how much members of the culture define themselves apart from their group memberships. Fill in the chart with key characteristics of individual and collective types of cultures..

 In individualist cultures, people are expected to develop and display their individual personalities and to choose their own affiliations. In collectivist cultures, people are defined and act mostly as a member of a long-term group, such as the family, a religious group, an age cohort, a town, or a profession, among others. 
Individualism dimension refers to how people define themselves and their relationships with others. In an individualist culture, the interest of the individual prevails over the interests of the group. Ties between individuals are loose. People look after themselves and their immediate families. Masakazu (1994) defines modern individualism as “a view of humanity that justifies inner beliefs and unilateral self-assertion, as well as competition based on these”. In a collectivist culture, the interest of the group prevails over the interest of the individual. People are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups that continue throughout a lifetime to protect in exchange for unquestioning loyalty (Hofstede, 1997). One difference is reflected in who is taken into account when you set goals. In individualist cultures, goals are set with minimal consideration given to groups other than perhaps your immediate family. In collectivist cultures, other groups are taken into account in a major way when goals are set. Individualist cultures are loosely integrated; collectivist cultures are tightly integrated.
In individualist cultures such as the United States, for example, when meeting a new person, you want to know what that person does. You tend to define people by what they have done, their accomplishments, what kind of car they drive, or where they live. Individualist cultures are more remote and distant
Cultures characterized by collectivism emphasize relationships among people to a greater degree. Collectivist cultures stress interdependent activities and suppressing individual aims for the group’s welfare. Often, it is difficult for individuals from highly individualist cultures to understand collectivist values. This example may help: A student from Colombia may study in the United States and earn a Ph.D., teach at a distinguished university, and publish important books, but when he returns to visit Colombia, people to whom he is introduced will want to know to whom he is related. Colombians want to know who his family is because that places him in society much more so than any of his accomplishments in the United States.
Individualism is so strong in the United States that you might even have difficulty appreciating how people might feel content in a collectivist culture. Contentment comes from knowing your place and from knowing you have a place.
In the workplace, in individualist cultures, the employer-employee relationship tends to be established by contract and hiring and promotion decisions are based on skills and rules; in collectivist cultures, the employer-employee relationship is perceived in moral terms, like a family link, and hiring and promotion decisions take the employee’s in-group into account. Hofstede’s data revealed several associations with this dimension:
There is a strong relationship between a nation’s wealth and individualism.
Countries with moderate and cold climates tend to show more individualism.
Countries with higher birth rates tend to be collectivist. Islamic countries are collectivists. Migrants from Europe who populated North America, Australia, and New Zealand tended to be sufficiently individualist to leave their native countries.
Another interesting association with inheritance practices was developed by Knighton (1999). Those cultures that have rules for equal partition of parental property among all offspring tend to be collectivist; those that have rules permitting unequal partition and those that have historically allowed parents to have full freedom in deciding who will inherit tend to be individualist. 
Individualism and collectivism have been associated with direct and indirect styles of communication—that is, the extent to which speakers reveal intentions through explicit verbal communication. In the direct style, associated with individualism, the wants, needs, and desires of the speaker are embodied in the spoken message. In the indirect style, associated with collectivism, the wants, needs, and goals of the speaker are not obvious in the spoken message. 

Individualism
	Collectivism	
		
2. Read and discuss in the group British and Uzbek cultures from the position of individualism and collectivism. Add your examples to prove the given types of cultures.

The British have a well-developed sense of individual personal freedom which at its most dogmatic says: 'I will obey the law only because I choose to do so. And only then because it either makes sense or there's no good reason not to - given that I am the ultimate judge of both conditions.'
Whoever called the English 'the Island Race' only got it half right. Every English person is his or her own island. Only wars unite the English, and over the years they have become quite good at them. But natural modesty demands they should always look like losing until just before the end. It makes victory that much sweeter, and really annoys the loser.
They are fond of their rights, including the right to privacy and the right to preserve one's personal space. This is an area surrounding each individual, which it is not good manners to invade. People will leave a step between themselves and the next person on an escalator even when it's crowded, or a vacant seat between themselves and their neighbour in the cinema, even when they know that in due course they are certain to be asked to move along to make more room. This has nothing to do with a morbid fear of body odour, it is more an extension of the 'an-Englishman's-home-is-his-castle' belief. Think of it as an invisible moat. Learn to shake hands at long distance.
The first prominent value and mentality of the Uzbek people is collectivism. In the Uzbek culture, it is much more important to show loyalty to one's in-group than to strive for individual success. It is meaningful to achieve the goals and needs of the group. Cooperation and affiliation are emphasized rather than competition or aggressiveness. People in the Uzbek culture are born into extended families and join organizations that protect them. Collectivistic cultures are interdependent and as a result they work, play, live, and sleep in close proximity. Therefore, it is better to be part of a collectivistic in-group because one will have others to share happiness or sorrow. If one belongs to a collectivistic in-group, there will always be many friends and family members who will try to understand one's feelings and provide support. Those who are not part of a collectivistic in-group will not experience the rich drama of life, which includes participating in others' joys and sorrows.
As part of a collectivistic society, the Uzbek maintain "we" consciousness. The needs of the group take precedence over individual needs. If someone is lacking a material necessity, it will be provided by others within the in-group. In this way, everyone will always be taken care of. Sharing with others will ensure that one's own needs will also be taken care of in the future. For example, “Hashar” that is held by Uzbek people every year before “Navruz” holiday, khashar (people together clean the streets, build the houses, etc.). 

II. Independent learning (on-line format)
Follow-up activities
1. Discuss with your group in the forum the following questions. After discussion make a conclusion about the Uzbek culture.
At what age do children move away from home, and why do they leave home?
Who decided what children do after school?
Is leadership considered as priority quality of a student? 
Do students see their teachers outside of the classroom?
What do students do if they disagree with the teacher?
Is it acceptable to be late for a meeting or party?
Do people visit each other’s home unannounced?

2. Write commentaries to the given situation.
Martha, an American teacher in the US, had just started teaching English to a group of Japanese students. She wanted to get to know the students more informally, so she invited them to her house for a party. The students all arrived together at exactly 8.00 p.m. They seemed to enjoy the party: they danced, sang, and ate most of food. At about 10.00 p.m., one of the student said to the teacher, “I think it’s time for me to leave. Thank you very much for the party”. Then all the other students got up to go, and all left at the same time. Martha decided she would never invite them again!

3. Watch the video “Culturally Speaking-individualism-collectivism_low”. and fill in the chart with the shown cultures (nations) and write about their identity and self-other orientation.

Individualism
	Collectivism	

4. Watch the video “Managing values across cultures_low” and write a list of 10 instructions for leader how to manage his multicultural company. 

Assignment for mid-term assessment
Compile the glossary of the proverbs and sayings of the Uzbek and English cultures justified the individualism versus collectivism.

Key reading:
Hall E. (1977) Beyond culture. Garden City, New York: Doubleday.
Hofstede G.(1980) Culture’s consequences: International differences in word-related values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publishing.
Kluckhohn F.R. 91961) Variations of value orientations. New Your :Row & Peterson.
Samovar L.A., Prter R.E., Stefany L. (1997) Communication between cultures. Belmont, Ca.: Wadsworth Publishing Co.

Glossary:
Collectivism value means that individuals in that society believe that the groups they belong to are the most important parts of the society. When people make decisions, they consider the groups’ goals and wants.
Individualism value which encourages people to base their decisions on their personal goals and wants. People believe that they are the most important thing in their environment.
Privacy - the desirable state of being away from other people, so that they cannot see or hear what one is doing, interest themselves in one’s affairs, etc. In many western countries this is usually given particular value and people expect to have their privacy respected by others.

Appendix 2
NEEDS ANALISYS QUESTIONNAIRE
Name_________________ 
I.	Please put the tick to the line that you think is most preferable for the content of the course.
•	Verbal and non-verbal communication
•	Culture and communication
•	Interpersonal communication
•	Improving intercultural communicative competence
•	Social organization
•	Value and beliefs
•	Intercultural awareness
•	Cultural identity
II.	In your opinion, what challenges students may face during the course?
•	Theoretical knowledge can be the most difficult part of the course, because__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
•	Comparative analysis of Eastern and Western cultures is the most challenging, because____________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
•	Students will face challenges during the course due to the________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
•	Please write your opinion on why do you think the course of “Intercultural communication” should be taken?______________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for your answers