Making a Difference: Language Teaching for Intercultural and International Dialogue

Byram, M.; Wagner, M.

doi:10.1111/flan.12319

Making a Difference: Language Teaching for Intercultural and International Dialogue

Byram, M.; Wagner, M.

Authors

Mike Byram m.s.byram@durham.ac.uk
Emeritus Professor

M. Wagner

Abstract

Language teaching has long been associated with teaching in a country or countries where a target language is spoken, but this approach is inadequate. In the contemporary world, language teaching has a responsibility to prepare learners for interaction with people of other cultural backgrounds, teaching them skills and attitudes as well as knowledge. This article presents the main concepts involved in this view of language teaching: the notion of culture, the language-culture nexus, and intercultural competence. It also explains the implications of the approach in terms of the skills, attitudes, and knowledge that should be taught. The article goes further: It argues that language teaching needs to be linked to other disciplines in order to develop an approach that integrates insights from citizenship education. All of this has implications for teachers’ professional identity and for cooperation across the curriculum.

Citation

Byram, M., & Wagner, M. (2018). Making a Difference: Language Teaching for Intercultural and International Dialogue. Foreign Language Annals, 51(1), 140-151. https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12319

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Dec 1, 2017
Online Publication Date	Feb 13, 2018
Publication Date	Mar 15, 2018
Deposit Date	Jan 23, 2018
Publicly Available Date	Feb 13, 2020
Journal	Foreign Language Annals
Print ISSN	0015-718X
Electronic ISSN	1944-9720
Publisher	Wiley
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	51
Issue	1
Pages	140-151
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12319

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Copyright Statement
This is the accepted version of the following article: Byram, M. & Wagner, M. (2018). Making a Difference: Language Teaching for Intercultural and International Dialogue. Foreign Language Annals 51(1): 140-151, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12319. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.