A research of the concept “intercultural competence” and its role in language teaching at the educational establishments



The article considers about the research of the concept “intercultural competence”. The desire to understand the definition of intercultural competence has led us to the following questions: What role does intercultural competence among other professional competencies? How it is defined? And what it consists of? We tried to analyze these questions in our article thoroughly.

Key words: information society, intercultural competence, the dialogue of cultures, verbal and non-verbal communication, language barrier, linguacultural community

The development of modern information society is inconceivable without the globalization processes, integration, innovation and ever-increasing intercultural interaction. These processes apply to all spheres of human life — household, cultural, scientific, political, economic, etc. Throughout our lives, we, of course, faced with different cultures, they can be neighbors, colleagues or acquaintances. However, communication with them can be difficult because of the differences in the perception of the world, cultural features, and the language barrier. This situation requires the development of tolerance and empathy, the ability to adapt quickly and have the flexibility of thinking, in order to successfully build and implement effective communication interaction. All this can be combined with one general term «intercultural competence».

An analysis of the scientific and educational literature gives an indication of the fact that various aspects of the intercultural competence of the individual trainees studied and dealt with in the theoretical writings (A. V. Annenkov, V. G. Apalkov, K. E. Bezukladnikov, P. P. Bikiteeva, G. V. Elizarova, O. Leontovich, A. Y. Muratov, O. G. Oberemko, L. P. Pavlov, M. V. Plekhanov, I. L. Pluzhnik, Y. A. Sinitcina, E. R. Khakimov, A. Artamonova, A. E. Fantini, G. Ellis, E. Jung, T. Nakayama, T. B. Rogers, Y. Sarkees, G. Triandis and others.). Researchers who identified the specifics of the process of formation of intercultural competence are (M. Bennet, G. Chen, D. K. Deardorff, K.Knapp, J. M. Knight, C. Kramsch, Moosmüller A. and others.). A positive attitude to cultural differences were studied by L. I. Korneev, Passow E.I, V. V. Safonov, A. N. Utehina, B. Coltrane, C. K. Kikoski, E. Peterson and others. As for the ability of interpersonal interaction within the native foreign language and culture N. D. Galskova N. I. Gez, G. S. Denisov, M. R. Radovel, Safonov V. V., Sysoev P. V., J. Barkman, D. Carbaugh, K. Cushner, G. Fischer.

Based on the analysis of sources on the researched topic, we can say that intercultural competence plays an important role in the structure of core competencies.

V. V. Safonova defines intercultural competence as part of the communicative competence of the language person. [15, p 78]

Intercultural competence, according to N. D. Galskova, N. I. Gez, has the ability, allowing the person to realize himself in the dialogue of cultures, i.e., in terms of intercultural communication. Its formation is carried out in conjunction of mastering the foreign language and development of the cultural code of human experience, which included possible isolating the relationship of man to himself, to the world, as well as the experience of creative activity. [5, p 90]

K. Knapp defines intercultural competence in terms of the linguistic approach as the ability to understand other cultures, as well as members of their own culture. [8–69]

Among the scientists also there is no consensus on the concept of intercultural competence. In science there is often used definition in the textbook Sadokhin: Intercultural competence is a set of knowledge and skills that enable the individual in the process of intercultural communication to adequately assess the communicative situation, the effective use of verbal and non-verbal means, to put into practice the communicative intentions and check communication results with feedback communication. [14, p 108]

S. I. Garmaeva exploring the features of formation of intercultural competence of students of non-language high schools by means of modern information and communication technologies, defines that intercultural competence involves a certain ownership of the students complex knowledge about the culture of the target language country, providing cultural interaction. [6, p 105]

L. I. Korneev believes that intercultural competence means to understand, appreciate and respect the factors that caused the culture and influencing the perception, thinking, evaluation and action as their own, and other people, and, on this basis, the ability to build a new framework for development. This manifests itself in intercultural understanding, communicative and behavioral adaptation to the behavior of other cultures and building new patterns of behavior, based on the values and norms of different cultures.

In this connection it is necessary to strive for their own and others' cultural identity and as a result of the exchange of positive examples of actions and patterns of decision-making to go to a qualitatively new synthesis action. [2, p 96] According to A. V. Nowicka [9, p 105], intercultural competence involves the ability to exist and effectively carry out professional activities in a multicultural world.

Many authors involving in research in this sphere, considering not only intercultural competence as intercultural compatibility and a number of similarities with its competences (intercultural, ethno-cultural, multicultural, and others.)

R. R. Bikiteeva defining intercultural competence, adds to the knowledge and skills of the motives and values and emphasizes its developmental function [1, p178]. As a «stable capacity for the efficient and adequate communication with other cultures» is defined intercultural competence Juliana Roth and Galina Kopteltseva. Khakimov E.R, describing intercultural competence as «awareness of the individual in the field of culture of other nations», adding that it is «the ability to solve professional tasks related to the ethnicity of people». G. E. Potorochina using in determining intercultural competence 'knowledge and skills, «puts in the first place», the ability and willingness to engage in dialogue of cultures «based on them [11, p 68]. T. Poshtareva defines «ethno-cultural competence» as a property of the individual, again mentioning the knowledge and skills that contribute to ethnic understanding and cooperation [10, p 150].

T. A. Kolosovskaya in her definition of «cross-cultural competence» is close to the definition of Muratova A. Y., with the only difference that she does not mention the knowledge of their own culture [8, p 41]. L. A. Gorodetsky highlights knowledge of norms, rules and traditions of their own linguacultural community in a separate concept of «intercultural competence», which together with the cross-cultural and intercultural competence included in the concept of «linguacultural competence» [6, p 120]. L. Y. Danilova, defining multicultural competence, approaches to intercultural competence as R. R. Bikiteev. [2, p 78] O. V. Khukhlaeva, G. S. Denisov, M. R. Radovel and M. Volmer unanimously describe the «multicultural social competence» as the ability to understand people of different cultures and interact with them. Part of research works aims to explore the structure of intercultural competence. The study Vasilkova O. V. [9, p 90] intercultural competence is understood as a comprehensive category structure which consists of linguistic, cognitive and affective components in defining the role of language, which determines the possibility of using the text as a unit of communication in general and intercultural dialogue, in particular.

Intercultural competence is formed in the process of mastering a special kind of communication it is intercultural communication. According to A. Schmid intercultural competence is:

1) the fundamental acceptance of people who are different from others outside their own culture;

2) the ability to interact with them in a genuinely constructive manner that is free of negative attitudes (e.g., prejudice, indifference, aggression, etc.);

3) the ability to create a synthesis — something that is neither «mine» or «yours», but really new, that would not have been possible if we had not combined our different views and approaches.

Famous online source Wikipedia also offers a definition of intercultural competence as the ability to successfully communicate with other cultures and offers a framework of intercultural competence, which includes:

1. Common cultural and culturally-specific knowledge.
2. Skills of practical communication.
3. Intercultural psychological susceptibility.

So, the analysis of various sources shows that intercultural competence is treated in different studies. Some scholars see it as the ability of people of different sex and age, peacefully and without mutual discrimination exist in the same society, others treat like the ability to participate in someone else's before culture, and others understand like identity, uniting knowledge and patterns of behavior, based on which the principles of diversity of thought lie and awareness of cultural processes. In this regard, G. Fisher [3, p 205] defines intercultural competence as a certain quality of a person based on a sober awareness of the world, history, and ready for action.

References:

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