Intercultural Competence A Floating Signifier An Empirical, Multi-Dimensional Approach in the Study Abroad Context

As a result of globalisation in recent decades, intercultural and multilingual encounters have become part of our everyday lives. A harmonious coexistence and a successful career often require foreign language skills and intercultural competence to consciously perceive heterogeneity and to respond appropriately to these encounters. Especially in the field of language teaching, intercultural competence has become a highly diverse, widely used concept, and a consensus on its definition and role does not exist. This thesis therefore argues that current theoretical conceptualisations of intercultural competence with all the attendant characteristics and complex human traits have so far been too scientistic and broad to serve as a useful tool for second language education research. The dissertation begins with a comprehensive review of the concepts of culture, competence and model from various academic discourses and continues with a discussion of models of intercultural competence. In the light of an empirical study, current models of intercultural competence are critically analysed regarding their feasibility in the second language education context and their terminological and conceptual deficits. Based on the qualitative content analysis approach by Mayring, data collected from 27 students of German at Maynooth University, National University of Ireland are analysed and evaluated. All of these students participated in exchange programmes abroad. The three methods of eliciting information are individual, semi-structured pre-stay and post-stay interviews and an amended version of the Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters as adopted by the Council of Europe. The variety of experiences does not permit generalisation but the findings serve as incentives for an alternative approach to intercultural competence, which could be implemented into curricula at secondary and tertiary institutions to help develop teaching and learning objectives

Pandemic Bibliography

A bibliography of pandemic disease compiled for a class

Plurilingualism and Multiliteracies

LANGSCAPE is a plurilingual and multicultural international research network on language acquisition and language education. The current research focus is on Identity Construction in Language Education. This volume summarizes some research results of the last four years by presenting empirical research projects as well as theoretical concepts. The contributions all deal with topics linked to plurilingualism or to certain aspects of the concept of multiliteracies like globalization, language policy, multiculturalism, multimodal communication processes, intercultural learning etc. The authors conceptualize or analyse identity construction processes of learners and educators in different plurilingual and multicultural learning environments or media based settings

Bilingualer Unterricht

Die Einrichtung bilingualer Bildungsgänge ist zu einer vorrangigen Aufgabe bundesdeutscher Bildungspolitik geworden. Mehr als 500 Schulen in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland dokumentieren dies mit neuen oder neu strukturierten Curricula und Modellen. Sowohl Fremdsprachenunterricht als auch Sachfachunterricht profitieren von dieser Entwicklung. Die inzwischen erfolgte Vorverlagerung der Fremdsprachen in den Primarstufenbereich findet ebenfalls ihren Niederschlag in der bilingualen Bildungslandschaft. So ist es keine Überraschung, dass dieser Band, der als Wegbereiter des bilingualen Unterrichts im deutschsprachigen Raum gilt, auf eine breite Nachfrage gestoßen und zum Standardwerk in einem sich rasch ausbreitenden Lehr- und Forschungsbereich geworden ist. Dem Bedarf an Informationen, an Diskussion und am Austausch über Methoden und Theorien zu bilingualen Bildungsgängen kommen die Autorinnen und Autoren mit dieser verbesserten und erweiterten fünften Auflage nach. Die Bibliographie mit Kommentaren zu den einzelnen Quellen umfasst nunmehr den Zeitraum von 1996 bis 2010. Das Buch ist somit ein einzigartiger Fundus und unentbehrlicher Helfer für Praxis und Forschung

John Clark : transformation and the void : with a catalogue raisonné

29 cm.The intent of the thesis is twofold: interpretive and documentary. Volume 1 focuses on the work John Clark considered to be his mature oeuvre. The general structure is chronological, with the first three chapters devoted to formative influences, and a further chapter to what Clark had to say about meaning in his own work and that of others. The remaining four chapters offer an interpretation of the mature paintings in terms of two concepts: trasformation and the void. Annotated bibliographies and exhibition lists are included. The catalogue raisonne, volume 2, is an ongoing project to provide as complete a chronological record of Clark's known works as is possible: paintings, drawings (including working studies), prints, and reporduction histories are included. Appendices record missing and destroyed works, a bibliography of Clark's personal library, transcripts of three interviews and a lecture

Barbara Godard, a Translator's Portrait: Analysing the Reception of Québec's Roman au Féminin (1960-1990) in Anglophone Canada

The current dissertation is not only concerned with nourishing the Feminist Translation Studies field with an interdisciplinary perspective into Feminist Translator History. It strives for an understanding of Translation Studies, and Feminist Translation Studies in this particular case, as a cross-disciplinary space where the aims of various disciplines may converge (see Castro 2012). In the particular space of Feminist Translation/Translator History, and in line with Rundle's proposed synergies between Translation Studies and History (2014), the limitations of the so-called "discursive turn" in Feminist History" (Canning 1994) which, despite showing interest in how ideologies operate via historiographical discourse, is insufficiently familiar with the variety of Critical Discourse Analysis methodologies at our disposal (see Castro 2009). In this sense, the current thesis intends to be useful to feminist scholars across disciplines in their search for more fruitful, interdisciplinary methodologies duly integrating history, ideology, and discourse. The subject chosen for the current study is late feminist translator and scholar Barbara Godard (Toronto, 1942-2010), an agent actively participating in the Trudeau-Era's so-called "Canadianization", the establishment of a distinctively Canadian cultural ecosystem. In this particular context, higher-education institutions like York University, Godard's employer, had a leading role in the Canadian nation-making project, coincidental with the Centennial of the Confederation (1867-1967), and greatly contributed to spreading the notion of a thus-far non-existent, distinctive Canadian Literature among the population. The "Canadianization" project constitutes an interesting scenery to analyse Godard's feminist translator's agency in so far as it responds to the typical patriarchal pattern of synergetic relations between a literary polysystem and the underlying nation state's ideal concept of society. As a white settler society, Canada was far from acknowledging cultural and ethnic Otherness within its borders. What certainly worried the orchestrators of the Canadian nation-making project between the late 60s and 70s, be it politicians, scholars, or agents of the book industry in general, was therefore the growing conflict with Québec's own nation-making ideals and the resulting literary system, striving for independent cultural infrastructures. Taking the polysystem theory's analytical pattern as a point of departure, I intend to provide a sociocritical description of both the Canadian and the Québécois polysystem, in the means of better determining how Godard's feminist agency interacted with and grew out of them.The current dissertation is not only concerned with nourishing the Feminist Translation Studies field with an interdisciplinary perspective into Feminist Translator History. It strives for an understanding of Translation Studies, and Feminist Translation Studies in this particular case, as a cross-disciplinary space where the aims of various disciplines may converge (see Castro 2012). In the particular space of Feminist Translation/Translator History, and in line with Rundle's proposed synergies between Translation Studies and History (2014), the limitations of the so-called "discursive turn" in Feminist History" (Canning 1994) which, despite showing interest in how ideologies operate via historiographical discourse, is insufficiently familiar with the variety of Critical Discourse Analysis methodologies at our disposal (see Castro 2009). In this sense, the current thesis intends to be useful to feminist scholars across disciplines in their search for more fruitful, interdisciplinary methodologies duly integrating history, ideology, and discourse. The subject chosen for the current study is late feminist translator and scholar Barbara Godard (Toronto, 1942-2010), an agent actively participating in the Trudeau-Era's so-called "Canadianization", the establishment of a distinctively Canadian cultural ecosystem. In this particular context, higher-education institutions like York University, Godard's employer, had a leading role in the Canadian nation-making project, coincidental with the Centennial of the Confederation (1867-1967), and greatly contributed to spreading the notion of a thus-far non-existent, distinctive Canadian Literature among the population. The "Canadianization" project constitutes an interesting scenery to analyse Godard's feminist translator's agency in so far as it responds to the typical patriarchal pattern of synergetic relations between a literary polysystem and the underlying nation state's ideal concept of society. As a white settler society, Canada was far from acknowledging cultural and ethnic Otherness within its borders. What certainly worried the orchestrators of the Canadian nation-making project between the late 60s and 70s, be it politicians, scholars, or agents of the book industry in general, was therefore the growing conflict with Québec's own nation-making ideals and the resulting literary system, striving for independent cultural infrastructures. Taking the polysystem theory's analytical pattern as a point of departure, I intend to provide a sociocritical description of both the Canadian and the Québécois polysystem, in the means of better determining how Godard's feminist agency interacted with and grew out of them

Dust Bowls Down Under: An Environmental History of Wind Erosion in the South-East of Australia, 1929–1945/46

The thesis analyses the phenomenon of wind erosion in the three south-eastern states of New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia in the period from roughly 1929 to 1945/46. Starting from the observation that a public communication about the menacing nature of such erosion occurred in the period from ca. 1930-1945, the thesis sets out to shed light in a general way on the fundamental dialectic of the interrelationship between humans and nature. The thesis follows a multi-level approach: It shows how the occurrence of wind erosion changed the daily routines of those living in the affected regions and how the physical experience of wind erosion resulted in scientific research as well as in cultural constructions on the phenomenon, most importantly that of an "ecological visison". These scientific and cultural concepts were in turn influential for how Australians responded to the perceived crisis, namely by passing soil conservation legislation

1995-1999 Brock News

A compilation of the administration newspaper, Brock News, for the years 1995 through 1999. It had previously been titled Brock Campus News and preceding that, The Blue Badger

O projeto eTwinning LOA : uma abordagem intercultural para a integração pedagógica das TIC no ensino das línguas

A Internet introduziu novas formas de interação e novos ambientes de aprendizagem. Por um lado, os indivíduos podem interagir diretamente com as fontes de informação e conhecimento e participar ativamente na sua produção. Por outro lado, a Internet cria novos processos de socialização e de mobilidade em ambientes virtuais multiculturais e multilingues. Por esta razão, o potencial das TIC para a comunicação intercultural deve ser explorada, especialmente no contexto do ensino de línguas estrangeiras (Audras & Chanier, 2008; Kern et al., 2008; Liaw & Master, 2010; O'Dowd, 2007, 2010; O'Dowd & Ware, 2008; Ollivier & Puren, 2011; Yang, 2011, entre outros). A ação eTwinning do Programa de Aprendizagem ao Longo da Vida proporciona as condições ideais de integração das TIC. Fomenta, ainda, o desenvolvimento de estratégias de ensino-aprendizagem que promovem a descoberta intencional, a construção colaborativa de conhecimento e a abertura para a diversidade linguística e cultural no contexto da comunicação intercultural. O projeto eTwinning LOA, que apresentamos nesta tese, foi desenvolvido no contexto de um estudo de investigação-ação que visou testar o impacto da integração curricular de um projeto de colaboração intercultural na motivação dos alunos para usar e aprender línguas estrangeiras e no desenvolvimento de sua competência comunicativa intercultural. A metodologia do projeto foi inspirada nos modelos da abordagem intercultural de Candau (2003) e Maurice (2008). Os alunos interagiram com estudantes de outros países europeus com os quais trabalharam na consecução de objetivos comuns e na construção de relações de amizade, estando criadas as condições da teoria de contacto (Allport, 1954; Amir, 1969, 1976; Pettigrew, 1997, 1998; Pettigrew & Tropp, 2000, 2005, 2006). O projeto eTwinning LOA promoveu uma mudança no processo de ensino-aprendizagem que se tornou mais centrado no aluno, nas suas necessidades e nos seus interesses. Os resultados da intervenção mostram uma melhoria na competência de comunicação, na autoestima e na autonomia dos alunos, que se empenharam em usar o inglês para aprender com e sobre os seus parceiros eTwinning. Em concordância, o estudo da frequência dos contatos interculturais mostra um aumento substancial da iniciativa social. A análise dos atos comunicativos evidencia um aumento de atos que demonstram atitudes de respeito e consideração para com os seus interlocutores, um contributo para o desenvolvimento da competência comunicativa intercultural.The Internet has introduced new forms of interaction and learning environments. On the one hand, individuals can interact directly with the sources of information and knowledge and actively participate in its production. On the other, the Internet increases new processes of socialization and mobility in virtual multicultural and multilingual environments. For this reason, the potential of ICT for intercultural communication should be explored, particularly in the context of foreign language teaching (Audras & Chanier, 2008; Kern et al., 2008; Liaw & Master, 2010; O'Dowd, 2007, 2010; O'Dowd & Ware, 2008; Ollivier & Puren, 2011; Yang, 2011, among others). The eTwinning action provides European teacher with the opportunity to develop teaching-learning strategies that promote intentional discovery, social interaction, the collaborative construction of knowledge and openness to plural social and cultural contexts. LOA eTwinning project was developed as a teaching strategy in the context of an action-research study aimed at testing the impact of the integration of intercultural communication mediated by ICT tools on the students’ motivation to use and learn foreign languages and the development of their intercultural communicative competence. The project methodology was inspired by Candau (2003) and Maurice (2008)’s models of intercultural approach. In line with the contact hypothesis (Allport, 1954; Amir, 1969, 1976; Pettigrew, 1997, 1998; Pettigrew & Tropp, 2000, 2005, 2006), this experience of intercultural contact among students from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds was based on sharing equal status, working together for common goals and building friendship relationships. LOA eTwinning project led to a change in the teaching process and to the design of a learner-oriented curriculum, which contributed to increase learners’ motivation to use foreign language to interact with people from other cultures. The results show an improvement in students’ linguistic self-esteem and autonomy as learners showed to be committed in using English to learn from and with their eTwinning partners. The study of the frequency of the intercultural contacts shows a substantial increase in social initiative. Moreover, the analysis of the communicative acts gives evidence of an increase of acts that reveal attitudes of respect and consideration towards their interlocutors