The impact of studying abroad on students’ intercultural competence: An interview study

This paper presents qualitative research examining to what extent sojourns abroad engage their participants in intercultural interactions and whether or not such experience translates into students’ intercultural growth. The results of the study demonstrated that studying abroad did not provide students with ample opportunities to immerse into the local community and fully discover a new cultural environment. However, students surrounded by local and their fellow international students met foreign cultures, which motivated them to explore and interpret the encountered diversity, and thus equipped them with knowledge about foreign cultures, sensitizing them to cultural diversity. Sometimes such contacts challenged students’ preconceived judgments and stereotypes of specific cultural groups, their ways of thinking, valuing and acting, and resulted, to a lesser or greater extent, in rethinking these, leading to changing attitudes and values. International experiences also stimulated students to self-analyze their own cultural identity, and thereby contributed to their growth in self-awareness in this respect. By offering opportunities for experiencing cultural differences and prompting students to develop coping strategies and to make references to the home culture, the sojourn is thus of significant importance for tertiary students, allowing for fostering their intercultural development to a certain degree

This is tom = /ZYZYS’tom/ pronunciation in beginners’ EFL textbooks then and now

The textbook appears to be one of the most fundamental elements of all formal-setting foreign language teaching and learning. Textbooks function in a foreign language classroom in many capacities (Cunningsworth 1995), one of which is the provision of text, used as a model for language practice, including practice of pronunciation. The changing methodological trends in EFL pedagogy over the decades affect EFL textbook pronunciation treatment in a variety of ways. In this paper a simple feasibility study is presented whereby a few beginners’ textbooks are compared with respect to their handling of pronunciation in the first unit of the course. Four textbooks come from about ½ century ago, and three are sampled from among those currently available. On the descriptive level, some analysis is offered of the phonetic (and especially phonolapsological) characteristics of the sampled texts, as they changed through time. On the level of application, it is claimed that, while the lexico-grammatical and pedagogical limitations on the content of the first lessons/units in EFL textbooks leave authors little space for phonetic control, a modicum of such control is feasible if attention is paid to such variables as pronunciation difficulty and L1 transfer. The Phonetic Difficulty Index (PDI), which is briefly introduced in the paper, can be used to measure and control some of these variables and give the textbook authors and users a useful teaching/learning instrument

E-dictionaries and phonolexico-graphic needs of EFL users

The phonetic aspect of (EFL) dictionaries is among the most seriously underrated and underdeveloped in (meta)lexicography. Pertinent bibliography is scant and even the best learner dictionaries are found wanting on a number of counts. This contribution is both a summary of my thirteen-year-long research into (pedagogical) phonolexicography and a look ahead. The current state-of-the-art in phonolexicography is presented with particular attention paid to how the leading pedagogical EFL e-dictionaries relate to the actual and potential phonolexicographic needs of their users, both students and teachers. The main themes are: (a) the specificity of phonolexicographic needs of (Polish) EFL users, (b) phonetic representation, both graphic and acoustic, in dictionaries and its problems, (c) pho-netic access, i.e. querying the contents of the dictionary via the phonetic code, (d) didactic aspects of phonolexicographic information, i.e. its use in teaching and learning (EFL) pronunciation. Keywords: e-dictionaries, efl, english, phonolexicography, phonetic access, pronunciation in dictionarie

Critical thinking in the intercultural context: Investigating EFL textbooks

The multicultural world has made intercultural teaching necessary. It should focus on students’ ability to comprehend quickly and accurately, and then act appropriately and effectively in a culturally complex environment in order to achieve the desired goal. Intercultural competence is important for successful communication across cultures, and so is critical thinking since the two, if they are not “parallel” (Bennett, 2013), at least overlap (Deardorff, 2009). This article tries to shed light on the linkage between intercultural and critical thinking skills and reports on the findings of research done on whether and to what extent EFL textbooks used in Polish schools contribute to fostering critical thinking skills in students. The study analyzed the cultural content of 20 coursebooks to check whether they go beyond merely depicting the target culture, or various foreign cultures, and involve students in practicing critical thinking, that is, prompt them to explore intercultural encounters and processes, and scrutinize how diverse cultures influence their own understanding of reality. The research revealed an insignificant and limited capacity of the textbooks to develop students’ critical thinking

Modalverbet skulle i dansk og dets engelske æekvivalenter

In this paper the semantic variants of the Danish modal verb skulle and their English equivalents are analysed. The semantic fields of skulle and its formal equivalents in English i.e. shall/should, overlap to a certain extent, which often causes translation difficulties. It is discussed what linguistic means one needs to resort to when translating Danish sentences with skulle into English. The variants are divided into 3 groups (epistemic, deontic and dynamic), the criterion of the division being what modality type they express

Mental Health Counselors and Vicarious Trauma

Although there are a handful of evidence-based treatment interventions for clients seeking treatment for trauma related concerns, limited evidence-based treatment interventions exist for the professionals treating survivors of trauma that are experiencing symptoms of vicarious trauma. Mental health counselors are potentially at-risk for developing vicarious trauma or secondary traumatic stress while working with clients seeking treatment for traumatic experiences. Signs and symptoms of vicarious trauma include emotional and physical symptoms similar to those of posttraumatic stress disorder. Risk factors include childhood or personal trauma, work-place organization, lack of supportive clinical supervision, and lack of self-care. Screening tools utilized to measure and assess vicarious trauma amongst mental health counselors include: The Vicarious Resilience Scale, the Professional Quality of Life Protocol, the Coping Strategies Inventory, the Differentiation of Self Inventory, and the Modified Stroop. Preventative efforts against developing vicarious trauma include attending regular clinical supervision and consultation groups, practicing healthy self-care, and participating in continuing education. Treatment interventions associated with vicarious trauma include self-care, mindfulness-centered therapeutic approaches, additional supervision, and cognitive behavioral techniques. Additional research is needed to quantify further evidence-based treatment interventions for treating mental health counselors experiencing vicarious trauma

Intercultural Teaching in the EFL Classroom : The Polish Context

The qualitative research reported in this article investigated whether and to what extent students’ intercultural competence is developed in the English language classroom at the secondary education level in Poland. In interviews teachers demonstrated their positive attitudes toward intercultural teaching and decent knowledge of the issue. However, the teachers’ narratives uncovered that they assigned the interculturality the secondary role, focusing on developing linguistic and sociolinguistic competences. The collected data revealed that students in class had very few opportunities to explore foreign cultures and compare/ contrast one culture with another. There was a lack of attention to teaching that promotes critical thinking skills among learners along with activities which foster them. However, there is insufficient evidence that teachers can currently do anything more, given the context in which they work, their constraints and lack of training and support. The findings of the current study have clear implications for curriculum designers, textbook writers and institutions in charge of teacher training - EFL syllabuses, teaching materials and teacher training should focus more on developing students’ intercultural and critical thinking skills

Interacting multi-component exciton gases in a potential trap: phase separation and Bose-Einstein condensation

The system under consideration is a multi-component gas of interacting para- and orthoexcitons confined in a three dimensional potential trap. We calculate the spatially resolved optical emission spectrum due to interband transitions involving weak direct and phonon mediated exciton-photon interactions. For each component, the occurrence of a Bose-Einstein condensate changes the spectrum in a characteristic way so that it directly reflects the constant chemical potential of the excitons and the renormalization of the quasiparticle excitation spectrum. Moreover, the interaction between the components leads, in dependence on temperature and particle number, to modifications of the spectra indicating phase separation of the subsystems. Typical examples of density profiles and luminescence spectra of ground-state para- and orthoexcitons in cuprous oxide are given.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Usefulness of hydrographic and sozological databases in ecological studies of rivers in Poland

An assessment of ecological conditions of streams and other water bodies is one of the requirements of the Water Framework Directive No. 2000/60/EC. The paper deals with the potential use of hydrographic and sozological databases and thematic maps at a scale of 1:50,000 (Hydrographic Map, Sozological Map) compiled on their basis at selected stages of eco-hydrological evaluation of streams, especially at the stage of collecting information on water bodies. Attention was paid to the possible use of that data in identification of sections of river valley estimated from the point of view of its components, i.e. under protection, and determining the level of urbanization of the valley, location of municipal investments, infrastructure and hydraulic structures, which are the measures of the man-made transformation of the valley. An assessment of the ecological state and potential of surface waters is the basis of eco-hydrological studies and the fundamental requirement of the Water Framework Directive, thus is the starting-point for river system valorisation