Inter-cultural Awareness and its Role in Enriching Students’ Communicative Competence

Globalization and technological advancements are breaking down barriers and borders with vast implications for education in general and foreign language teaching in particular. More than ever, our programs need to address internationalization and cross-cultural understanding. Contemporary language classes must account for features far beyond just the linguistic. They must incorporate the larger cultural fabric of which language is only a part. There is a developing consensus that it is important to include culture learning as part of language learning with a primary goal of making students aware of alternative ways of interpreting personal and social experiences (Sellami, 2000). The paper will focus on the application of the above principle through an international partnership called the “Connecting Classrooms Project.” The project goals include promoting students’ cultural/intercultural awareness, clarifying cultural identities, and challenging preconceptions. Students examine the inter-relations among language and other cultural expressions. American students who are studying the Russian language interact through videoconferencing and social media tools with a classroom of students in Russia. Together they work on projects that increase their understanding of the language and culture of the target language and so, build a richer appreciation of their own culture. The cultural experiences that students go through enable them to become independent learners and open the scope for them to be novice researchers who are capable of using research tools and resources to find information on culture-related issues and topics. It also helps them develop a high level of thinking through analysis of material, reflection, and evaluation.