Songul Dogan Ger: Developing Students’ Cultural Diversity Awareness and Intercultural Communicative Competence in English Classes
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2 Theoretical and Empirical Background
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2.2 Aspects of Culture
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2.2.2 A Critical Approach to Culture in the Teaching of Second/Foreign Languages

2.2.2 A Critical Approach to Culture in the Teaching of Second/Foreign Languages

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This monograph adopts a critical approach to culture teaching, arguing that essential cultural knowledge alone is insufficient for fostering deep intercultural competence. In language education, “deep teaching” or “cultural learning” requires engaging students with the underlying, often invisible dimensions of culture. Shaules (2019) defines deep learning as the internalisation of implicit, abstract knowledge patterns not directly perceived, contrasting it with explicit learning. He contends that this deeper processing is essential for cultural pedagogy that moves beyond surface-level facts.

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Gómez Rodríguez (2015a, 2015b) similarly advocates for teaching “deep culture,” which includes beliefs, values, norms, and assumptions. He proposes a critical pedagogy that encourages students to explore contentious and controversial cultural norms through debates and inquiry-based tasks. Drawing on Kubota’s (2004) critical multiculturalism and Byram’s (1997) ICC framework, he emphasises the need to raise awareness about social inequalities linked to gender, race, class, politics, and power. He aligns with Pennycook (1999) and Kumaravadivelu (2001), who urge language educators to engage learners in critically examining oppression, marginalisation, and exclusion as a path to social change.

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Tan (2012) stresses that surface culture, if taught in isolation, reinforces stereotypes. She promotes “dialogic education,” blending practical and critical dialogue to engage with both visible practices and hidden values. She recommends deliberately structured conversations that explore cultural differences and contradictions, enabling students to critically assess their own and others’ beliefs.

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Koutlaki and Eslami (2018) also propose a critical perspective, drawing from intercultural pragmatics. They suggest analysing communicative practices and cultural values to help students reflect on pragmatic norms in both L1 and L2, and understand how cultural conceptualisations affect language use.

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To develop critical intercultural awareness (CIA), Hazaea (2020) advocates using critical discourse analysis tools to help students decode ideologies in texts and understand the social forces shaping language. Similarly, Wang et al. (2021) call for adopting critical intercultural literacy (CIL) in response to native speakerism in ELT, which promotes rigid, one-sided views of culture. They argue that CIL fosters students’ ability to think critically, express their own views, and understand multilingual realities.

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Gómez Rodríguez (2013) explores literature as a tool for developing critical ICC. He recommends incorporating authentic multicultural literary texts and encourages debate and “contact zone” interactions, where students’ experiences intersect with cultural narratives. Referring to McGee and Banks (1995), he frames this within “equity pedagogy,” which fosters reflection and empowers learners to become agents of social change.

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Taken together, these scholars frame critical cultural teaching as essential for helping students examine culture as dynamic, conflictual, and multifaceted—aligning with this monograph’s shift from essentialist representations to a more critical, reflective, and transformative pedagogical model.

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In the context of second and foreign language education, a critical approach to culture is essential for fostering intercultural competence that extends beyond superficial knowledge. This perspective positions culture as a dynamic and complex construct involving deeply embedded values, beliefs, ideologies, and power relations. Rather than treating culture as a fixed body of facts, learners are encouraged to engage critically with both their own cultural assumptions and those of others. Pedagogical practices such as dialogic interaction, debate, literary analysis, and the exploration of contested cultural practices serve as tools to uncover hidden meanings and challenge dominant narratives. This approach not only enhances learners’ communicative and intercultural skills but also cultivates their capacity to reflect on inequality, marginalisation, and exclusion, ultimately preparing them to act as socially responsible and critically engaged individuals.
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