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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2.4 Teaching Culture and Developing CDA and ICC in the Teaching of English as a Second or Foreign Language

2.4 Teaching Culture and Developing CDA and ICC in the Teaching of English as a Second or Foreign Language

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Language and culture are inseparable in language learning. Damen (1987) frames culture learning as a form of “human learning,” involving norms, values, beliefs, and perspectives. Drawing on Kleinjans’ (1972) culture learning matrix, she identifies cognitive, affective, and behavioural levels of learning that progress from basic awareness to deeper interaction and empathy (Table 1.). She further explains culture learning through the lenses of cultural distance and acculturation, where maximum distance fosters ethnocentrism and minimum distance encourages adaptation. For effective teaching, she urges awareness of sociocultural factors influencing second language acquisition.
 

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Table 1. Hierarchy of Culture Learning Matrix
Cognition
Affection
Action
Information
Perception
Awareness
Analysis
Appreciation
Attending
Synthesis
Revaluation
Responding
Comprehension
Orientation
Acting
Insight
Identification
Interacting
Source: Kleinjans, in Damen (1987, p. 217)
Note: Adopted from Damen (1987, p. 217)
 

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Bennett (1997) famously critiques the risk of producing “fluent fools”—students who master a language without understanding its cultural dimensions. He proposes a “culture-contrast” approach, in which learners first reflect on their own language and culture, then compare it to the target culture. Alptekin (1993, 2002) similarly argues for integrating language and culture but rejects the one-language–one-culture model, particularly for English, which represents diverse global contexts (Smith, 1987).

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Liddicoat (2004, 2005) proposes an intercultural approach in which culture is taught from the outset of language learning. His model involves acquiring, comparing, exploring, and finding one’s “third place” between cultures. Without cultural integration, he warns, learners form assumptions based only on their own perspectives. Similarly, Tomalin and Stempleski (1993) describe cultural awareness as awareness of one’s own and others’ culturally induced behaviours and the ability to explain one’s perspective.

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Knutson (2006) critiques traditional “culture as information” teaching, which exoticises the target culture. She, alongside Hall (1959), Damen (1987), and Shemshadsara (2012), stresses the need to understand one’s own culture in intercultural learning. Byram (1997) introduces critical cultural awareness as a core ICC component, aimed at evaluating perspectives and mediating cultural exchanges. Byram et al. (2002) clarify that the goal is not to change learners’ values but to raise awareness and foster reflective judgement. In this light, Byram (2012) sees critical cultural awareness as essential to the educational mission of language teaching, linking it to Bildung—an individual’s moral, civic, and intellectual development (Andersen, 2021).

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Barrett et al. (2014) reinforce that intercultural competence does not mean abandoning one’s own identity. Rather, it involves openness and the ability to relate to differing values and discourses. Due to enculturation, developing critical awareness is challenging but essential. Intercultural competence supports cooperation, interpretation, and reflective comparison.

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Fantini (2000) highlights the importance of designing and monitoring ICC development explicitly. He identifies five key constructs—awareness, attitudes, skills, knowledge, and proficiency—and emphasises awareness as the cornerstone of successful intercultural communication. He outlines desirable learner traits such as empathy, tolerance for ambiguity, openness, and patience.

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Barrett et al. (2014) caution that ICC does not develop automatically. Instead, it must be fostered through intercultural education—both formal and informal—and through meaningful, non-discriminatory intercultural experiences. These insights underpin the rationale for integrating culture teaching into second and foreign language education, not as supplementary content but as a central pedagogical objective.
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