Songul Dogan Ger: Developing Students’ Cultural Diversity Awareness and Intercultural Communicative Competence in English Classes
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7 The Place of Culture in Teaching Materials Used in an International School in Budapest – Data Source 3: Teaching Materials Analysis
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7.3 Findings
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7.3.3 The Components of ICC
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7.3.3.2 Components of Intercultural Communication in the Year 6 Materials

7.3.3.2 Components of Intercultural Communication in the Year 6 Materials

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The Year 6 teaching materials demonstrated a more robust and balanced integration of ICC components than those in the previous year, with attitudes, knowledge and understanding, skills of discovery and interaction, interpreting and relating, critical cultural awareness, and action all present to varying degrees across the fiction, nonfiction, and poetry units. While the materials continued to prioritise linguistic development, they also introduced more complex cultural themes—particularly in the poetry and nonfiction components—that encouraged reflection on inequality, identity, and social justice.

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Attitudes were again present in the form of empathy, acceptance, and respect. Students were invited to engage with characters’ emotional experiences through tasks that required them to write or draw their feelings in response to various fictional scenarios. Teachers were encouraged to guide students in exploring characters’ internal states, reinforcing emotional literacy and perspective-taking. Similarly, poetry units fostered empathy through reflective questions such as “How would you feel if you saw something unjust?” while promoting respect for difference through the exploration of themes such as discrimination and exclusion.

Jegyzet elhelyezéséhez, kérjük, lépj be.!

Knowledge and understanding were developed more substantially than in Year 5, particularly through history-linked research tasks embedded in both fiction and nonfiction materials. Students were asked to investigate the historical and social background of the stories they studied, such as the living and working conditions of children in 19th-century mining towns. These tasks provided a platform for learning about broader societal structures—poverty, child labour, and class inequality—through age-appropriate content. In the poetry materials, historical narratives concerning slavery and racism further expanded students’ understanding, adding global perspectives to the cultural knowledge base.

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Skills of discovery and interaction were reinforced through structured research homework, classroom presentations, and project-based tasks. Students not only explored the cultural and historical background of texts but also engaged with multimodal sources to enrich their findings. The nonfiction materials were particularly strong in this regard, offering students the opportunity to investigate and share knowledge about cultures beyond their own, thus developing both autonomy and intercultural curiosity.

Jegyzet elhelyezéséhez, kérjük, lépj be.!

Skills of interpreting and relating emerged in a more meaningful way, particularly when students were asked to compare their own lives with those of child labourers depicted in the texts. Such comparative exercises encouraged students to connect personal experiences with broader global issues, fostering analytical thinking and contextual understanding. Poetry units were especially effective at enabling students to relate to the experiences of marginalised individuals and to reflect critically on the power structures that shape those experiences.

Jegyzet elhelyezéséhez, kérjük, lépj be.!

Linguistic and discourse skills continued to underpin the entire curriculum, with all materials integrating language development activities aligned with national standards. Shakespearean texts and American plays were used to enhance students’ understanding of both literal and figurative language, idioms, and invented expressions. Through close reading and comprehension exercises, students refined their reading, writing, listening, and speaking abilities while simultaneously acquiring sociolinguistic and discourse-level competence.

Jegyzet elhelyezéséhez, kérjük, lépj be.!

Critical cultural awareness was more evident in Year 6, particularly in the nonfiction and poetry materials, which addressed sensitive and complex issues such as racism, prejudice, and stereotyping. The poetry units, for instance, featured open-ended questions that asked students to consider why certain groups are marginalised or how injustice manifests in different contexts. Statements such as “Justice and equality for all!” or “Why do we still label people?” prompted students to engage with abstract concepts in concrete ways. These materials encouraged learners to question societal norms, challenge dominant narratives, and develop an awareness of cultural power dynamics.

Jegyzet elhelyezéséhez, kérjük, lépj be.!

Action, while still the least-developed ICC component, received more attention in Year 6, particularly through poetry materials that promoted antiracist behaviours. Students were given strategies for responding to racism—such as reporting incidents, offering support to victims, and refusing to use discriminatory language—and were encouraged to think of additional ways to challenge injustice. Although these activities primarily raised awareness rather than leading to sustained civic engagement, they nonetheless marked an important step toward building learners’ intercultural agency.

Jegyzet elhelyezéséhez, kérjük, lépj be.!

The findings from Year 6 reveal a gradual shift towards deeper cultural engagement and more critical reflection, particularly in nonfiction and poetry units. While fiction materials remained focused on target culture content—often aligned with canonical British literature—nonfiction and poetry increasingly incorporated international perspectives and deeper cultural elements. Big C culture continued to dominate the fiction texts, while little c and deep culture appeared more prominently in nonfiction and poetry. This imbalance reflects the influence of curriculum design, which privileges literary heritage in fiction while allowing nonfiction and poetry to explore contemporary and controversial topics.

Jegyzet elhelyezéséhez, kérjük, lépj be.!

Developmentally, students aged 10–11 appeared better equipped to engage with deeper ICC content, including critical cultural awareness and action-related themes. The integration of empathy-building tasks, reflective questions, and real-world issues allowed for more holistic ICC development, though the scope of action remained limited. The materials made commendable use of age-appropriate strategies—such as storytelling, drawing, group work, and role-play—to foster CDA and ICC without overwhelming learners cognitively or emotionally.

Jegyzet elhelyezéséhez, kérjük, lépj be.!

To conclude, the Year 6 materials demonstrated clear progress in terms of cultural depth, criticality, and skills integration. Although linguistic objectives remained the dominant concern, the inclusion of social justice topics and intercultural comparisons in poetry and nonfiction provided rich opportunities for CDA and ICC development. To fully realise the potential of these materials, greater attention to scaffolding critical dialogue and embedding action-oriented tasks would be necessary. Nonetheless, the materials provided a promising model for how early secondary curricula can begin to foster intercultural competence in a meaningful and developmentally appropriate way.
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