NAME : LINDU ASMARA

NIM : 1808103166

SUBJECT : SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

INTERCULTURAL

Since the mid to late 1980s, a number of teachers and educationalists have been arguing that an
‘intercultural approach’ to second language teaching prompts us to re-examine the most basic
assumptions about what language does, and what a language course should seek to achieve. more
recently, there have been fresh attempts to integrate ‘culture’ into the communicative curriculum.
While acknowledging the obvious importance of language as a means of communicating information,
advocates of an intercultural approach also emphasise its social functions; for example, the ways in
which language is used by speakers and writers to negotiate their place in social groups and hierarchies.
The ultimate goal of an intercultural approach to language education is not so much ‘native speaker
competence’ but rather an ‘intercultural communicative competence’ (e.g. Byram, 1997b; Guilherme,
2002). Intercultural communicative competence includes the ability to understand the language and
behaviour of the target community, and explain it to members of the ‘home’ community – and vice
versa. In other words, an intercultural approach trains learners to be ‘diplomats’, able to view different
cultures from a perspective of informed understanding. This aim effectively displaces the long-standing,
if seldom achieved, objective of teaching learners to attain ‘native speaker proficiency’. Obviously, one
key goal of an intercultural approach remains language development and improvement; however, this
goal is wedded to the equally important aim of intercultural understanding and mediation.Much recent
work on the intercultural approach to second language education has been done in state schools and
colleges, particularly in Europe, and in courses and seminars sponsored by state institutions such as the
British Council.