Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
8.5.3 Curricular Development
Curriculum has come to represent different concepts to different people. Whether it
is transmitted, a product, a process or praxis, curricula seldom makes all
stakeholders happy. Furthermore, it could be argued, curricular theory can distract
teachers from the art of teaching: learning too often occurs in spite of, rather than
because of, instruction. Nevertheless, for learning environments typically provided
by institutions, a curriculum remains the framework through which potential value
can be appraised by stakeholders.
Around the world, curricula have become a mechanism for the transmission of
social values. This then, can be seen as a cultural construction. Teachers attempting
to establish a telecollaborative venture need to ameliorate their different educa-
tional (or cultural) systems to facilitate common goals.
8.5.4 Competencies
Hauck (
2010
) outlines what she describes as the 'interdependence of multimodal
and intercultural communicative competencies'. Using Internet-based telephony to
collaborate interculturally requires intercultural communicative skills as well as
technological skills. They are dependent upon each other, and checking and scaf-
folding learner knowledge of them needs to be considered fundamental if they are
to be effectively used pedagogically.
8.5.5
Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC)
A number of researchers in various fields have addressed the need for ICC.
However, with regard to language learning in conjunction with ICC, Byram
(
1997
) developed the seminal model. Specifically, Byram (
1997
) considered lan-
guage use to be a manifestation of culture (Thorne and Lantolf
2007
). In other
words, he argued that language could not be separated from culture. To describe
this in more detail, Byram outlined five types (or savoirs) of competencies that
language users employ in variable quantities at different times: Attitudes, Knowl-
edge, Discovery and interaction, Interpreting and relating, and Critical cultural
awareness - all of which are constructs that have been well defined. Furthermore,
he outlined more than 20 specific classroom objectives, most of which are
performance-based. These objectives have ensured that Byram's model is particu-
larly useful for institutions (which tend to be objective-based). Furthermore the
model is grounded in student-centered literature, and focuses on concepts of
language mastery.
