COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERCULTURAL AND FOREIGN-LANGUAGE COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCES

Желтова Е.П.

Кандидат педагогических наук, доцент,

Санкт-Петербургский государственный торгово-экономический университет

СОПОСТАВИТЕЛЬНЫЙ АНАЛИЗ МЕЖКУЛЬТУРНОЙ И ИНОЯЗЫЧНОЙ КОММУНИКАТИВНОЙ КОМПЕТЕНЦИЙ

Аннотация

Представлен теоретический обзор определений межкультурной компетенции зарубежных и отечественных исследователей в области межкультурной коммуникации. Рассмотрены компоненты межкультурной компетенции. Проведен сопоставительный анализ данного вида компетенции с иноязычной коммуникативной компетенцией.

Ключевые слова: межкультурная компетенция, коммуникативная компетенция, компоненты межкультурной компетенции, сравнительный анализ, межкультурная коммуникация, кросс-культурные аспекты, знания культуры.

Zheltova E.P.

PhD in Pedagogical Science, associate professor, 

Saint-Petersburg State University of Trade and Economics;

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERCULTURAL AND FOREIGN-LANGUAGE COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCES

Abstract

The basic definitions of intercultural competence made by overseas and Russian academics are presented. The components of intercultural competence are studied. Comparative analysis of intercultural competence and foreign-language communicative competence is observed.

Keywords: intercultural competence, communicative competence, components of intercultural competence, comparative analysis, intercultural communication, cross-cultural dimensions, cultural awareness.

Nowadays universal links and social change, in the form of “globalisation”, seem to have created the conditions for taking the cultural dimension seriously again. In Russia the concept of "intercultural competence" was included into a scientific research since 1990s and it has found lots of definitions, but yet there isn’t any precise one. The academics often associated this term with the term of "communicative competence" or “linguistic competence”, which in general sense indicates "the ability of a person to select and implement speech patterns depending on various situation" [9].

The intercultural competence differs from foreign-language communicative competence by "creation" of a fundamentally new values based on two or more existing positions (linguistic or proper behavior) and nonlinguistic, i.e. psychological components appropriate to the intercultural communication. Currently, having done a lot of research some academics believe that intercultural competence is broader than foreign language communicative competence and it may include this competence though not completely as there are various components of the foreign language communicative competence which do not possess cross-cultural dimensions [5].

According to M. Byram et al. “the components of intercultural competence are knowledge, skills and attitudes, complemented by the values one holds because of one’s belonging to a given society” [2, p. 5]. Knowledge includes learning about social groups, products, practices and processes of interaction. Attitudes involve curiosity and openness towards the other as well as readiness to revise cultural values and beliefs and to interact and engage with otherness. Skills mean both the ability to identify and explain cultural perspectives and acquire new knowledge of culture and cultural practices. So, intercultural competence used to be defined as the competence of a special nature based on the knowledge, abilities and qualities; as the ability to implement intercultural communication through the creation of a common value for the communicants of what is happening and eventually reach a positive outcome for both parties of communication.

Nedobuh considers intercultural competence as "the integration of speech acts and extra-linguistic knowledge that includes language and even more - communicative competence, i.e. the knowledge of foreign culture" successfully realized only on condition that the participants demonstrate tolerance, openness and willingness during the intercultural communication. In this case, the ability to communicate is not limited by awareness of certain aspects of culture. The pragmatic skills are rather essential as they include the ability to establish a contact, to enter the verbal communication, to maintain and to finish it, to follow social norms and speech etiquette appropriate to a foreign culture. The lack of these skills and knowledge can lead to communicative failures in communication with a foreigner [7, p.21]. A. Sadokhin treats intercultural competence as a set of knowledge and skills allowing a person to assess adequately the communicative intercultural situation, use effectively verbal and non-verbal means of communication, put into practice communicative intentions and check the results of communication by means of feedback [9, p. 263]. I. Pluzhnik defines intercultural competence as the ability to understand the views and opinions of a person from another culture, correct the behavior during communication process, recognize the right of existence of various values, standards of behavior, abilities to use the communication of cooperation for overcoming the conflicts [8, p. 3]. According to M. Korochkina's point of view intercultural competence means "readiness and ability to make adequate decisions in daily scenarios, achieving positive results, carrying out a choice of adequate behavior models, both keeping the identity and developing self-knowledge ability " [6, p. 32].

In a broad domestic understanding of intercultural competence it is treated as the ability to conduct and direct the dialogue of cultures; as the ability to correlate the language means to the tasks and conditions of communication taking into account the social norms of behavior while communicating with the representatives from other cultures [1, 10]. T. Yelizarova notes that intercultural competence has no analogs with communicative competence of the native speakers and it can be acquired while learning language as a foreign one; the purpose to form of intercultural competence is to help a person to achieve such a quality of a language personality which allows him/her to go beyond own culture and to gain qualities of a mediator of cultures, without losing own cultural identity [5].

Thus, in Russia a process of teaching foreign languages today is regarded as integrative developing process of  three aspects: the pragmatic (or practical), cognitive and educational. The first aspect - pragmatic - is associated with the formation of students’ communicative competence, and the second one- cognitive - is connected with the use of foreign language as a tool of knowledge of other culture and, therefore, as a tool of development of intercultural competence and a personality correspondingly. Educational aspect is aimed to identify the mode of "extralinguistic existence" of multicultural personality and to develop the "extralinguistic" qualities of a person such as independence, activity, empathy in order to communicate successfully in situations of cross-cultural interactions [4, p. 5].

In this regard, the well-known researchers in the field of intercultural communication define intercultural competence as ontological, and communicative competence as pragmatic [3, 10]. This circumstance gives the grounds to consider that intercultural competence covers generally ontological aspect of an individual formation as a personality while the communicative one - its language and speech abilities, recognizing the fact that the process of communication is under construction not only in compliance, but it’s also built in accordance with the rules of speech patterns  having pragmatic character and based on the knowledge of definite ethnic socio-psychological factors of other people.

What is important is that attempts to theorise and explain the integration of language and culture and the nature of intercultural understanding have provided a renewed basis for practice.

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