| dc.description.abstract | This thesis studies how culture is taught in the subject of English in lower secondary schools, focusing on how culture instruction may enhance intercultural competence. As part of this investigation, this thesis examines how foodways can work as a topic to develop language learners´ intercultural competence. This topic was motivated by the increasing importance of intercultural competence in a globalized world. One needs to learn to respect one another, learn from one another, and try to steer away from prejudice in favor of raising acceptance. As an everyday topic, accessible to younger students, foodways suggested itself as a site to investigate the role of cultural instruction in developing intercultural competence.
The first aim of the study was to find data about what lower secondary students know about the foodways of British and American schoolchildren. The second objective focused on L2 teachers investigating how they define “intercultural competence,” and how they teach culture. The third objective studied whether teaching about foodways to L2 students can help promote intercultural competence. To investigate these objectives, a Norwegian English classroom was used as a case, and the project consisted of an intervention and an interview. An additional survey added depth to the data.
The findings indicate that students´ knowledge about English-speaking schoolchildren is largely influenced by social media and series/movies. Another finding is that teachers seem to have quite a bit of knowledge about topics of culture and intercultural competence, but lack a common understanding of the terms, associated with it. It is also unclear where or how they have acquired their understanding of what defines culture instruction in the school. The results of this thesis suggest that foodways can be used to teach intercultural competence in schools. | |
