This book examines the concept of "intercultural competence" from the perspective of analysing theoretical challenges and practical issues. Despite its ongoing popularity across various discourses, "intercultural competence" has remained a necessarily vague and oscillating concept that lends itself to continual rethinking and redefinition. The essays in this volume approach the complexity of the concept from a number of different angles. The essays range from theoretical considerations of redefining and expanding the concept in terms of hitherto neglected dimensions and ideas; critically contextualising issues of assessing intercultural competence; analysing the virtual dimension of intercultural competence for the development of critical digital pedagogies; application of the concept for the teaching and learning of foreign/second languages, including for migrant learners; the impact of study abroad on developing intercultural and democratic literacy; analysis of the concept in classroom practice across different cultures; and querying the concept for its lack of teachability. The volume develops a broad range of new perspectives on intercultural competence, providing stimulating new ideas, considerations and reflections around this oscillating, yet relevant concept.

Learning a foreign language in its cultural context has a significant effect on the subjective mind, ranging from the unsettling to the inspirational. The complex interplay between native and foreign languages, their cultural conceptualisations and discourses and the mind and body of the learner results in the subjective construction of individual positionings located "in between" the languages and cultures involved. These processes are not restricted to the cognitive level of learning but also involve deep-seated habits, values and beliefs. These habits, values and beliefs are to a certain extent the result of subjective experiences and feelings; however, they are also embedded in a socio-cultural network of concepts, norms, traditions and life-worlds, so that they are characterised both by the learner's subjectivity and by the sociality and (inter-)culturality of their environment. The essays in this volume explore the subjective dimension of intercultural language learning, ranging from theoretical considerations to empirical studies and providing stimulating insights into this important area of study.

This book explores the idea of 'intercultural competence', which, despite its current popularity across various discourses, has remained a vague and oscillating concept. Interculture lacks a universal definition and 'competence' is not only a cognitive construct but also includes psychological traits such as attitudes, affective aspects and constructions of identity. The essays in this volume approach the complexity of the concept from a number of different angles. These include theoretical models for defining the concept of 'intercultural competence', outlining paths for future research; application of the concept in the teaching and learning of foreign languages, cultures and literatures; exploration of institutional and sociocultural influences on mediating intercultural competence; and analysis of the concept's impact on such diverse contexts as international business, religious constructs and notions of selfhood and identity. The volume develops a broad range of perspectives on intercultural competence, providing stimulating new ideas, reflections and models around this important concept.

This volume is based on the selected proceedings from an international conference 'Concept of Progression in Foreign Language Teaching and Learning' held in Dublin in February 2004. Although progression always has been at the centre of any methodology of teaching and learning foreign language, there has been surprisingly little published on the concept of progression. Since the inclusion of the pragmatic and socio-cultural context into foreign language teaching methodologies, the concept of progression has broadened considerably: it is no longer restricted any more to structural elements of the foreign language (i.e. grammar) but it includes a functional-notional progression, a cultural progression, a lexical progression, a progression of text types, a mental progression, a progression of exercises and classroom activities. The articles in this volume address the multifaceted nature of progression in foreign language teaching and learning from various angles.

This book comprehensively analyzes the development of interculturally blended third spaces by the second language learner, beginning with the linguistic and sociocultural imprints of the first language and culture on the mind and culminating in the proposal of a phase-model of the development of intercultural competence. The foundational analysis of L1-mediated constructs is followed by an analysis of forms interaction, concepts of identity and constructs of culture/interculture, thus shifting the object of analysis from the subjective to the intersubjective levels of construction and interaction. The focus of the book is on the gradual development of interculturally blended third spaces in the mind of the learner as genuinely new bases for construction. This book takes an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on research in cultural psychology, linguistic anthropology, critical theory, language acquisition and second language learning and shows how culture and interculture need to be emphasized as an integral part of second language learning.

The articles in this volume are the proceedings of a conference on 'Translation in Second Language Teaching and Learning' that took place at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, in March 2008. The papers delivered at the conference, the subsequent discussions in Maynooth and the articles in this volume have clearly demonstrated that, after some decades of marginalising or even excluding translation from second/foreign language methodologies and classroom practices, the time is ripe for a re-evaluation of the benefits translation can bring to the process of learning a second language and its cultural context. Translation exercises are interpreted as processes of negotiation, as constitutive acts for identities and (inter-)actions, based on increasingly emerging 'third spaces' between the dominant conceptualisations, values, norms, beliefs, rules, traditions and discourses of the languages and cultures involved. The enterprise of translating between languages, cultures, individuals, societies and discourses thus assumes a central place of relevance for anyone involved in the complex project of interculturality, including, and foremost, foreign language learners.

Contents: Hans-Jurgen Heringer: How to Improve Your Understanding - Gerhard Neuner: The 'Key Qualifications' of Intercultural Understanding and the Rudiments of Intercultural Foreign Language Didactics and Methodology - Arnd Witte: How to be an Alien - Learning a Foreign Language and Understanding Culture - Adelheid Hu: Intercultural Learning and its Difficult Aspects - An Analysis of the Criticism in Relation to a Controversial Concept - Theo Harden: The Limits of Understanding - HansJurgen Krumm: The Languages of our Neighbours - How Realistic is a Concept of Multilingualism in a Multilingual and Multicultural Europe? - Lothar Bredella: The Significance of Intercultural Understanding in the Foreign Language Classroom - Hannes Kniffka: Alien Reading - Newspaper Ads in Intercultural Understanding - Anne Fuchs: How to be a Pilgrim and a Cartographer at the Same Time - Some Deliberations on Intercultural Understanding - Sabine Strumper-Krobb: Understanding Culture and Cultural Differences through Literary Translation Studies - Emer O'Sullivan/Dietmar Rosler: 'We're not like that ' - Using Stereotypes of the Learners' Culture in Target Language Texts to Increase Intercultural Awareness - Elke Hentschel: Cold at Heart - Some Personal Observations on Intercultural Misunderstandings - Vridhagiri Ganeshan: Intercultural Mis(s)-understanding between Indians and Germans - Some Observations from an Indian Perspective - Marlene Rall: Last Glances of the 'Imperial Eyes' - Cooperative Principle and Intellectual Styles in the Mexican Foreign Language Classroom.