Promoting English as an Intercultural Language (EIcL): Student Perceptions of an EIcL Activity

Abstract

With the recent proliferation of world Englishes, the urge for an expanded range of pedagogical approaches that facilitate meaningful teaching and learning experiences has been brought to the forefront. Some of these pedagogies are taking place within the context of what has been called English as an intercultural language (EIcL). In EIcL, English usage is almost always universal, dynamic, and multidimensional means of communicating sociocultural values and meanings among its users. The purpose of this study is to identify the perceptions of 80 Korean university students via an EFL classroom activity that was designed to address one aspect of EIcL. This activity aimed at promoting students’ awareness of the interconnected relationship between socioculture and language. By comparing pairs of English and Korean sentences and translating English and Korean sentences, the participants were asked to identify aspects of socioculture embedded within the two languages. The study’s results revealed that the participants identified ten such aspects; the high majority also remarked that the activity was effective in enhancing their awareness of the connection between socioculture and language and further into English use in the EIcL paradigm.