English language learning as intercultural experience: promoting a critical understanding of intercultural relations

Teaching English in higher education entails additional factors and considerations that exemplify the complexity of accounting for the diverse population in modern higher education institutions. In particular, the increasing flow of international students and the employment demands of functioning in...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: R'boul, Hamza, Bueno-Alastuey, María Camino
Tipo de recurso: capítulo de libro
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Universidad Pública de Navarra
Repositorio:Academica-e. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad Pública de Navarra
OAI Identifier:oai:academica-e.unavarra.es:2454/46775
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2454/46775
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Intercultural relations
English language teaching
Higher education
Descripción
Sumario:Teaching English in higher education entails additional factors and considerations that exemplify the complexity of accounting for the diverse population in modern higher education institutions. In particular, the increasing flow of international students and the employment demands of functioning in multicultural contexts render helping students to develop a critical understating of intercultural relations an important aspect of English language teaching. With the increasing adoption of English as a medium of instruction and its use as a lingua franca in intercultural communication, it is important to structure English education in a way that accounts for intercultural relations both in and outside the university. In addition to the postmodern conceptualizations of interculturality that emphasize the fluidity of culture, language and identity intercultural relations are characterized by power imbalances. That is why this chapter makes a case for the necessity of considering sociopolitical realities in intercultural English language teaching in higher education.