Conceptualizing intercultural (communicative) competence and intercultural citizenship

TLDR: The work in this paper summarises current work on intercultural citizenship and competences for democratic citizenship, and thoughts about future directions in which the internationalist educational purposes of FLE might be further realised.

Abstract: Traditionally, the notion of citizenship has been linked to the concept of nation, the ‘imagined community’ dependent on a common language. State and nation are assumed to be one: the nation state. The contemporary world has created many other identifications and opportunities for political activities in communities which are transnational. This generates the question of language of communication. The ‘nation state’ has been successful through its education system in imposing a common language within its boundaries. Members of transnational groups therefore bring their own language to interaction, and need to be able to communicate despite the differences. Citizenship across linguistic boundaries thus requires competences of communication as well as those of critical understanding of the conditions under which political activity can take place. Citizenship education prepares young people for political activity up to the level of the state. Foreign language education (FLE) prepares them for interaction with people with another language. The combination of the aims and purposes of citizenship education with those of foreign language education prepares learners for ‘intercultural citizenship’. This chapter summarises current work on intercultural citizenship and competences for democratic citizenship, and thoughts about future directions in which the internationalist educational purposes of FLE might be further realised.