International Journal of Language, Translation and Intercultural
Communication
Vol 2 (2014)
Special Issue: Migration and Diaspora
Intercultural Skills, Culture and Literature at the
University
Aglaia Blioumi
doi: 10.12681/ijltic.33
To cite this article:
Blioumi, A. (2015). Intercultural Skills, Culture and Literature at the University. International Journal of Language,
Translation and Intercultural Communication, 2, 4–13. https://doi.org/10.12681/ijltic.33
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Intercultural Skills, Culture and Literature at the University. The Example of the
Department of German Language and Literature in the University of Athens
Aglaia Blioumi
Abstract
The transcendence of national identities in recent decades and the diffusion of the cultural
context triggered by globalization have resulted in the creation of new identities. This
development has resulted in the multicultural structure of many European countries. Foreign
language teaching has been geared to the multinational structure of school classes through the
development of Intercultural Education. Given, however, that the implementation of the
principles of Intercultural Education is dependent on the teachers, who, in turn, must have
been initiated in the principles of this scientific field, the University assumes a leading part in
providing intercultural education to adults. The aim of this paper is to show how the students
of a Greek University can acquire certain skills of intercultural action through the course of
Culture and Literature. The development of intercultural skills is based on the anthology
„KALIMERHABA”, a trilingual edition including short stories and poems written by Greek,
Turkish, and German writers.
Successful interactive situations can be characterized those who allow to the participants to
communicate with people from other cultures without prejudices. Thus, in the instruction of
language, literature and cultural lessons at the University not only the transmission of
historical and cultural data concerning the foreign culture is achieved, but also the
transference of intercultural skills, as they entail both a cognitive as well as emotional and
factual dimension.
The aim of this paper is to show how the students of a Foreign Language School can acquire
certain skills of intercultural action through Culture and Literature Courses. The assumption
made in this paper is that the development of intercultural skills is a requisite for future
teachers of foreign languages, since foreign language teaching is interwoven with issues of
diversity/identity, propagation of cultural elements, and adoption of an intercultural
conscience. In my opinion, the development of intercultural skills can be spread even if the
students are not in a multicultural environment, but rather in that of Greek Universities, and
they can also be taught certain intercultural skills quite effectively with the help of foreign
culture and literature teaching.
This paper will draw attention, on a theoretical level, to the philosophy and modern trends of
the Course of Culture, which are described as Landeskunde in German-speaking literature,
where I shall focus on. Already at this point, it should be pointed out that, in recent years,
Landeskunde is very closely associated with the transmission of intercultural messages.
Secondly, I shall present my own intercultural model for developing intercultural action skills,
which is based on German-speaking texts of migrant literature and which I have applied to the
students of the School of German Language and Literature in the University of Athens, in the
context of the Course of Culture. Evaluation of the entire attempt will be based on some
comments on the students’ final project, which aimed at analyzing the intercultural elements
found in literary texts, given that the degree of identification and thorough examination of
intercultural elements is characteristic of the understanding and training of students in action
skills. In other words, I think that the contribution of the imaginary dimension of literature
may serve as a practical field of intercultural training.
1 ‘Landeskunde’: Principles and modern trends
The discipline of ‘Landeskunde’ (Lüsebrink, 2003) has similarities with the concept of the
American Area Studies, Civilisation in France, and German Studies or French Studies in the
USA. The discipline of ‘Landeskunde’, as an integral part of foreign language and literature
teaching, began in 1880, with the aim of passing knowledge about a foreign country (Althaus,
1999). Nowadays, it is a branch of German Language Teaching, and also a branch of foreign
literatures in Germany and abroad. On an academic level, teaching Culture constitutes either
an independent discipline next to Literature and Linguistics, or it appears as an “integrative
Landeskunde”, i.e., in the course of Culture, subjects taken from other sciences, including
History, Sociology, Political Sciences, Cultural Studies etc., are also taught. A similar case is
found in the School of German Language and Literature of the University of Athens, which
will be examined in the second part of the paper.
What is of interest, however, is the fact that both in the context of Foreign Language Teaching
and in the course of Culture in the University, there is a common tendency to associate the
contents of the courses with intercultural principles. Actually, in Foreign Language Teaching,
renaming of the term ‘Landeskunde’ into ‘Interkulturelles Lernen’, i.e., ‘intercultural
learning’, is suggested, since the primary objective is to communicate intercultural principles
to the students. (Röttger, 2002)
1
The primary objective in both cases is propagation of intercultural action skills
(Interkulturelle Kompetenzen). Intercultural action skills are called those abilities and skills of
students of foreign languages, or, generally, students participating in intercultural meetings,
which help students to be initiated to the differences between foreign and familiar culture, be
able to identify them in certain cases and develop strategies to understand the particularities of
another culture. In a few words, the aim is to achieve the prevention of any intercultural
misunderstandings and the smoothest possible intercultural communication. It is true,
however, that there is no uniform definition of intercultural action skills. As Lukjantschikowa
points out, this term is usually meant as the ability to manage what is “culturally foreign” and
successfully communicate with people coming from other cultures. (Lukjantschikowa, 2004)
Certainly, one might raise objections here as to what successful communication means, who
sets the limits of a successful communication and when communication even with people
coming from the same culture is considered successful. However, these are questions
constituting the object of another theoretical discussion.
Instead, there is coincidence of views regarding the fact that intercultural action skills must
convey knowledge, abilities, skills, and views leading to the so-called “intercultural speaker”,
i.e., the speaker who, under intercultural communication conditions, shows abilities exceeding
the ordinary linguistic skills, since this speaker is also able to respond to sociocultural needs.
(Gnutzmann, 2006) In particular, the objectives of intercultural action skills cover three
levels: they refer to the cognitive, experiential and communicative dimensions. On a cognitive
level, the pupils or students must not only acquire classic knowledge about the history and
society of a foreign country, but they must also acquire theoretical knowledge about the
management of the “Alien”, and comparison with foreign mentality. (Antor, 2002) The course
of Culture must prepare students for future personal contact with people coming from the
foreign culture. (Schinschke, 1995) Especially for the course of Culture taught in the
University, the students must develop their critical thinking, in order to realize that any data
associated with the society and culture of another country are “fabricated”, since the culture
1
With regard to such renaming, there is no uniform view, therefore, I shall confine myself to a simple reference.
For more information on the conflicting views, see Röttger (2002).
of every country is a social construction consisting of social negotiations and subject to
continuous changes. For example, they must be aware of the fact that images regarding the
national identity of another country are not a priori given facts, but they are rather fabricated
depending on the individual sociopolitical conditions. (Antor, 2002) It is true that, what is
hidden behind this objective is the effect of Cultural Studies, which promote a wide sense of
culture, not only including intellectual and artistic creation, but also the overall expressions of
a society, e.g., everyday life and linguistic and cultural habits, in general. (Gehring, 2002)
On an experiential level, certain intercultural attitudes and skills must be developed. The most
basic of them are considered to be “Empathy” (Empathie), i.e., to be able to “put yourself in
another person’s place, in order to see their problems through their eyes”, (Zografou 1998)
and tolerance towards people coming from other cultures and the will to communicate with
them.(Röttger, 2002) Another attitude which is often mentioned is the role distance ability
(Rollendistanz), i.e., ability to distance yourself from the assumptions of the familiar culture,
so that it is met with a critical spirit. This refers to the realization of the fact that one cannot
expect from others, “aliens”, to share the same viewpoint with them, that the “Other” may see
our world through a different light; as a result, the “Other” may confront our world in a biased
way. (Kussler, 2003) Another ability which is closely associated with that is the ability to
present the familiar identity, self-perception, (Bechtel, 2003) (Identitätsdarstellung), i.e., to be
able to illustrate one’s own world, one’s culturally familiar views to aliens. (Röttger, 2002)
Finally, the term ‘Ambiguitätstoleranz’, which, if literally translated, means “tolerance
towards double entendre”, is meant as the ability to tolerate contrasts and different
expectations, so as to accept foreign views and not react towards foreign elements with fear
and repulsion. (Altmayer, 2006)
On a communicative level, certain “intercultural communication skills” must be cultivated, so
as to help students, in case they visit the foreign country, to be able to successfully
communicate in the foreign language under any circumstances of everyday living, and
understand the function of foreign cultural codes. This means they will know, for instance,
how many rules of politeness exist, how the native speakers of the other country greet each
other and say goodbye, how invitations to celebrations are done, etc. (Antor, 2002)
Another action skill, especially for courses taught in the University, is the combination of
understanding of the particularities of both the foreign and the familiar cultures, so that
understanding of the foreign culture is primarily based on an understanding of the familiar
culture, which requires self-awareness and critical consideration of any familiar assumptions,
so that the expressions of the foreign culture are understood. (Altmayer, 2006) In addition, the
students must develop the ability to analyze their own culturally defined viewpoint and be
able to see the expressions of the foreign culture both from an internal and an external point
of view. Seeing from an internal perspective means to be able to enter another person’s
thinking, see reality through the other person’s eyes, understand the perceptual system of
people coming from another culture. On the other hand, an external perspective asks
questions including, “How do I consider the other person’s point of view? Or, “Do I agree
with such point of view?” In particular, this means that one does not accept the other terms
uncritically, but one rather maintains a critical, distant position toward another culture.(Antor,
2002 and Bechtel, 2003) One might say that this is a “special type” of empathy, where
understanding of Another Person is accompanied by awareness of one’s own assumptions.
What is impressive, however, is the fact that, in German-speaking literature, while the three
levels of intercultural action skills are identical with the principles of Intercultural
Communication, which also includes an emotional, a cognitive and a communicative
dimension, there are no references to Intercultural Communication.
By critically considering all these objectives, one may wonder to what degree they may
possibly be incorporated into foreign language teaching, since there are several linguistic and
practical problems. On the contrary, these objectives seem more feasible in the course of
Culture and Literature Teaching in the University, since the students have the linguistic level
which will allow them to seek these objectives through suitable exercises.
2 Feasibility of the Intercultural Model
Next, I shall present my own intercultural model for developing intercultural action skills,
which aims at creating an “intercultural feeling” (affective domain), which presupposes the
elimination of “racism” and cultural bias. (Λιακοπούλου, 2006) Briefly, the propagation of
intercultural action skills must help the students handle phenomena related to the
multiculturalism of Greek schools.
With regard to the question which method is appropriate for propagating intercultural action
skills, I shall present below a model of intercultural training based on literature, which I have
applied in the course of Culture Teaching during the fall semester of the academic year
2009/10 to the students of the Department of German Language and Literature in the
University of Athens. The course is taught in the latest semesters of studies and is an elective
course. In this paper, evaluation of the entire attempt is associated with some comments on
the students’ final project, which aimed at analyzing intercultural elements found in literary
texts, given that the degree of identification and thorough examination of intercultural
elements is characteristic of the understanding and training of students in action skills. I think
that, on the one hand, development of intercultural skills is a requisite for future teachers of
foreign languages, since foreign language teaching is interwoven with the propagation of
cultural elements; on the other hand, it is possible to propagate intercultural action skills
through literature, even if the students, as mentioned above, neither live in the foreign
country, nor in a multicultural environment, but they rather live in the environment of Greek
universities.
For the course of Culture taught to the students of German Language and Literature,
2
I have
chosen literary texts dealing with contact with a foreign culture, most of which might be
described as texts of migrant literature. Thus, the very content of the texts refer to cultural
stereotypes and cultural differences, problems of intercultural understanding of Other Persons,
unsuccessful intercultural communication, and attitudes and behaviours. As a whole, these
texts give us a fertile ground of intercultural training. In particular, I relied upon
„KALIMERHABA” collection, which was issued by Romiosini editions in the year 1992.
(Eideneier, 1992) As one can easily conclude from the title, this is a trilingual edition
including short stories and poems written by Greek, Turkish, and German writers, while the
texts have been translated into the other two languages, respectively. About ten students
attended the course and each one of them chose the text he/she worked on. Finally, most
students chose Turkish writers.
3 Description of the Intercultural Model
Before I proceed to the sample presentation of certain projects, I shall briefly explain the
function of the intercultural model I have applied. Analysis of the literary texts was done on
two levels. The first level is purely literary, where the students have detected certain elements
2
The results of the empirical study are only selective, since this is not a survey aiming at achieving universal
validity, but is rather limited to findings concerning a small sample of students in the context of the seminar.