described by the INCA project assessment tool.

They established three levels

ofcompetence, namely: basic, intermediate and full. The first diagram refers to the
abilityof students to identify and gather the information needed before departing
to aninternational study program.Those students who have no idea what information
they would need and are notconcerned about becoming more or less informed before
departure are basic level.Intermediate level of this skill entails wanting
information about housing, climate,currency, travel and some other general
information about the place of study. Theirsources of information would be people
who have already been there, the internet orguidebooks.Those who are considered to
be fully mastering this skill are people who are aware thatthey should learn or
revise their language skills, need to know more about people�scustoms, behaviour
and cultural background. They would consult guides with in-depthinformation, seek
specific information on the study place from others and will contactofficial
sources.Students of the group show clear advancement as far as this area is
concerned. By thesecond questioning 67% are fully aware of what information they
might need and howthey could get it. The control group�s reverse though is
inexplicable unless we considera lack of willingness to perform the task
properly.The next aspect of the knowledge discovery skill concerned the ways
students wouldconsider to get more information about the school and the course of
studies once they145
have arrived there. At basic level they would only communicate with fellow
nationalsand wait until they are told what to do. At intermediate level besides
having thesources of information mentioned above they would also obtain translation
of essentialinformation, observe the behaviour of others and behave in a friendly
way towards newcolleagues. Those who are full masters of this skill would be
involved in the social sideof school life, would find a contact person who could
explain things to them,communicate with new colleagues, understand the precise
meaning of the writteninstructions and compare school life with that of the home
country. There is progress in both groups. Some members of the group even managing
to reachto the full level of this skill.The last aspect was referring to the
activities students would engage in during theirspare time while participating in
an international study program. At basic level theywould only meet fellow nationals
or participate at programs that were organisedespecially for them. At intermediate
level they would use local tourist informationservices, visit places of interest,
go to local bars and restaurants and talk to locals whocan use students� mother
tongue. At full level students would join a local club forleisure and sporting
purposes, talk to locals in their own language, ask colleagues to actas local
guides, use local sources of information not designed to tourists, read
localnewspapers attend concerts, plays, films.146
The group shows growth in this respect as well. 40% shows the full level of skills.
Theywould mingle with locals and find the ways of leisure specific to the area.
More thanhalf of the students would visit the places of interest, talk to some
locals and go totourist offices for information. There are only 7% who would have
hardships to adjustand would only talk to fellow nationals and attend leisure time
activities speciallyorganized for them.The control group again show randomness in
their answers.In the comment area many students of the group and some of the
control group haveexpressed their enthusiasm about the prospect of being able to
take part in aninternational study program.The findings of this last part of the
questionnaire can be summed up similarly to theothers. Students of the group have
shown steady and consistent progress as far as theskill of knowledge discovery is
concerned. Now they have a deeper insight of what typeof information they might
need in the eventuality of a study program abroad. They aremore or less clear about
the ways they might gather information on the spot and have aclear idea of how to
spend their leisure time in such a way that they should get closer tolocal customs,
habits and lifestyle. It needs to be mentioned that these aspects werenever
explicitly dealt with during the lessons though. This deeper insight has
developedimplicitly during the many types of culture-connected activities during
the school year.147
All the findings listed and analyzed above show that all the hypotheses stated at
thebeginning of the description of this action research have proved true. The
mainhypothesis stated that: Lessons about culture affect students� cultural
awareness. Thechanges presented all highlight the truth of the statement. All three
components of theintercultural competence investigated above showed steady and
consistent changetowards the intended aims. Students have got better factual
knowledge and a deeperinsight into the phenomenon that is culture. They are more
aware of the strong interlinkbetween language and culture and they have more
insight into how we make meaningof the world around with their help. Their
attitudes have also shown positive change.They are more open, flexible and
tolerant, they are more willing to adjust and decenterwhen needed.The skill
investigated also shows improvement in all its aspects. Students are now
moreknowledgeable of what to do when planning to go abroad for a study program and
howto act when they are on the spot.Considering all the above I can re-affirm that
lessons about culture affect student�scultural awareness.The second hypothesis said
that: Knowledge of culture as a phenomenon helps studentsto a deeper insight.The
lessons about culture as a phenomenon and the tackling of the different aspects
ofculture really helped students to a deeper insight. They can now better label
types ofbehaviour as personal, universal or cultural, they understand the link
between languageand culture. They are more aware of the aspects of cultural
difference, their motivationsfor learning English became more diversified. They
also seem to have a more familiarattitude towards the prospect of a study program
abroad. They are much more aware ofwhat type of information they need and how they
can get it. Knowledge of culture as aphenomenon definitely helps students to a
deeper insight and a heightened awareness ofthe world around.The last hypothesis
stated that: Attitudes cannot be taught but they can be shapedthrough well
designed interactions among students and between the students and theteacher.148
Proof of this statement can also been found in the analysis above. All the
attitudesinvestigated have shown a systematic change towards the envisaged aim in
the groupwhich undertook the cultural learning process. Students have become less
insecurewhen facing otherness, they have become more open, more tolerant and more
willing toadjust and decenter. I consider that the attitude aspect of intercultural
learning is themost vulnerable one and �progress� in this area is the most
difficult to achieve andmeasure. This last hypothesis is the one I was the most
unsure about. I am glad that itproved to be true. Attitudes although cannot be
taught they can be shaped through welldesigned interactions among students and
between the students and the teacher.V. Summary and conclusionsThe present paper
intended to investigate the problem of culture teaching in thelanguage classroom.
It wanted to know the place of culture in the language classroomand see whether
cultural awareness could be raised through teaching a language. Thefirst step in
order to do this was to design an action research. The main hypotheses ofthe
research stated that 'Lessons about culture affect students' cultural awareness.'
NextI started my readings into specialised literature and came up with the
questionnairebased on the components of intercultural competence as modelled by
Michael Byramand Genevive Zarate. This model seemed to be the best choice since
more of theliterature pointed out that it was the most well elaborated model
existing at the presentmoment. This model also made me formulate two additional,
secondary hypothesesnamely that: 'Knowledge of culture as a phenomenon helps
students to a deeper insight'and that 'Attitudes cannot be taught but they can be
shaped through well designedinteractions among students and between the students
and the teacher.' I decided on the group of students I wanted to work with and
chose a control group. Ialso designed the process I intended to follow. I decided
to take three courses of actionin order to achieve the aim of raising the cultural
awareness of my students. I gave amore cultural content to many of the textbook
items, I planned and taught lessons aboutculture and I tried to help my students to
make contact to members of the targetlanguage communities. At the beginning and at
the end of the process I administered thequestionnaire. 149
The findings have shown that all my hypotheses were true. This means that
culturalawareness can be raised through teaching a foreign language if the right
approach istaken and the right activities employed.My investigations into the
literature about the relationship between culture andlanguage teaching has shown
though that there is much more to this problem than itmeets the eye the first time.
I became conscious of many things I. have been unawareof. Due to the rapid
movements towards globalisation throughout the world there has beena paradigm shift
as far the relationship of culture and language teaching is concerned.Language
teaching has increasingly become to be considered as the major area ofstudies that
can help shape the future generation who have to find their way in aglobalised
world by being able to communicate interculturally. Due to the stronginterlink
between language and culture, language lessons have always unavoidably beena locus
for decentering and helping students to see the world with different eyes.Nowadays,
with the world getting smaller and more and more people having tocommunicate across
cultures it became obvious that there are major impediments inmutual understanding
because of the differences of cultural backgrounds. Theorists andpolicy makers of
the teaching profession have envisaged the ideal of an individual whois an apt
intercultural communicator, a mediator among cultures. This individual,besides
having good language skills, possesses a deep understanding of
thephenomenon of culture and a heightened awareness of the fact that people
areinfluenced by the language they speak and the culture they belong to. He can
decenterfrom his own culture and successfully negotiate new meanings for the sake
of mutualunderstanding. Intercultural language competence as a goal is present in
policydocuments across the globe. Although the educational need has been identified
andformulated there are still many aspects that need more insight and experience
beforeintercultural language teaching can be implemented. The aims are clear but
theelaboration of the methods of teaching and assessment will have to wait until
moreinvestigations come up with viable solutions. Until then language teachers can
takecharge and if they are willing they can contribute to the global pursuit
towards a moreefficient language teaching and learning that encompasses culture
learning and meetsthe demands of the future world.150
My action research had many limitations. The number of students involved were
low,the activities I have employed followed my own logic and structuring that might
nothave been the most efficient one. One of the core courses of action I was
planning totake failed to realise. The methods of assessment were limited: I
decided to stick to thepsychometric paradigm and tested content through objective
procedures. A morecontextualised and personalised view on assessment might have
been more appropriatein this case.In spite of all these I consider that the present
paper has reached the aim it wasintending to reach and proved the point that it
wanted to prove: A more culturalapproach to language teaching increases the
cultural awareness of the students. Actually I believe that it does much more than
that: it widens their horizon enablingthem to see the world from different angles
and it helps them become better people.It is not just the students who benefit from
the process though. The knowledge andinsnight of the teacher can grow considerably
as well. I believe that my investigations into intercultural language teaching have
not ended withthe present paper. There is much more to explore, there are many
activities to try outand many new ideas to be employed and tested. I believe that
both my students andmyself can only benefit.151
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