Intercultural competence as an aspect of the communicative ...
Intercultural competence as an aspect of the communicative ...
Intercultural competence as an aspect of the communicative ...
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introducing or teaching ICC in l<strong>an</strong>guage cl<strong>as</strong>ses. In that way learners would learn not to<br />
use or rely on <strong>the</strong> linguistic resources <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir own culture which inevitably leads to<br />
negative judgments <strong>an</strong>d pragmatic failure (Nelson et al. 2006).<br />
Finally, both in-service <strong>an</strong>d especially pre-service teachers should become<br />
acquainted with <strong>the</strong> ICC teaching tools, <strong>of</strong> which <strong>the</strong> culture <strong>as</strong>similator is only one, <strong>an</strong>d<br />
try to incorporate <strong>the</strong>m into <strong>the</strong>ir teaching practice, in that way combining IC, pragmatic,<br />
sociolinguistic, <strong>an</strong>d linguistic elements.<br />
6.3. Limitations<br />
As o<strong>the</strong>r authors have noticed (Richards 2003; Lincoln <strong>an</strong>d Guba 1985), <strong>the</strong>re is a<br />
difficulty in doing a qualitative study <strong>an</strong>d maintaining a bal<strong>an</strong>ce between uniqueness <strong>of</strong><br />
particular findings <strong>an</strong>d <strong>the</strong> relev<strong>an</strong>ce <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> study for a wider setting. Fur<strong>the</strong>r, this study<br />
had a ra<strong>the</strong>r limited number <strong>of</strong> particip<strong>an</strong>ts, which might be one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> limitations. As it<br />
h<strong>as</strong> been mentioned, Lincoln <strong>an</strong>d Guba (1985) propose tr<strong>an</strong>sferability <strong>as</strong> a more suitable<br />
concept th<strong>an</strong> generalisation, that is, <strong>the</strong> research should provide enough information to<br />
o<strong>the</strong>r researchers so that <strong>the</strong>y ‘share in <strong>the</strong> researcher’s underst<strong>an</strong>dings’ (Richards 2003:<br />
26). This study aims to do so through content <strong>an</strong>alysis <strong>an</strong>d thick description, tri<strong>an</strong>gulated<br />
with qu<strong>an</strong>titative data, researcher’s notes <strong>an</strong>d English l<strong>an</strong>guage courses syllabi.<br />
Ano<strong>the</strong>r limitation is <strong>the</strong> fact that <strong>the</strong> students volunteered for <strong>the</strong> interviews,<br />
<strong>the</strong>refore making <strong>the</strong> sample a purposive r<strong>an</strong>dom sample. The re<strong>as</strong>on for this w<strong>as</strong> <strong>the</strong> fact<br />
that <strong>the</strong> researcher had a limited amount <strong>of</strong> time to spend in <strong>the</strong> cl<strong>as</strong>sroom due to <strong>the</strong> time<br />
constraints <strong>of</strong> English l<strong>an</strong>guage teachers <strong>an</strong>d dem<strong>an</strong>ds <strong>of</strong> students’ courses. Therefore,<br />
sifting <strong>the</strong> qu<strong>an</strong>titative data for purposeful sample w<strong>as</strong> impractical. Moreover, <strong>the</strong><br />
students were not given <strong>an</strong>y compensation for <strong>the</strong>ir participation, <strong>an</strong>d were not too willing<br />
to take part. Therefore, even org<strong>an</strong>izing <strong>the</strong>se two ph<strong>as</strong>es sequentially might not have<br />
given <strong>the</strong> researcher <strong>the</strong> particip<strong>an</strong>ts for <strong>the</strong> second, qualitative, stage due to <strong>the</strong><br />
unwillingness <strong>of</strong> students to participate. However, this qualitative sample gave a needed<br />
r<strong>an</strong>domness to <strong>the</strong> study <strong>as</strong> it cut across all <strong>the</strong> departments included in <strong>the</strong> qu<strong>an</strong>titative<br />
stage.<br />
Such a sample may seem <strong>as</strong> too narrow for a purposeful generalisation, however,<br />
<strong>the</strong> very setting <strong>of</strong> a higher education makes <strong>the</strong> research narrow in nature. Generalisation<br />
to o<strong>the</strong>r groups <strong>of</strong> learners without formal education would not be viable. On <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r<br />
h<strong>an</strong>d, this group <strong>of</strong> students may well share <strong>the</strong> characteristics with some o<strong>the</strong>r,<br />
international students, <strong>the</strong>refore making generalisations in that sense possible.<br />
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