Working Towards an Intercultural Competence in The World English Era

The 6th International Seminar 2012 “Research in Teacher Education : What, How, and Why?” Salatiga, November 21-22, 2012The inclusion of cultural perspectives in language instructional activities is now challenged by the nature of English as international language. The role of culture in teaching an international language needs to be significantly different from the role of culture in teaching other languages. It should be understood within the relationship between an international language and culture itself, instead of approaching it as the source of cultural information. Besides, the educational goal of learning English as an international language that bring the students to arrive at the point of cultural consciousness enhancement and help them to manipulate this consciousness in their participation in intercultural communication should frame teachers‘ decision in the instructional material design. As a minute contribution to the extensive discussion and effort in this area, this paper will address some emerging issues in redeveloping instructional activity, such as culture‘s role, pedagogic reorientation, cultural information presented in the materials and the notion of the third place. Some considerations related to these emerging issues will also be discussed