4. The educational context and the interculturality
The migratory movement for economic and political reasons in the last
40 years have led to the inevitable phenomenon of cultural and linguistic mix
of the schools in the receiving countries of Western Europe. Moreover, this
caused great interest for the new school reality that disrupts the natural course
of school education activities.
The universalistic approach with clear Eurocentric accents considers
the globalization as a super ordinate perspective, everywhere the world being
put in front of the same problems and challenges about peace, human rights,
the environment, is problems whose resolution cannot be done only through
joint action, founded on “
the universal force of reason and language
”. The
individual is acting on his own cultural and biographical background and he
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respects the cultural and biographic backgrounds of those with whom he
interacts in the dialogue of the global societies. The ideal communication is
based on a global competence representing a unit of “
global national and
ethnic identifications
”, as a result of internalization of universal ethical values
and principles. On the other side, the position of cultural relativism is
articulated on “
a euro centrism without prejudice
” by relativization patterns
of orientation, and interpreting, which leads to greater tolerance for foreign
contexts. But both approaches have in common the culture that is related to
ethnic, national, religious and linguistic differentiating elements [5].
In the educational field the more intense preoccupation with the
phenomenon of interculturality after 1990, with the cancellation of the
communist bloc in Europe and the imposition of a market economy in the
world, marked the change from the dominant dichotomy of multiculturality
between self and foreign to the focus on exchange and reciprocity.
Multiculturalism in science of education is reflected in the pedagogy of
foreigners who have only the compensatory nature without blurring the
differences between people with different cultural backgrounds and in foreign
pedagogy in the foreground there was the acquisition of knowledge about the
foreign-context. Interculturality changes the perspective. The difference isn’t
considered anymore a lack and a criterion of segregation, but it is a natural
fact of the pluralistic society.
The intercultural education aims to raise awareness of children, youth
and even adults of cultural / linguistic diversity, of alterity, through different
forms of learning and lifelong training. The formal school context can
contribute substantially to the awareness of cultural and identity differences
and to their understanding through the intercultural dialogue which is
mediated by the teacher, a phenomenon that can’t be done in the social every
day and in the professional environment, where the most important are the
experiences, but which remain unexplained. Interculturality implies
interaction,
cooperation,
interdependence,
consensus,
processuality,
integration, building, negotiation, and unity in diversity, dynamism,
metacommunication, emotional intelligence, with a word dialogue. Education
has the responsibility not only to provide knowledge but also to transmit
values, habits and beliefs for the perpetuation of cultural and ethnic identity,
to form a durable structure, such as a “
habitus
”, which is bearing the
characteristics of a particular human group. So the school has a dual mission:
the transmission of the general cultural knowledge, which is focused on useful
knowledge, and the reproduction of the culture, to ensure coherent and
cohesive, that is a homogenous group of a human. If in a homogenous cultural
context the two functions are performed naturally, the multicultural context
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certainly raises problems in both situations, but especially in the reproduction
of the cultural matrix. Here comes the intercultural education which aims at
recognition, acceptance and appreciation of different cultural matrices, which
are temporarily present in school context. The fundamental means of
achieving these goals is through dialogue which by its dynamic,
confrontational nature stimulates the openness, the comparison, the
relativization of ideas and perspectives; it raises the degree of sensitivity to
what is different and foreign [6].
The understanding in intercultural communication process is
fundamental. It is always linked to certain factors: the social-cultural context
with its specific traditions, norms and values; individual experience in the
socio-cultural context of the origin; school climate [7].
Considering the communication as the language use in order to
understand each other, in the intercultural communication two competences
would be necessary – competence in the mother tongue and in the culture of
origin and competence in the foreign language and culture. In the intercultural
process it can be seen easily that because of a persistent anchorage in only
one culture (usually in the native culture) the probability to develop
conflicting situations is higher, therefore, the dialogue should be stimulated
and promoted.
Literature
1.
Berry, J 1997, Immigration, Acculturation and Adaptation Applied Psychology: An
International Review, vol. 46. - no.1. - P.5-68.
2.
DuPraw, Marcelle E & Axner, M 1997 ‘Working on common cross-cultural
communication challenges. Toward a More Perfect Union in an Age of Diversity: A Guide
to Building Stronger Communities through Public Dialogue, viewed 12 March 2015
3.
Stonehouse, A 1991, Opening the doors: childcare in a multicultural society,
Australian Early Childhood Association, Canberra
4.
LeBaron, M 2003 Cross-Cultural Communication in Beyond Intractability
Knowledge Base Project, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA retrieved from
http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/cross-cultural-communication
5.
James, R 2016, Cross-Cultural Communication, EMBRACE
6.
Rothwell, I D, In the company of others - an introduction to communication,
Oxford University Press, USA
7.
Cultural Connections Booklet, Child Professional Support Coordinator
Түйін
Бұл мақалада мультилингвизмнің мәдениетаралық коммуникацияның дамуына
әсер ету факторларына шолу жасалады.
290
Резюме
В данной статье представлен обзор факторов влияния мультилингвизма на
развитие межкультурной коммуникации.
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