Cross-Cultural Activities:
Strategies for Intercultural Communication in EFL Context
Muhammad Handi Gunawan
Indonesian learners are proud
to be called “fluent speakers of English” for their excellent command of
English grammar and pronunciation. The problem is that when they interact with
native speakers, they are not always aware of how to interact appropriately.
The result is that they might experience misunderstandings and apply
stereotypes not to mention having negative attitudes towards another culture. Therefore,
it is a teacher’s job to equip the learners with information about target
language and the culture underlying it so that they will be ready in
interacting with native speakers of English. Teacher should be aware of the
cross-cultural understanding which is important for cross-cultural communication.
In other words, the teacher can not only teach English in linguistic aspects
such as morphology, syntax, etc, without at the same time teaching the culture
in which it operates. The paper will be a shared experience as it will
highlight the importance of intercultural misunderstanding concepts and
emphasize on the activities that raise the cultural awareness in EFL classroom.
The activities will reveal: identifying
appropriate questions, anecdotes reflecting crosscultural
differences, the problem with English idioms,cartoons, body language, etc.
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Gunawan, M. H. (2005, March). Cross-cultural
activities: Strategies for intercultural communication in EFL context. Paper
presented at LIA International Conference,
Website: www.geocities.com/eltindonesia
Email:
eltindonesia@yahoo.com