INTERCULTURAL LITERACY LEARNING MODEL OF GERMAN AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Abstract

Kress and Pennycook in D'Warte describe literature as “a plural set of social practices that encompass a vast range of strategies used to construct meaning within a given socio-cultural context”, which means that literacy is plural and encompasses various languages and their use and how speakers of the languages socialize in an authentic way. There is communication in culture and literacy is closely related to communication. Kern (2000) states that “Literacy involves communication”. In order for foreign language learners especially German to be able to communicate well and accurately, they need literacy and intercultural competence. Intercultural competence is not only about facts and data, but also about intercultural communication factors which, according to Byram, includes (1) self-knowledge and others’, individual and social interactions, (2) interpreting and interrelating skills, (3) politics education and critical cultural awareness, (4) interacting and discovering skills, and (5) relativizing own and social behavior. This paper aims to describe an intercultural literacy learning model using Kern's literacy learning and Byram's intercultural theories.

Keywords: learning model, literacy, intercultural, German as a foreign language