An intercultural proposal to teach Spanish as a foreign language in Colombia

Abstract

The current study highlights the role of culture in the learning process of Spanish as a foreign language in Colombia, and how culture can strengthen the learners’ skills while communicating in different real-life situations. As a result, and through some cultural aspects included in the classes, it was possible to encourage an intercultural awareness that helped students to contrast their own culture and the target culture through the language. The inclusion of intercultural competence in foreign and second language teaching was proposed during the late 20^th century, and it basically consists of the planning and implementation of a didactic unit using intercultural principles as part of the teaching-learning process. Nine (9) non-native speakers of Spanish participated in the study: four (4) international students coming from Brazil and 5 international teachers coming from The United States, Ireland and Ivory Coast. The results suggest that acquiring cultural skills along communicative capabilities is fundamental for the non-native speaker of Spanish to effectively function within a context in which the target language has an official status.