Page 176 - Volk, Marina, Štemberger, Tina, Sila, Anita, Kovač, Nives. Ur. 2021. Medpredmetno povezovanje: pot do uresničevanja vzgojno-izobraževalnih ciljev. Koper: Založba Univerze na Primorskem
P. 176
na Paula Gortan-Carlin and Gordana Dobravac
of pollution and cases of bullying, it would be beneficial to add songs that
encourage respect towards nature and peers. On the other hand, the choice
of certain songs like, for instance, the song Yummie with lyrics ‘Pizza, pizza,
pizza, pizza smelling great, yummie, yummie pizza, hot dogs, hot dogs, hot
dogs, smelling great, yummie, yummie hot dogs’ in a trend of teaching chil-
dren to eat healthy food and fight childhood obesity, may cause surprise.
A second content analysis was conducted and it targeted possible ele-
ments in lyrics that could raise awareness about different cultures. As many
as 9 out of 51 songs or 18 could contribute to intercultural competence by
introducing elements that are not familiar or different from the first grader’s
culture (in this case Croatian culture). There are just few elements in the songs
e.g. Animals – exotic animals, What’s Your Name – names not typically Croat-
ian, and songs like Happy Birthday and We Wish You a Merry Christmas show-
ing that there are identical traditions in different cultures. However, if we take
into consideration that the song We Wish You a Merry Christmas was counted
twice (as it is present in two textbooks), that international names are a grow-
ing trend in Croatia, and that the children had probably encountered wild
animals in the zoo or in picture books prior to the first grade, the added value
of songs’ intercultural competence is low. The phenomenon is not related to
a particular textbook, they all present the same scarcity.
This result was not expected given the proportion of attention devoted
to the concept of intercultural competence. In the English Curriculum in-
tercultural competence (IC) is one of the domains in the tree-part structure
along with the communicative competence and independent learning. The
concept is present in the very first sentence of the Curriculum ‘Learning
and teaching the English language fosters and ensures the development
of language and intercultural competence [. . .]’ Similar is stated in the Mu-
sic curriculum: ‘The contemporary teaching and learning of music includes
elements of citizenship education and intercultural education.’ This spot-
light given to intercultural competence is not specific to Croatia, but a global
trend.
In fact, teaching culture in EFL context can be divided into three periods
(Weninger and Kiss 2013). During the first period (1950s–1990s) learning cul-
ture in EFL meant the learning of facts about the target language culture.
In the next phase (1990s–2000s), concepts like transcultural, intercultural and
cross-cultural started emerging due to the global status English was achiev-
ing. In the last phase (2000s to now), research about culture in EFL use con-
cepts like ‘intercultural competence of the world citizen,’ ‘intercultural citi-
zenship’ and ‘global cultural consciousness’ (see Weninger and Kiss 2013). The
174
of pollution and cases of bullying, it would be beneficial to add songs that
encourage respect towards nature and peers. On the other hand, the choice
of certain songs like, for instance, the song Yummie with lyrics ‘Pizza, pizza,
pizza, pizza smelling great, yummie, yummie pizza, hot dogs, hot dogs, hot
dogs, smelling great, yummie, yummie hot dogs’ in a trend of teaching chil-
dren to eat healthy food and fight childhood obesity, may cause surprise.
A second content analysis was conducted and it targeted possible ele-
ments in lyrics that could raise awareness about different cultures. As many
as 9 out of 51 songs or 18 could contribute to intercultural competence by
introducing elements that are not familiar or different from the first grader’s
culture (in this case Croatian culture). There are just few elements in the songs
e.g. Animals – exotic animals, What’s Your Name – names not typically Croat-
ian, and songs like Happy Birthday and We Wish You a Merry Christmas show-
ing that there are identical traditions in different cultures. However, if we take
into consideration that the song We Wish You a Merry Christmas was counted
twice (as it is present in two textbooks), that international names are a grow-
ing trend in Croatia, and that the children had probably encountered wild
animals in the zoo or in picture books prior to the first grade, the added value
of songs’ intercultural competence is low. The phenomenon is not related to
a particular textbook, they all present the same scarcity.
This result was not expected given the proportion of attention devoted
to the concept of intercultural competence. In the English Curriculum in-
tercultural competence (IC) is one of the domains in the tree-part structure
along with the communicative competence and independent learning. The
concept is present in the very first sentence of the Curriculum ‘Learning
and teaching the English language fosters and ensures the development
of language and intercultural competence [. . .]’ Similar is stated in the Mu-
sic curriculum: ‘The contemporary teaching and learning of music includes
elements of citizenship education and intercultural education.’ This spot-
light given to intercultural competence is not specific to Croatia, but a global
trend.
In fact, teaching culture in EFL context can be divided into three periods
(Weninger and Kiss 2013). During the first period (1950s–1990s) learning cul-
ture in EFL meant the learning of facts about the target language culture.
In the next phase (1990s–2000s), concepts like transcultural, intercultural and
cross-cultural started emerging due to the global status English was achiev-
ing. In the last phase (2000s to now), research about culture in EFL use con-
cepts like ‘intercultural competence of the world citizen,’ ‘intercultural citi-
zenship’ and ‘global cultural consciousness’ (see Weninger and Kiss 2013). The
174
