LLAS Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies

Intercultural awareness as a component of HE Modern Language courses in the UK
This study traces the growing importance attached to intercultural awareness within Modern Languages Higher Education in the UK. It differentiates between the incorporation of intercultural insight into language learning and the development of 'intercultural studies' as an emerging interdisciplinary field. This development, it is argued, is changing the character of the relationship between Modern Languages and Cultural Studies in the UK. The role of intercultural awareness within the curriculum entails not simply innovative pedagogies and the inclusion of periods of residence abroad as part of undergraduate programmes. It has underlined the value of linking ethnography, history, language, literature, philosophy and psychology in new course combinations. The article reviews the background to this change and the various teaching practices associated with it.