LENGUAJES Y CULTURAS EN CONTACTO

Abstract

Starting from the concept of intercultural competence proposed by the Council of Europe (1998) and on the basis of the new curricula of the Instituto Cervantes Plan Curricular (2006), in this handbook the authors develop learning activities about Spanish for specific purposes, to find new forms of linguistic transactions and meaning negotiation, to guide students to discover the social dimension of both languages : Legal and Adminitsrative (Dr. Sinatra) and Tourism (Dr. Di Gesù). The text consists of a first theoretical part, by Dr. Sinatra, and a practical part, by both authors, with six units, each of which consists of texts on the different types of language. In the first chapter of the book, Dr. Sinatra reviews the main lines of research involving contact between the cultures and the concept of interculturalism, intercultural communication and the evolution of the characteristics of "intercultural competence". Among the studies that are centred on the concept of "culture", the author chose those based on so-called “Componente de Aprendizaje”, which includes a set of values and rules of life deemed necessary to be able to interact socially and to follow a predetermined set of social norms, even in contexts of teaching and learning. In the second chapter the book explains the role of intercultural awareness in the learning / acquisition of foreign languages. Diversity should not be considered an obstacle for communication but an element that enriches it from the perspective of respect for different cultures and aims to promote mediation avoiding prejudice and discrimination. In the third chapter of Lenguajes y Culturas en contacto the authors explain the criteria that have made the selection of texts about: tourism and sustainable tourism; immigration; equal opportunities and cultural diversity; disability; new technologies and sustainable development. The text consists also of a range of complementary materials: students can self-monitor their progress step by step and build their own glossary of technical terms: the Enlaces, the Glosario de los Términos especifícos y de la sostenibilidad the Ficha de Autoevaluación with Gramatica mínima de errores and Clave de ejercicios.