Discussions on interculturality to lessen the reversal stage

Abstract

This document reports the implications and results of an internship that seeks to understand and lessen the reversal phenomenon. The reversal phenomenon is the apparent stagnation the EFL students have in the reversal stage. This phase occurs when the language learner encounters another culture and becomes more critical of their origin culture while idealizing the target language. In Bennett’s intercultural model, the individual needs this transitional stage to escalate to the adaptation pluralism stage, where the language learner acknowledges and deals with the differences without diminishing the cultures. This identified phenomenon is present in a Colombian public school’s bilingual program where the participants are 10th and 11th graders between 14-19 years old. This internship proposes to address intervention in the four EFL courses of the program to lessen this phenomenon. The proposal is to implement the discussions on interculturality to develop and strengthen the students’ intercultural competence. Additionally, the participants will be involved in an environmentally guided Project-based learning (PBL) method. The combination between discussions on interculturality and PBL seems promising in terms of the apprentices’ autonomy, teamwork, interpersonal and critical thinking skills, leadership, engagement with the content, self-awareness of their learning process, and cultural reflection, among others.