Learning Journal #6

[Ruofan Jiang]

My Korean studying is going well. We’ve finished learning the alphabet and our language partner gave us a game to review the alphabet at the beginning of every class. And I also memorized by myself after the course. Therefore, I could say it not that hard to read Korean out loud (although I still do not understand the meaning, lol). Moreover, we learned some basic greetings and short conversations. Thinking about the communicative competence, it refers to both the tacit knowledge of a language and the ability to use it effectively. Recent publications emphasise the significance of the intercultural dimension in language teaching because it helps language learners to communicate or interact with people of other languages and to be aware of their own identities and those of their interlocutors. Language learners who become ‘intercultural speakers’ will be successful in communicating information and also in developing human relationships with individuals of other cultures and languages. Therefore, in order to improve my communicative competence, I should get involved more into Korean culture.