EFFECTS OF ENGLISH INSTRUCTION USING INTERCULTURAL APPROACH ON INTERCULTURAL AWARENESS OF UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

Abstract

Intercultural approach has played a bigger role in English Language Education and the intercultural awareness is a fundamental element to advance individuals towards global citizenship. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the effects of English instruction using intercultural approach on intercultural awareness of upper secondary school students and to investigate their opinions towards the instruction. The quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 31 eleventh grade students in the 14-week experiment. The paired sample t-test, means, and standard deviation were applied to investigate the differences between the means scores from the pre and post intercultural awareness tests and from a five-point Likert scale questionnaire. For the qualitative data, content analysis was used to examine the opinions of the students from the open-ended questionnaire and learner logs. The results revealed that: 1) there was a significant difference between the mean scores from the pre and post intercultural awareness test at the significant level of .05 and the effect size was at 0.94 which indicated a large effect. Also, students showed intercultural awareness in learner logs. 2) Students reported positive attitudes towards the instruction through the questionnaire and learner logs. Consequently, upper secondary school students improved their intercultural awareness after the implementation of intercultural approach in English instruction.