ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that the 'Model of Cultural Understanding' can be used in self-assessment. Tess and Victoria self-assess using the model, and the chapter shows how the focus is on the skills of cultural understanding rather than on the achievement of levels in the model. These skills are the skills of observing, discovering, describing, analysing, comparing and contrasting, relating, interpreting, perspective-taking, decentring, critical thinking and reflexivity, all of which contribute to the development of intercultural competence. The chapter suggests that students can create a profile of their reading as a form of self-assessment by reference to the model. It explains Tess's self-assessment, which focuses on the interview she had at the time about the Cat's Eye extract as well as her own interpretations of the text in the reading response task and the visual representation. She reflects on her responses to the tasks and supports her arguments with data from her interview about the text.
