ABSTRACT
What is the connection between the theoretical discussions presented in this volume and an English-language teacher-preparation program? How can these broader theoretical issues be applied in a European higher-education institution? This chapter describes the genesis of a part of a second-language teacher education (SLTE) program that uses principles of intercultural communication to restructure the pedagogy of literature and culture. It tells how a curriculum previously organized into historical surveys was transformed into one that embraces English as an international language, employing more flexible organizational principles in order to respond to the future needs of English-language teachers. The authors of this chapter identified the skills involved in cross-cultural communication and asked how these could be developed across the broader range of global anglophone culture. This kind of analysis drew on the team’s training in both the methodology of English-language teaching and literary criticism, which were then applied to texts that eschewed nationalist narratives and exemplified intercultural exchange. The chapter outlines how syllabi and assessments were transformed and how the literature curriculum moved from a knowledge-based approach to the teaching of intercultural awareness, while retaining literature as a central component.
