Intercultural competence: subject…
Серия «Педагогика». № 2(78)/2015
311
The main advantage of this approach is the highlighting such an aspect of intercultural competence as
the ability to understand native and other cultures. Establishing connection between thinking and behavior
appears to be another positive aspect. In general, K. Knapp’s model is basically focused on behaviorist as-
pect of communication with different culture.
In structural terms, the concept of intercultural competence is in the range of scientific interests of the
British scientist M. Byram, a professor of the University of Durham. Many Western scholars consider as a
reference point his model of intercultural competence consisting of five elements (attitudes, knowledge,
skills of interpreting and relating, skills of discovering and interaction, critical awareness of culture or politi-
cal education) [3].
Such definitions are systemic in nature, and to understand them, it is to analyse all components of the
theoretical construction of the «intercultural competence» as it combines and accumulates a great many qual-
ities and skills. In this regard, it is necessary to admit that it is impossible to describe this notion in brief.
From the author’s point of view, in order to communicate successfully in a different culture it is neces-
sary to know the language, the country's history, art, economy, society, i.e. have comprehensive knowledge
about the culture of this country.
By the mid 80s Western science has developed the idea that intercultural competence can be learned by
mastering the knowledge gained in the process of intercultural communication. Knowledge of this kind was
divided into specific, defined as information about a particular culture in the traditional aspects, and general,
which include possessing such communication skills as tolerance, active listening, knowing common cultural
universals.
Despite this division, intercultural competence is associated with both types of knowledge. Therefore,
in the Western scientific literature, this phenomenon is considered, firstly, as the ability to form a cultural
identity of someone else that involves learning much information about a different culture (up to the com-
plete abandonment of the native cultural identity); secondly, as the ability to achieve success in contacts with
representatives of different cultural communities, even in dim knowledge of the basic elements of the culture
of their partners.
Summing up, it is possible to identify two approaches to the concept of intercultural competence, which
have emerged in Western science:
the first concept contains the idea of practical improvement of intercultural communication, coopera-
tion and coexistence and mutual understanding; and this concept is aimed at mutual understanding of
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