Culture-Based Language Classes: Bringing Cultural Competency to Pre-Service Teachers in Colombia

To discover an innovative solution to improve Foreign Language Teaching (FLT) proficiency which includes language, critical thinking, intercultural, and pedagogical skills, researchers examined the base of any language: culture. After surveying current students, professors, and alumni of a Colombian foreign language licensure program and reviewing Colombian and international research conducted on the topic, it has been determined that there has been a divorce separating language from its culture at the beginner and intermediate levels of the program’s English courses. Culture and intercultural skills are not the focal point of the curriculum which only inhibits students from reaching their potential of being highly proficient in a foreign language and becoming outstanding teachers in Colombia. Therefore, proficiency in Bryam’s (1997) Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) should be the main objective of all levels (beginner, intermediate, and advanced) of foreign language courses for pre-service teachers.