Received: 1 June 2022

| Revised: 10 September 2023

| Accepted: 29 September 2023

DOI: 10.1002/tesj.768

E M P I R I C A L F E AT U R E A RT I C L E

Intercultural teaching practices in the EFL

classroom: The case of non-elite communities

Anamaria Sagre | Leonardo Pacheco Machado |

Yurisan Tordecilla Zumaquè

Universidad de Córdoba
Abstract
Funding information Significant research has delved into the methodolo-
Second language acquisition and gies and practices teachers use to foster intercultural-
teaching program, University of Arizona
ity in the high school and college foreign language
curriculum. Yet, little is known about the intercul-
tural teaching practices teachers use in non-elite com-
munities where inequity, lack of access, and inclusion
have prevailed, especially during COVID-19. This case
study describes how three teachers in three Colombian
state schools, where economic divides are notorious,
teach for interculturality in distance and virtual learn-
ing educational environments during the outbreak of
COVID-19. Findings indicate that teachers' approach
to interculturality could be categorized into four inter-
cultural teaching practices: 1) moving from the known
to the unknown, 2) going beyond factual information,
3) challenging existing sources, and 4) contextualizing
through authenticity. These practices offer guidance
and instructional moves about how to teach for inter-
culturality locally and worldwide.

1 | I N T RO DU CT ION

The study of interculturality in English as a foreign or second language (EFL/ESL) education has
become prominent over the past decades. Extensive research has reported students' and teach-
ers' development of interculturality through telecollaboration projects and experiences abroad

© 2023 TESOL International Association.

TESOL Journal. 2024;15:e768.    wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/tesj | 1 of 24

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(Dressler & Tweedie, 2016; Medina-López-Portillo, 2013; Olaya & Gómez, 2013). Another research
line has explored the methodologies and, more recently, the practices teachers use to foster inter-
culturality in the high school and college language curriculum (Byram & Kramsch, 2008; Crozet
& Díaz, 2020; Díaz, 2013; Kearney, 2021; Kohler, 2020; Kramsch, 2011; Menard-Warwick, 2009;
Wagner et al., 2018) as well as community-based refugee communities (Shufflebarger Snell, 2019).
Following this worldwide trend, the study of interculturality has gained significant attention
in Colombia during the last decade (Álvarez Valencia, 2014). Recent scholarship has focused on
EFL textbook analysis that orients intercultural methodologies (Gómez Rodriguez, 2015), dia-
logic interculturality (Ortiz et al., 2020), and the exploration of intercultural methodologies at
college level (Peña Dix, 2018). Even though existing research sheds light on how teachers in-
tegrate interculturality in their second language (L2) classroom, few studies have explored or
suggested intercultural teaching practices for intercultural education. More interestingly, most
research concentrates on “Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD)
societies, and particularly communities who are part of elite settings” (Henrich et al., 2010,
p. 29) with the opportunity to have telecollaboration projects and experiences abroad. In
Colombia, the interest in intercultural research notwithstanding, most work has mainly focused
on private college education. Only in a few cases has there been an interest in exploring state
secondary education (Bonilla & Cruz-Arcila, 2014; Ortiz et al., 2020; Peña Dix, 2018). Diverse
scholars (Díaz, 2013; Kramsch, 2013; Risager, 2022) argue that there is a need to delve more
deeply into the practices teachers use to teach for interculturality in their classroom, especially in
non-elite communities where inequity, lack of access, and inclusion have prevailed, particularly
during COVID-19. More specifically, Holmes and Peña Dix (2022) pointed to the need to explore
practices that serve to decentring intercultural education.
This case study describes how three EFL schoolteachers from Colombia, South America,
where economic divides are notorious, integrated interculturality in distance learning educa-
tional environments during the outbreak of COVID-19. More specifically, the study shows how
the three teachers integrated interculturality into their lessons by explaining four intercultural
teaching practices: 1) moving from the known to the unknown, 2) going beyond factual informa-
tion, 3) challenging existing sources, and 4) contextualizing through authenticity that they recur-
rently used to teach for it. This research responds to the need to provide training in intercultural
education to in-service EFL teachers in Colombia, given the new national policies to integrate
interculturality into the language curriculum. Likewise, this research responds to a worldwide
necessity for continuing intercultural education.

2 | T H EO R ET ICAL FR AM E WO RK

2.1 | Interculturality

The conceptualization of interculturality traces back to Byram's (2021) view of intercultural

competence which points to the ability to study and take part in our culture and that of oth-
ers. Byram's intercultural competence model involves the interrelation of knowledge (what one
knows about society, self, and others), attitudes (relativizing one's culture and showing open-
ness, curiosity, and awareness toward others and other cultures), skills of interpreting and relat-
ing (the ability to understand a document, scene, or event from another culture, explain it, and
compare it to events in one's own culture), skills of discovery and interaction (the development
of ethnographic and research skills to explore and interact with people from other cultures),
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and education and critical awareness (i.e., the evaluation of the social, political characteristics,
traditions, values, and practices of one's own and other cultures).
Diverse scholars, including Byram, have responded to Byram's intercultural competence
model, expanding the concept of interculturality by adding new elements that resonate with eq-
uity, social justice, power relations, and transformation. For example, Risager (2022) and Byram
(2021) have clarified that the concept of culture should not be reduced to the homogenization
of nations. Instead, the saviors knowledge, skills, and attitudes should include the exploration of
local and global issues (i.e., climate crisis, biodiversity, and racism) that portray diverse life histo-
ries, perspectives, and identities, and that explicitly allow for the identification of power relations.
This view ties to Kramsch's (2011) position in that the intercultural should reinforce the ability to
respond critically to daily interactions by “challenging established meanings, redefining the real
conventionally agreed upon” (p. 359) and exploring the power relation and ambiguities hidden
in discourse. Similarly, Guilherme (2022) has pointed to the need to address glocal realities and
respond to power relations which usually obscure the voices of the oppressed. Guilherme (2022)
has also suggested a critical awareness of interculturality that not only recognizes oppression and
differences but presents “the language of possibility,” “resistance,” and, above all, “action and
transformation” (p. 101).

2.2 | Interculturality in the Colombian curriculum

As defined in the Colombian curriculum, intercultural competence involves the development

of “the knowledge, abilities, or skills and attitudes a conversational partner or intercultural
mediator must have, supplemented by the values that make up part of a certain society and
the numerous social groups to which we belong” (Ministerio de Educación Nacional, 2016a,
p. 71).
This view implies gaining familiarization with local and new cultures, including the un-
derstanding of diversity and the acknowledgment of similarities and differences that exist in a
region. It also includes “relating and communicating among themselves in a positive and cre-
ative way based on the cultures of their surroundings and respecting their diverse identities”
(Ministerio de Educación Nacional, 2016a, p. 72), thus implying the understanding that we all
have differences even though we belong to the same community.
Grounded in the frameworks discussed, the authors' conceptualization of interculturality en-
tails an understanding, exploration, engagement, and critical view of the world that is constantly
shaped through one's interactions. This includes knowledge, exploration, critique, and transfor-
mation of local and global practices and realities as well as the study of the possible perspectives
that surround them.

2.3 | Core practices

Traditionally, teacher education programs have emphasized the teaching of foundations and
methods as sources of input for teaching in the classroom. In these professional programs, prac-
tice is never put at the center of the curriculum (Grossman & McDonald, 2008), creating a divide
between concepts and practice. To avoid this separation, Grossman and McDonald (2008) pro-
posed the organization of the curriculum around core practices that help novice teachers develop
skills, knowledge, and identity of these practices.
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Grounded in practice-based teaching, Lampert et al. (2013) define core practices as routinized
actions in the classroom which are research-based and can be enacted across different curricula
or instructional approaches. Core practices originated from STEM and have been empirically
studied in all areas across the curriculum. Brandenburg et al. (2017) explored core practices in
social justice, suggesting the practice of challenging the textbook, in which students and teachers
discuss the topics presented in the textbooks but critically question the content so as to prevent
learners from perpetuating the stereotypes and rigid views usually promoted in social justice
courses. In the field of ESL/EFL learning, Kearney (2015) investigated how two high-performing
language teachers implemented the practice of leading an open-ended discussion by providing
a tool to guide student preparation and participation, previewing relevant structures and termi-
nology, and drawing attention to symbolic forms to successfully lead open discussions. Framed
in practice-based research, intercultural teaching practices in this study refer to the recurrent
and habitual pedagogical procedures teachers use to teach for interculturality in their day-to-day
teaching practices (Lampert et al., 2013). These practices respond to existing intercultural frame-
works—that is, M. Byram's (2021) model; Risager's (2007) transcultural approach (2007); and
Kramsch's (2011) symbolic competence (2011), as well as the classroom cultures and contextual
realities teachers deal with in their communities (i.e., students' social backgrounds, economic
status, language level, and resources availability).

2.4 | Non-elite communities

The term non-elite communities refers to marginalized groups with limited opportunities to re-
spond to the ongoing needs that the changing world brings about (Souto-Manning et al., 2022).
The school communities in this study (i.e., students, teachers, and parents) have limited tech-
nological resources and funds to engage in study abroad and/or telecollaboration experiences,
including virtual learning. During COVID-19, the community even struggled to the continuity
of teaching and learning processes due to students' lack of technological access (e.g., internet
connection, computers, tablets, phones) and time to respond to school duties due to the new stu-
dents' social practices and demands (e.g., household chores, informal jobs, household support).
Therefore, during COVID-19 the school community engaged in distance learning education
which included interactions through a virtual school platform (https://​ielar​ibera.​com), where
teachers posted self-study guides bimonthly and gave students written feedback as needed. The
system also involved the creation of a self-study guide packet and delivery location for students
without internet access. Later, it included Zoom and WhatsApp sessions, where teachers went
through self-study guides and engaged students in complementary exercises.

3 | M ET H ODOLOGY

This case study is part of a larger study, a formative intervention research (Engeström et al., 2014)
in which the first author and three schoolteachers (second and third author) engaged collabora-
tively to enhance intercultural teaching in the teachers' EFL contexts. The formative intervention
involved 1) exploring the conceptualizations teachers had about interculturality, 2) familiarizing
and discussing diverse intercultural frameworks, 3) accompanying teachers in the design and im-
plementation of thematic units that integrated intercultural frameworks and responded to each
school syllabus, 4) reflecting on the implementation of the thematic units, and 5) identifying the
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recurrent practices teachers used to teach for interculturality and the challenges they experienced
when doing so. Even though the larger study addressed all five components, this case study only
reports how the three teachers attempted to integrate interculturality into their day-to -day teach-
ing practices in distance education during COVID-19 and the intercultural practices they engaged
in, that is, this case study project aims to understand “a real-world case in depth” in its specific
context (Yin, 2014). This article is anchored in one main research question: How do teachers teach
for interculturality in the EFL classroom during COVID-19 in non-elite communities?

3.1 | Context and participants

This study involved three state schools belonging to non-elite communities located in Córdoba,
Colombia, two in an urban community and one in a rural area. All three schools offer primary
and secondary education to students who come from low-income families. The most recent na-
tional demographic statistical report (DANE) indicated that 90% of these families were eligible
for the national program, which provides financial aid to unemployed parents who make less
than the standard minimum monthly wage. Participants included three experienced Spanish
speaking teachers: Luz, Joseph, and Mary. Joseph holds a bachelor's degree in language teaching
and a master's degree in education. He has been teaching for 15 years, 10 in a state school called
Alfonso Spath Spath and 13 at a state university in Córdoba. Luz holds a bachelor's degree in
language teaching and a master's degree in education. Luz has been teaching for 10 years. Nine
years ago, Luz became a part-time teacher at a state university in Córdoba. In 2015, Luz became
a full-time teacher at La Riviera School. Mary holds a bachelor's degree in language teaching and
a master's degree in education. Mary has been teaching for 7 years. Five of these were spent in
two urban private institutions in Córdoba and Sucre. In 2018, she became a full-time teacher at
Madre Berdana School.
Even though all teachers taught in-person lessons at the beginning of the school year, they
all moved to distant education due to COVID-19. During this period, schools followed the state
access-free textbooks series Way to Go! and English, Please! and a methodology that responded
to each school's new contextual realities. For example, Joseph taught four groups of A1 (i.e., stu-
dents with basic English skills, as described by the Common European Framework) eighth grad-
ers (aged 12–13) and four groups of A1 ninth graders (aged 12 to 16) through self-study guides
(see the supplementary online appendix) that students picked up at their schools, answered at
home, and returned back for the teachers' feedback. Luz taught four groups of A1 eight graders
(aged 13–17) by posting self-study guides on the school virtual platform that she later discussed
either via Zoom or asynchronous WhatsApp interactions. Luz also responded to students' work
through written feedback. Mary taught five groups of A1 ninth graders using self-study guides
that students picked up at their schools accompanied by asynchronous Facebook, WhatsApp
sessions, and written feedback. Even though teachers offered classes via Zoom, Facebook, and
WhatsApp, most interactions occurred through written feedback due to students' limited inter-
net access and technological resources.

3.2 | Researcher positionality

The article's first author is a female professor of English language teaching (ELT) at a state uni-
versity in Colombia who holds a bachelor's degree in teaching English as a foreign language and
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a master's degree in education with an emphasis in L2 teaching. At the time of the study, she
was a PhD candidate in applied linguistics in the United States, conducting her dissertation with
Mary, Luz, and Joseph. She has known these teachers for approximately 13 years. She is a former
teacher of Mary and Luz, and she has been Luz's and Joseph's colleague for 6 and 10 years, re-
spectively. She was the head of the English Department at the university where Luz and Joseph
work as part time teachers before she enrolled in her doctoral studies. After completing her doc-
toral studies, she invited the schoolteachers to work on this article, and two of them—Luz and
Mary— accepted.

3.3 | Data collection sources

Due to pandemic-related restrictions, data collection took place online using the virtual plat-
forms Zoom, Google Drive, and WhatsApp. While the virtual platform Zoom facilitated the video
recording of the entire data collection process including focus group meetings, interviews, and
stimulated recall interviews, Google Drive and WhatsApp served to share school and classroom
artifacts and interactions.
Data sources included 10 two-hour-and-a-half focus group meetings (Vaughn et al., 1996) that
served the exploration of existing intercultural frameworks and 6 two-hour semi-structured in-
terviews for each teacher (Kvale & Brinkmann, 2015) that shed light on teachers' conceptualiza-
tion of interculturality and the way they integrated it in the classroom.
Other data sources included school and classroom artifact analysis such as school syllabus,
school curriculum, and self-study guides (Merriam, 2009), classroom observations carried out via
Zoom and WhatsApp (Erickson, 1986), and stimulated recall interviews (Gass & Mackey, 2000)
after each classroom observation. While the first author joined the Zoom classes synchronically,
she joined the WhatsApp groups where the teacher explained the content of the self-study guides
asynchronically. The combination of these sources served to identify the intercultural teaching
practices teachers used to teach for interculturality.

3.4 | Data analysis

This data analysis involved an iterative process that started while the data collection was ongo-
ing (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Zoom and WhatsApp transcripts as well as self-study guides were
analyzed to identify the recurrent intercultural practices that teachers used to teach for intercul-
turality during COVID-19. This involved diverse rounds of coding (see the supplementary online
appendix). To begin, the first author moved to open coding, attributing names to specific parts of
the data (Figure 1) that suggested intercultural teaching practices (e.g., reinforcing local culture,
responding to what, where, and who of the reading texts).
After this process, she went through another round of coding, listing the codes and describing
certain preliminary assertions (Figure 2) in relation to teachers' existing practices (e.g., teachers
prefer discussing local culture first, or teachers want to provide a context to the lessons). In a third
review of the data, she merged the codes (Figure 3) and wrote a memo listing the combination
of codes and new assertions (e.g., teachers explore the local before the foreign, or teachers prefer
contextualizing the lessons). A fourth revision of the data led the first author to the identification
of emerging themes and categories (Figure 4; also, Braun & Clarke, 2006) that constituted the
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shared the analysis with the second and third author of the article for member-checking pur-
intercultural teaching practices teachers habitually engaged in. As a final stage, the first author
|   

Preliminary codes and assertions.

Attributing names to the data.

poses and reliability.

FIGURE 2
FIGURE 1
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FIGURE 3 Merging codes.

FIGURE 4 Categories.

4 | F I NDI N G S

After analyzing each teacher's planning, group meetings, classroom interactions, stimulated
recall interviews, and interviews, it was possible to identify four intercultural teaching prac-
tices: 1) moving from the known to the unknown, 2) going beyond factual information, 3)
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FIGURE 5 Daily water activities and water consumption.

challenging existing sources, and 4) contextualizing through authenticity that teachers used to
teaching for interculturality in their non-elite communities. This section illustrates how each
was realized.

4.1 | Moving from the known to the unknown

Moving from the known to the unknown consists of exploring the “local” before moving onto
what is unknown to the students, including regional, national, or foreign products or prac-
tices new to learners. Within this intercultural teaching practice, the teachers underscore
the exploration of local realities since, as Joseph claimed, “what textbooks and other sources
usually present as ‘local’ or ‘common’ constitutes something new or foreign to students.” For
example, “it seems odd to start weather lessons by pointing to the seasons, as textbooks sug-
gest, since there is no such concept in Colombia. Therefore, it is better to remind students of
our weather variations before moving to a completely unknown topic” (Study Group N7, July
4, 2020).
Mary's thematic unit on water consumption and water collection practices exemplifies this
teaching practice. To start the thematic unit, Mary prompted students to refer to their daily activ-
ities and explore the amount of water their daily activities require (Figure 5). As Mary explained
in Study Group N9, “the textbook English, Please! 1 introduces the thematic unit presenting ac-
tivities new to the students (e.g., water the plants, do the laundry), so I started with something
they were more familiar with to dig into their local practices and explore all variations” (Study
Group N9, August 1, 2020). This variation was evidenced in the WhatsApp asynchronous class-
room interaction1 students had with the teacher when responding to their daily water activities,
as Excerpt 1 illustrates.

1
WhatsApp interactions were transcribed verbatim.
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FIGURE 6 World water crisis.

Excerpt 1. Daily water activities.

Teacher: Example: I use water to brush my teeth
XXXXXX55292: I use water to cook.
XXXXXX5629: I use water to take a shower.
XXXXXX4529: I use water to brush my teeth, I use water to bathe my pet.
XXXXXX3528: I use water to wash the dishes, I use water to mop my house.
XXXXXX1567: I use water to wash the floor.

As illustrated in Figure 5 and Excerpt 1, whereas some students referred to common daily activities
(e.g., taking a shower), others pointed to home chores (e.g., washing the dishes), which are com-
mon practices among students in non-elite communities and are usually underrepresented in lan-
guage textbooks. Aware of the local context, Mary, in this case, insisted on exploring local practices
with her students before exploring unknown ones. After discussing water practices locally, Mary
moved to exploring foreign water practices and the existing world water crisis. To this end, Mary
presented an infographic that summarized the global shortage of water and pointed to the specific
places where this problem is more severe (Figure 6). She accompanied the infographic with a pre-
sentation of water collection practices in places where water is scarce, using authentic pictures that
illustrated local and foreign practices (Figure 7). In short, Mary explored local water practices with
students (i.e., what is known: doing chores, transporting water using animals) before introducing
them to foreign ones (i.e., using a well hand pump to collect water) at the time she introduced them
to a worldwide problem.

4.2 | Going beyond factual information: Exploring practices and

products more deeply

Going beyond factual information involves exploring and understanding the variety of perspec-
tives embedded in cultural products and practices. As the teachers concluded in Study Group N8,
even though the presentation and exploration of “factual” information is necessary to the study

2
We substituted XXX.… for real names to preserve anonymity.
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SAGRE et al.    | (11 of 24)

FIGURE 7 Local and foreign practices to collect water.

of interculturality, “it is not enough” because the sole study of facts can lead to generalizations
and stereotyping (Study Group N8, July 18). Going beyond factual information presupposes dig-
ging into perspectives (the possible meanings embedded in the existing products and practices
and its origins) through reflection, exploring students' points of view, and expanding existing
content.
Mary's lesson about water consumption moved from identifying water activities and collec-
tion practices to explore the possible perspectives embedded in them. To this end, Mary pointed
to water collection practices, brainstormed the places the pictures belong to, and posed questions
to inquire about her students' awareness of this local and global problem. In the WhatsApp inter-
actions, it was noticeable that students could make a connection between the pictures that illus-
trated the practices (Figure 8) and the crisis they pointed to. The students associated the pictures
with La Guajira and Santa Marta (two Colombian cities that face severe water shortage), India,
and Africa, recognizing the worldwide crisis (XXXXXX5858: In the pictures people take water
from tanks, others carry pots on their heads. There are many people who do not have access to
water). Mary further elaborated on students' responses, pointing to the local and global crisis
thus embedded:

So, it's true around in the 🌎 people struggle with water. Aquí en Colombia es muy
común observar en las noticias la situación de la Guajira, pero no es solo en ese lugar.
Muchas ciudades y municipios de Colombia también se encuentran afectados por
la escasez de agua. [Here in Colombia, it is common to observe this situation in La
Guajira; however, it is not just that place. There are many cities in Colombia that are
also affected by this situation]. The pictures, for example, were taken in Sahagun,
Colombia; Yemen, Asia; India, Asia; Kenya, Africa; Planeta Rica, Colombia; and
Birmania, Asia.
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FIGURE 8 Water practices.

The presentation and exploration of local and global water collection practices helped students iden-
tify a common problem in developing countries, particularly in non-elite communities, that has long
existed and needs attention.
In a subsequent activity, Mary presented another set of pictures that portrayed a different reality (see
Figure 8), asking students to identify the practices they saw in the pictures and drawing parallels
between them to explore the possible perspectives embedded in these practices.
When responding to the set of questions, students not only associated the pictures with foreign
places (e.g., Florida, California) but reacted critically to the people's use of water somewhere else,
arguing that “they [people in Florida or California] build water parks because they do not have a
water crisis” (WhatsApp interaction, 10/2/20, 2:15:16 PM: XXXXXX7687). They also criticized this
practice as unfair since “rather than constructing parks, they should look at the worldwide crisis
and respond to it” (WhatsApp interaction, [10/2/20, 5:44:04 PM: XXXXXX 5956). These reactions
led Mary to explore more deeply into students' critical position, clarifying that there are water parks
in Colombia as well, and in some cases these national institutions invest money to respond to local
needs. This analysis became a springboard to introduce students to the final project of the thematic
unit: the presentation of local solutions to address the existing worldwide practice. In short, Mary
helped students understand the existing world water crisis, reflect about it, and suggest ways to
respond to this global problem, thus going beyond factual information. One of the most interesting
aspects in this part of the lesson is that, rather than focusing on the foreign water practices and the
idealization of this conduct, as is common in language textbooks, students contrasted the practices
and critically responded to the divide that exists between developed and developing countries.

4.3 | Challenging existing sources

Challenging the textbook or existing sources includes questioning the content presented in text-
books, books, and conversations by giving students opportunities to voice their positions and
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SAGRE et al.    | (13 of 24)

search for new meanings. Teachers agreed that this practice is necessary given that textbooks
present a narrow view of cultural elements, propagating stereotypes.
Luz's thematic unit about citizenship and its corresponding Zoom interactions mirror this
teaching practice. In Luz's view, the textbook Way to Go! 8th presents “a narrow-minded view of
Colombians,” which could easily lead to stereotyping. Luz commented in the Stimulated Recall
Interview N1 that the textbook introduces the unit about democracy and citizenship by inquiring
whether Colombians have emotional intelligence or not and then discusses how Colombians could
improve their emotional intelligence, which she finds biased given that the textbook “assumes that
we [Colombians] do not have emotional intelligence” (Stimulated Recall Interview N1, July 23,
2020). Therefore, when exploring the reading text about emotional intelligence with her students
via Zoom, Luz opted to ask an open question (What do you think?) about the text and explored their
opinions rather than following the activity provided in the textbook (i.e., Discuss how Colombians
could improve their emotional intelligence to be better citizens), as Excerpt 2 illustrates.

Excerpt 2. Do Colombians have emotional intelligence?

S1 reads the first part about the emotional intelligence story (Figure 9) and the
teacher asks about students' opinions.
Teacher: What do you think? Do you agree or disagree?
S1: I agree.
Teacher: Do you agree that ALL Colombians are like this ((points to the reading))?
S2: Disagree
Teacher: Why Guillermo do you disagree?
S2: Because not all people are intolerant.
Another student then reads the other part of the text.
Teacher: V: ery good, very good presentation who agrees with this person ((points to
the reading))?
Teacher: Bryan, do you agree or disagree?
S3: Agree.
Teacher: Por qué estas de acuerdo con esta idea [Why do you agree with this idea],
why do you agree with this idea?
S3: No se [I don't know].
Teacher: We have different kinds of people, and it depends on the different
personalities.

As the excerpt illustrates, rather than presenting a single position about Colombians' emotional in-
telligence, Luz asked students whether they agreed with the texts in the textbook, to which students
responded presenting two different points of view. Then, she elaborated on Guillermo's response

FIGURE 9 Emotional intelligence.

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(14 of 24) |    SAGRE et al.

helping students decenter from the stereotype embedded in the language textbook which portrays
Colombians as citizens who lack emotional intelligence. After listening to S3, who agrees with the
idea that Colombians do not have emotional intelligence, Luz elaborated on it by explaining that
Colombians have different personalities, which could prevent students from making generaliza-
tions. To further explore the topic of democracy, citizenship, and emotional intelligence, she pointed
to a debatable topic that had hit foreign headlines (a fuel truck explosion in Tasajera, Colombia that
left seven people dead and 46 wounded; see https://​www.​taiwa​nnews.​com.​tw/​en/​news/​3977414 for
the news), asking students to voice their opinions about the situation and worldwide reactions to it.
Excerpt 3 illustrates the classroom interaction.

Excerpt 3. Exploring the Tasajera explosion.

Teacher: Now I want you to look at this problem ((points to the picture in figure 10))
and tell me what you think about this situation. In these headlines ((shows two
headlines from two foreign newspapers she browsed from Google: On the morning
of July 6, many in Tasajera saw the fuel truck's crash as an opportunity for some
extra money; Colombians rob fuel truck in Tasajera causing death to 22 people) they
are mentioning the words ROB ((points to the word rob)) and DESPERATION, des-
peration. What do yo::u think?
Teacher: What they did was a good action or a bad action? Lo que hicieron esas
personas fue una [what they did was] good action or a bad action? Do they have
emotional intelligence?
S1: It was a bad action.
Teacher: Como citizen esto fue [As a citizen you would say that was] good or bad?
S2: Bad.
Teacher: Ud dice que fue [You said it was] bad pero pueden entender lo que ellos
hicieron [but can you understand why they did it]?
S2: Por necesidad si [Yes because they were in need].
Teacher: Okay, very good. We have to understand others' points of view y eso es ser
un [and that is to be a] good citizen.
S3: Debemos tener en cuenta la necesidad que ellos tenían con esta pandemia no
sabemos qué situación que ellos tenían por eso por la necesidad, hay que entenderlos
[We have to take into account that we do not know about their needs amid COVID.
We do not know what they have gone through, so many necessities, we have to un-
derstand them].
Teacher: Uds creen que [Do you think] all Colombians behave that way all
Colombians behave that way ((points to picture about the explosion))?
S3: Yo creo que muy pocos.
Teacher: En inglés diríamos [In English we would say] all Colombians or a few
Colombians?
S3: A few Colombians.
Teacher: People from other countries ((points to the headlines)) say that all
Colombians are that way, that we are stupid, but we must understand people's
thoughts, understand people's feelings, understand people's situations without
generalizing.

As seen from the conversation, Luz allows students to voice their views about the headlines and then
moves to dig more deeply into their responses by challenging the headline contents, thus helping
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SAGRE et al.    | (15 of 24)

FIGURE 10 Tasajera's explosion.

students recognize the stereotype embedded in it. Interestingly, S3 explained the reason behind
the citizens' conduct as relating to the local crisis caused by COVID-19. Next, Luz asks whether all
Colombians show similar conducts to emphasize the need to avoid generalizations, which could help
them question such stereotypes when dealing with new sources. In the stimulated recall interview
following the classroom interaction, Luz commented that the discussion about Tasajera occurred
spontaneously because she thought this could help students voice their opinions about a situation in
which the press had stereotyped Colombians as “narrow-minded, stupid robbers” (Stimulated Recall
Interview, Luz 23, 2020). Therefore, she thought it was an opportunity to not only show contrasting
viewpoints and have students react to them, as Kramsch (2011) suggests, but also to expand existing
content and challenge it as well.

4.4 | Contextualizing through authenticity

Contextualizing through authenticity implies moving beyond the superficial situations that text-
books usually present by situating these practices. Teachers commented in Study Group N7 that
more often than not the textbooks mention common practices (e.g., complaints or environmental
problems) without specifying who performs them or the places involved, using generic terms
such as people, those places, we, and they. Aware of this reality, the teachers attempted to con-
textualize their thematic unit contents by using authentic materials and authentic in-house ma-
terials that go beyond the study of language structures and familiarize students with authentic
representations of the practices and products discussed.
Joseph's ninth graders' thematic unit about complaints counters the contextualization of cul-
tural and intercultural practices. Originally, the textbook Way to Go! 8th initiates the lesson by
matching common misbehavior patterns with their corresponding pictures (Figure 11). Next, it
moves to select common neighbor complaints by listening to a radio program that describes ter-
rible neighbors (Figure 12). Finally, it asks students to roleplay common complaints (e.g., people
fighting, a dog barking, a child crying, loud music, and bad smells) by using certain expressions
 19493533, 2024, 2, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/tesj.768 by University Of Edinburgh, Wiley Online Library on [18/11/2024]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
(16 of 24) |    SAGRE et al.

FIGURE 11 Good and bad neighbors.

(e.g., I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you, please accept my apologies). Joseph opted to
modify the lesson because, he claimed, “the textbook points to ‘superficial complaints’ that may or
may not affect their students. The listening exercise also asks them to select the neighbors' com-
plaints without explaining who these people are, the community they belong to, the way the com-
plaint is addressed, where this radio program is aired, and more importantly, what the language or
the specific way they use to express these complaints is” (Study group N9, August 1, 2020).
Joseph situated the practice by illustrating a common complaint in students' neighborhoods
and asking students how they usually respond to it (Figure 13). Next, he explored other common
complaints students have in their neighborhoods by presenting a picture that illustrates specific
examples (Figure 14). By doing this, Joseph moves beyond the presentation of superficial prac-
tices to situate it locally.
After exploring local complaints, Joseph illustrated other examples by showing a neighbor's
complaint from the United Kingdom (Figure 15) and then asked some reflection questions (e.g.,
How do they complain? How do they respond to the complaints?) that sought to point to the
language used in the different situations and the ways people respond to them. In short, Joseph
contextualized the topic by exploring ordinary complaints in their local context and familiarizing
students with complaint practices elsewhere, specifying the place, actors, and the language used,
features which are hardly ever presented in language textbooks.

5 | DI S C USSION

Findings indicate that teachers enacted four leading intercultural teaching practices that respond
to diverse intercultural frameworks and schools' contextual realities, embracing a concept of in-
terculturality that is not limited to foreign countries, but explores local cultures. Teachers selected
topics that reflect local and worldwide cultural practices and problems accompanied by teaching
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| (17 of 24)
  

Neighbors' complaints (audio script).

FIGURE 12
SAGRE et al.
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(18 of 24) |    SAGRE et al.

FIGURE 13 Reactions to a local complaint.

FIGURE 14 Common complaints.

procedures and resources (self-study guides, WhatsApp) students could access during the outbreak
of COVID-19. Moving from the known to the unknown can shed light on how to engage students in
the study of interculturality because it reinforces the study of local topics in depth, as suggested in
the Colombian curriculum and other frameworks (Risager, 2007, 2022) before moving to foreign or
global issues. This orientation can help students construct a personal culture identity (Short, 2009;
Crozet & Díaz, 2020; Risager, 2022; Ministerio Educación Nacional, 2016a) that becomes a spring-
board for studying these and other global topics. This practice also ties to Kramsch's (2013) position
that it is the recognition of the known which helps us understand the unknown. This intercultural
practice also responds to the so-called question language teachers have long asked: (what to teach
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SAGRE et al.    | (19 of 24)

FIGURE 15 Neighbor complaint form.

when dealing with culture in the classroom?) by addressing the interrelation of local practices from
the onset. Moving beyond factual information constitutes a significant pedagogical tool in that it
allows for the exploration of the origins and meanings of existing cultural products and practices
in order to understand the possible perspectives embedded in them. This exploration can lead to
an in-depth study of global cultures and help to understand and critically react to global issues. In
Mary's unit, students critically responded to the common water practices in First World countries,
a critical position much needed in EFL teaching and intercultural education (Risager, 2022). Going
beyond factual information goes beyond the study of the four Fs commonly presented in language
textbooks by prompting learners to understand the origin of cultural products and practices, the per-
spectives embedded in them, and their critical position about cultural topics. Challenging textbooks
and existing sources contribute to exploring and questioning the meanings embedded in discourse
to gain a broader perspective of the positions presented in textbooks and any other pedagogical
sources (Brandenburg et al., 2017; Crozet & Díaz, 2020; Kramsch, 2011; Núñez Pardo, 2022). Luz
mentioned that the English textbook and international news give a narrow and stereotypical view
of who Colombians are and their cultural practices. This limited perspective encouraged her to
explore other opinions and meanings, which, in her view, help students achieve a more nuanced
perspective of Colombians' practices during a socioeconomic crisis. This vision and proceedings re-
spond to Kramsch's (2011) view about the need to explore the diverse meanings of discourse as well
as Risager's (2007, 2022) and Guilherme's (2022) position to explore and react to power relations
which usually neglect the voices of the oppressed and non-elite communities. In this case, students
could identify how the international press stereotyped the citizens of a Third World country. This
practice helps teachers and students reorient the content and power relations presented in lan-
guage textbooks, an area much needed in language education. Contextualizing through authentic-
ity contributes to exploring cultural aspects that are usually underplayed or unnoticed in language
textbooks by using authentic and in-house authentic materials to visualize these cultural products
and practices clearly.
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(20 of 24) |    SAGRE et al.

These four intercultural teaching practices offer guidance and instructional moves about
how to enact the teaching of interculturality locally responding to the national requirements in
Colombia and worldwide by following a perspective that involves critical thinking, awareness,
and action. Likewise, these practices could inform other areas of study such as social justice,
decoloniality, and critical pedagogy. The guidelines presented in the practice can orient language
education in distance learning environments, as was the case of this study, and in person edu-
cation locally and worldwide. As illustrated above, the self-study guides contained multimodal
texts (e.g., colorful images, charts, infographics; Abraham & Farías, 2017), authentic materials
(e.g., international newspapers; Gilmore, 2007; Tomlinson, 2001), and authentic in-house ma-
terials (i.e., materials that attend to local needs, memes about local complaints; Tomlinson &
Masuhara, 2010) that reduced the semiotic load and could facilitate students' understanding of
the thematic content. In Joseph's self-study guides, these materials aided the understanding of
concepts such as complaints. During the asynchronous and synchronous interactions, teachers'
codeswitching (i.e., use of the L1 and the L2; Grosjean,1995), affiliative language (i.e., funny
emojies and memes known by students; Adams, 2013), and embodied tools (e.g., gaze, gestur-
ing, proxemics in Luz’ case when introducing Tasajera's news) facilitated L2 understanding. For
example, Mary used code-switching when explaining the topics in the WhatsApp asynchronous
interactions to help students understand the world water crisis and allowed them to voice their
perspectives about the topics. Likewise, Luz used multimodal texts, code-switching, and embod-
ied tools (i.e., gaze, gesturing) to facilitate students' understanding of controversial topics (e.g.,
the social problem in Tasajera) and allowed them to challenge the textbook and existing sources.
Extensive research has documented teachers' view of interculturality as well their intercultural
teaching practices (Castro et al., 2004; Collings, 2007; Crozet & Díaz, 2020; Sercu, 2005). Most
of these studies concluded that teachers traditionally favor language objectives over culture or
intercultural objectives. In those cases where cultural objectives are presented, topics are treated
superficially and focus on tourism and the homogenization of nations. Whereas teachers in this
study concurred with this reality, it is interesting to observe how these topics and objectives be-
came a springboard to explore these topics in depth in classroom interactions (Phipps, 2008). For
example, even though Mary's thematic unit started with the identification of daily water activi-
ties, she later moved to the discussion of the world water crisis, thus raising awareness of a local
and worldwide problem (Byram et al., 2016; Porto, 2016; Risager, 2022).
Luz combined the study of grammar topics while she explored a local problem that has hit the
headlines internationally, thus encouraging students to examine diverse and hidden meanings of
discourse and identify stereotypical labels (Kramsch, 2013).
Likewise, research (Castro et al., 2004; Crozet & Díaz, 2020; Gómez Rodríguez (2015);
Risager, 2018; Sercu, 2005) has indicated that teachers select lesson objectives and topics based
on their textbooks, resulting in the study of superficial topics and activities. Crozet and Díaz's
recent work (2020) described how most teachers limit their classroom intercultural interactions
to the discussion of touristic and superficial cultural topics presented in textbooks. In the few
cases where teachers challenge the content, they reduce their contributions to the sharing of
anecdotes. This conclusion ties to Sercu's (2000) earlier assertion that

Foreign-language textbooks continue to play a central role in foreign language ed-

ucation, and many teachers, especially at beginner and intermediate levels, tend to
teach by the book. This is no surprise; textbooks indeed continue to use traditional
approaches to culture teaching, including practically no learning activities that aim
to develop the learners' culture learning skills or intercultural competence. (p. 31)
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SAGRE et al.    | (21 of 24)

Interestingly, even though teachers in this study used the state language textbooks, they went be-
yond their content by exploring them in depth. This exploration unveiled the narrow vision pre-
sented in textbooks and led teachers to consolidate the practices of “challenging existing sources and
contextualizing through authenticity,” allowing them to comply with the textbook's objectives while
going beyond its content. While Luz, Mary, and Joseph designed their thematic units following the
topics suggested by the textbooks Way to Go! and English, Please!, they added authentic texts to their
lessons. For example, Luz used a text presented in the textbook Way to Go! 8th and asked students to
question its meaning and voice their position about Colombians' emotional intelligence, while Mary
went beyond the generalizations of the textbook English, Please! 1 by exploring the world water crisis
in depth. All in all, this intercultural journey manifests an emerging concept of interculturality that
acknowledges the study of foreign cultures but digs deep into local cultural practices.

6 | CO N C LUSION

The intercultural teaching practices indicate the teachers' interest to decisively integrate inter-
culturality in their day-to-day teaching practices in struggling times where in-person education
was restricted. In general, teachers valued the exploration and diversity of local cultures and
integrated a sense of sensitivity, curiosity, and above all critical awareness and thinking. These
practices orient the integration of interculturality in language classes because they provide in-
structional moves and tools teachers can adopt and adapt to facilitate intercultural learning.
For the implementation of these practices, we suggest that teachers expand the concept of in-
terculturality by exploring local cultural practices and challenging the hidden power relations and
meanings presented in existing discourses through critical questioning. As was presented in the
findings, textbooks and social media portray distorted practices and realities that usually go unno-
ticed by readers. It is the teacher's role to point to and uncover them. We also suggest that teachers
1) explore complexity in relation to the economic, social, political, aesthetic, moral, historical,
and geographical contexts of a cultural group (Short, 2009); 2) dig more deeply into the “local
and global issues to understand their complexity and take action in their lives” (Short, 2009, p. 7;
Guilherme, 2022); and 3) create a cultural awareness that help students transform existing realities
(Guilherme, 2022). As mentioned above, it is our goal is to show that these practices and pedagog-
ical moves could orient the teaching of interculturality from a critical perspective that help raise
the voices of non-elite communities worldwide. It is the ongoing questioning of textbooks' instruc-
tions, texts, and discourses which could help students decenter from the existing stereotypes and
colonial cultural and intercultural perspectives presented in language textbooks and other sources.

ACKNO​WLE​DGE​MENTS
We thank Mary and Yuly for their participation in this study. We also thank Adriana Díaz,
Beatrice Dupuy, Marieta Ruiz, and the peer reviewers for their great contributions.

ORCID
Leonardo Pacheco Machado https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1440-2580

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AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES

Anamaria Sagre is a full-time teacher-educator at the Universidad de Córdoba (Montería,

Colombia), where she works as a teacher trainer in the Department of Foreign Languages.
Her research focuses on foreign language teacher preparation, L2 learning, social interaction,
and interculturality.

Leonardo Pacheco Machado holds a master's degree in education from Universidad del
Norte. He is a full-time English language teacher at a state school in Córdoba, Colombia.
His work relates to the adaptation and contextualization of national language policies and
Interculturality.

Yurisan Tordecilla Zumaquè holds a master of arts in education from Universidad Internacional
Iberoamericana. She is a full-time English language teacher at a state school in Córdoba,
Colombia. Her work relates to bilingualism, social interaction, language, and culture.

SUPPORTING INFORMATION
Additional supporting information can be found online in the Supporting Information section at
the end of this article.

How to cite this article: Sagre, A., Machado, L. P. & Zumaquè, Y. T. (2024).
Intercultural teaching practices in the EFL classroom: The case of non-elite communities.
TESOL Journal, 15, e768. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesj.768