Interpretation of the value-based meanings of a foreign culture text when developing intercultural communicative competence

In the context of cultural diversity, the key objective of higher education is to develop intercultural communicative competence (ICC) in students which includes not only knowledge and skills, but also a value component. However, the existing methods used at Russian universities are insufficient to work with the value-based meanings of foreign culture literary texts. The article aims to devise and test a technique for interpreting the value-based meanings of foreign culture texts by Russian-speaking students (using A. Nerkagi’s novella "White Reindeer Moss") to address the challenges of developing ICC in a multicultural community. The originality of the study is determined by the uniqueness of the empirical basis. Firstly, it includes a foreign culture text written by a representative of the indigenous people of the North. Secondly, we created a corpus of student interpretations of this text, namely written responses or reflective notes by firstand second-year students of Tyumen State University. The article proposes a model to form the value component of students’ ICC. The model consists of four stages: (1) identification and analysis of key words of a culture; familiarisation with the values ​ of another culture; (2) interpretation of value-based meanings. The other two stages include (3) acceptance, i. e., recognition of the equality of the values ​ of native and foreign cultures in communication; (4) integration of the values ​ of another culture into communicative practice. The article details the first three stages of modelling the ICC value component. Recognising and interpreting Nenets values ​ in literary texts broaden students’ cultural thesaurus. Moreover, students rethink their own value systems, become aware of ethnocentrism and overcome it. Most Russianspeaking students accept the existence of foreign cultural values, demonstrate empathy for the novella characters, acknowledge the importance of Nenets values ​ for the Nenets themselves; however, they emphasise the difficulty of holding onto them. ICC is formed gradually starting with the first acquaintance, comprehension, and followed by attempts to accept the value orientations of another culture in order to successfully communicate with its representatives. This article describes our methodology for working with the value plane of foreign culture texts. It combines linguocultural analysis of cultural keywords with reflective practices. A rubric for expert progress assessment (recognition – interpretation – acceptance) is proposed. It enables one to diagnose the gap between empathy and the willingness to have regard for foreign cultural values in communication. This methodology is replicable and can be useful to practicing ICC teachers.

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