Exploring The Use Of ‘inside The American Kitchen’ Instructional Videos In Developing The Learners’ Intercultural Competence In The American Cultural Center Of Algiers (acca).

Résumé: The present study investigates the educational potential of the American Cultural Center of Algiers’ (ACCA) learners and how one of their programmes may enhance their Intercultural Competence (IC). This research is centered around two objectives. First it aims at exploring the extent to which the learners of the ACCA are competent and qualified while being exposed to the target culture. Second, it strives to examine how the culinary videos entitled ‘Inside the American Kitchen’ used by the US embassy in Algeria as a cultural exchange programme between Algeria and America are effective to enhance the learners’ IC. In order to accurately describe the phenomenon, test the accuracy of the hypotheses and answer the research questions, a mixed-methods approach was adopted in the process of data collection and analysis. A questionnaire comprising twenty one (21) items was administered to a sample group of fifty three (53) participants in order to assess their IC and to identify their perception about the culinary videos as a learning tool to improve their IC. Furthermore, two videos of ‘Inside the American Kitchen’ programme were randomly selected and thoroughly scrutinised. The data collected from the closed-ended items of the questionnaire were analysed quantitatively relying on Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). In contrast, the interpretation of the results obtained from the open-ended questions and the selected videos were analysed using the Qualitative Content Analysis (QCA) adopting Deardorff’s (2006) Process Model of Intercultural Competence. The results of the questionnaire have revealed that the participants of this study claim to be interculturally competent. In addition, the basic components of the theoretical framework namely; attitudes, knowledge and skills have proved to be present in the videos to different extents ; attitude and knowledge are the elements which are more prevalent in the videos whereas for skills is less common .This indicates that the videos are useful in enhancing the learners’ IC. As a result, they can be used as a pedagogical aid to support the students learning process

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