Thirdness and its bearings on students’ views of the ‘Other’: Tying the knot between the literary and the intercultural

Abstract

Admittedly, English language teaching philosophy should not include preaching about linguistic and communicative skills solely. The shortcomings of the preceding approaches result in students being unable to solve problems of cultural clashes, probable to take place in learning English. Hence, the insertion of the intercultural paradigm as a new educational philosophy facilitates the process of discovering other foreign cultural dimensions and enjoying that cultural difference most importantly. It gives for urging students to get along with the calls of active learning in creating a third space of interculturality from which to consider the other. The world of literature is a perfect depiction of the sociocultural realities of people and so it offers a short path through the way of learning about certain social conducts that were up till then alien. Equipping students with aspects of thirdness will help them develop positive perceptions towards the content being read in English. This paper provides the theoretical background that led to the inclusion of the concept of thirdness with its relation to language and literary text. It also suggests some classroom activities for the sake of fostering a positive stance towards the foreign culture.