Transcultural awareness development in language teacher education in Argentina

This study investigates teacher candidates’ transcultural awareness development in an English language teacher education program in Argentina. Baker’s recently revised model of intercultural and transcultural awareness was used retrospectively as theoretical and analytical foundation in an online project undertaken in 2013 between 100 Argentinian and 75 Italian language undergraduates who communicated online using English as Lingua Franca (ELF) to address the theme of mural art and graffiti. Data was comprised of recorded Skype conversations, collaboratively created murals and graffiti, the Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters, and civic action artefacts. Findings show that students deployed the various components of transcultural awareness in their intercultural encounters in fluid and dynamic ways. The study fills two gaps in the literature, namely the little existing research beyond the Asian Pacific region and Europe, and methodological limitations. Implications for the potential of Baker’s updated model in methodological and pedagogical terms are considered.