INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE IN CEFR: IMPLEMENTATION IN PRACTICE

! "#$ #. %& ': "%( ) ) . – 2019. – * 1. 75 methodical foundations of preparation of future Humanities teacher for professional activity in polysubject educational environment] / Ye.O. Spivakovska.– Ternopil, 2016.– 467 s. 15. Tereshchuk D. H. Formuvannia u studentiv filolohichnykh spetsialnostei inshomovnykh komunikatyvnykh stratehii z vykorystanniam movlennievykh symuliatsii [Development of communicative strategies with the use of speech simulations in the students majoring in Philology]. Dys. kand. ped. n. 13.00.02. – Ternopil, 2012. – 222 s. 16. Torichnyi O.V. Teoriia i praktyka formuvannia viiskovo-spetsialnoi kompetentnosti maibutnikh ofitserivprykordonnykiv u protsesi navchannia : monohrafiia [Theory and practice of development of militaryoriented competence of future border guard officers in the study process: monograph] / O. V.Torichnyi; Nats. akad. Derzh. prykordon. sluzhby Ukrainy im. B. Khmelnytskoho. – Khmelnytskyi : Vyd-vo Nats. akad. DPSU, 2012. – 535 c. 17. Chalyi O.V. Synerhetyka yak suchasna metodolohiia neperervnoi profesiinoi osvity [Synergetics as a modern methodology of continuous professional education] / O.V. Chalyi // Neperervna profesiina osvita: Filosofiia, pedahohichni paradyhmy, prohnoz / APN Ukrainy, In-t pedahohiky i psykholohii prof. osvity APN Ukrainy. Kyiv : Naukova dumka, 2003. S. 277-344. 18. Shapar V.B. Slovar prakticheskogo psikhologa [Dictionary of a practical psychologist] / Viktor Borisovich Shapar. -M .: OOO «Izd-vo AST». M .: «Torsing», 2004. 734 s. 19. Haken H., Portugali J. A synergetic interpretation of cue-dependent prospective memory // Cognitive Processing. – 2005. – Vol. 6. – . 87-97. 20. Hertel J., Millers B., Usingsimulations to promote learning in higher education: an introduction. – 1st ed. – USA Stylus Publishing, LLc, 2002. – 182 p.

Ukrainian educational context is on the process of development and the notion of intercultural competence has not been set up yet. The importance of teaching culture in the context of second language teaching is evident; therefore, the idea of integrative language and culture teaching is essensial and has been closely studied.
The article aims at demonstrating the idea of integration of intercultural competence in Ukrainian national curriculum of second language teaching and presenting the syllabus of an optinal course which aims at teaching culture. To accomplish the aim, the issues of theoretical background, CEFR and intercultural dimension, Ukrainian theoretical ideas and curriculum, cultural competences, a course of cultural study are going to be discussed.
Having analyzed the ideas, terms, notions which form the foundation of Ukrainian methodology concerning intercultural study, we may indicate the following concepts.
The consideration of ideas which lie underneath the contemporary concepts of culture study made us look back at the history of teaching foreign culture. The summarized information on the history of cultural studies is well presented in a work by E. Murphy where four approaches have been defined and analyzed: audio-visual, communicative, civilization module, intercultural approach.
Audio-visual approach presents the idea of culture not being taught separately, but in combination with language teaching. The approach stresses cultural similarity and collective identification, consequently culture is considered to be a part of language study presenting the paradigm 'culture within language'.
Communicative approach does not regard culture as a separate phenomenon to be taught, therefore it is presented in combination with language teaching. On the contrary to previous approach, diversity within culture is stressed, so teaching acquires meaning of "the culture through communication".
Civilization module considers teaching culture as an objective, so in this approach both language and culture are stressed as important issues to be taught.
Intercultural approach means teaching culture as an objective, as it includes non-observable, subjective phenomena in its definition of culture. The slogan of this approach is 'language within culture'. According to the author, intercultural approach meets the needs of culture understanding, presents it as an significant component of knowing both foreign language and culture [5, p. 147-148] Intercultural approach is closely connected with M.Byram's interpretation of intercultural competence. Ukrainian methodology is based on the ideas presented by this scholar among which are the structure of intercultural competence, definition of intercultural speaker.
Intercultural competence is a key concept and M. Byram's definition is the one we base our methodology of teaching culture on.

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"Intercultural competence aims at developing intercultural speaker -someone who has an ability to interact with 'others' , to accept other perspectives and perceptions of the world, to mediate between different perspectives, to be conscious of their evaluation of difference" [4, p. 5].
According to M. Byram, the structure of the intercultural competence includes "knowledge, skills and attitudes, complemented by the values one holds because of one's belonging to a number of social groups, values which are part of one's belonging to a given society" [4, p. 5]. In this theory, intercultural attitude plays a significant role as it comprises psychological component and emphasizes personal perception, thoughts and feelings about foreign culture. "Intercultural attitudes: curiosity and openness, readiness to suspend disbelief about other cultures and belief about one's own. This means a willingness to relativise one's own values, beliefs and behaviours, not to assume that they are the only possible and naturally correct ones, and to be able to see how they might look from the perspective of an outsider who has a different set of values, beliefs and behaviours" [4, p. 5].
Specifying the other components of intercultural competence, the researcher mentions that knowledge includes knowing 'social groups and their products and practices in one's own and in one's interlocutor's country, and of the general processes of societal and individual interaction' [4, p. 6].
He defines skills of interpreting and relating, of discovery and interaction. Another component that relates to psychological perception and ability to cope with cultural differences is critical cultural awareness which is defined as 'an ability to evaluate, critically and on the basis of explicit criteria, perspectives, practices and products in one's own and other cultures and countries [4, p. 6].
M. Byram's theory provides with significant terms and concepts on intercultural study. The main idea useful for teaching culture taken from the theory is that study should be based on correct psychological attitude to foreign culture and on developing abilities to discern , evaluate, compare and deal with cultural differences caused by different values, beliefs, norms, outlook.
Speaking about documental basis for devising Ukrainian curriculums of teaching foreign languages, CEFR serves as the major document the Ukrainian methodology is based on. The ideas of cultural study found out in this document help to specify exact knowledge and skills related to intercultural study and help to formulate the definitions of necessary terms of intercultural study.
CEFR indicates intercultural knowledge and skills which are divided between general and communicative language competences. Specifically, general competence contains knowledge of the shared values and beliefs held by social groups in other countries and regions, such as religious beliefs, taboos, assumed common history, etc [1, p. 102-105] Also in terms of this competence, the sociocultural knowledge (everyday living conditions, interpersonal relations, values, beliefs, attitudes, body language, social conventions, ritual behavior), intercultural awareness, social skills practical skills (social skills, living skills, vocational and professional skills, leisure skills) and intercultural skills are defined [1, p. 102-105].
Sociolinguistic competences as a part of communicative competence refer to the sociocultural conditions of language use such as: x linguistic markers of social relations x politeness conventions x expressions of folk-wisdom x register differences x dialect and accent [1, p. 116-120].
Communicative competence also includes sensitivity to social conventions (rules of politeness, norms governing relations between generations, sexes, classes and social groups, linguistic codification of certain fundamental rituals in the functioning of a community [1, p. 116-120]. Analysis of the interpretation of ideas on intercultural study presented in CEFR proves that intercultural competence as a separate independent notion is not defined and precisely stated in CEFR, though the major concepts of developing intercultural awareness and attitude concerning both physical living in a foreign environment (knowledge of everyday life) and psychological perception (beliefs, values, taboos) are singled out.
Ukrainian theoretical ground is based on the research works of European scholars and on CEFR as a major theoretical and practical manuscript indicating issues of second language teaching. Therefore, Ukrainian scientists have developed their curriculum on the basis of the previously mentioned methodological foundation.

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The major document in Ukrainian ESL teaching is Curriculum for English language Development in Universities and Institutes [3]. Regarding it as a source for developing methodology of teaching foreign languages and cultures, we analyzed it on the concept of intercultural study. As a result, the document turns out to contain the information on intercultural dimension rather than clearly defined intercultural competence. The issue of teaching culture is present in sociocultural component which means sociocultural knowledge and skills: sociocultural knowledge comprises linguistic (understanding proper use of non-equivalent and connotative vocabulary, awareness of sociocultural conditions) and non-linguistic (general categories about other societies); sociocultural skills include practical (social, living and professional) and intercultural (intercultural sensitivity, ability to be a cultural mediator) [3, p. 7-8].
Since publishing Curriculum for English language Development in Universities and Institutes in 2001, a great deal of researches and experiments have been done. Recently published methodology textbooks and articles serve the basis for both training future EL teachers and for almost all methodological researches. The theory of ESL teaching has been established and its main considerations are the following.
The general aim of ESL teaching was considered to gain communicative competence as the complex competence including specific competences of different language aspects (reading, speaking, listening, writing). However, in the most recent researches and methodological textbooks intercultural communicative competence is defined as the major aim of ESL teaching. It actually consists of the same constituent competences with additional cultural/intercultural dimension in all of them.
Linguosociocultural competence is regarded to deal with teaching culture and contain cultural notions. Close study of its structure and content shows that linguosociocultural competence, being a part of intercultural communicative competence in Ukrainian methodology, is very close in its meaning to intercultural competence.
The competence is a complex one consisting of sociocultural, sociolinguistic and social competences. Their definitions are mainly based on both Ukrainian methodological investigations and CEFR's van Ek's interpretations. The definitions of sociocultural and sociolinguistic competences from Ukrainian textbook are the following.
Sociocultural competence comprises the knowledge of the foreign country with the national and cultural peculiarities of the social and speech behaviour and the skills to use the knowledge in the process of communication taking into account foreign traditions, norms of behaviour, social conditions, stereotypes [2, p. 429].
Sociolinguistic competence covers the relation between linguistic signals and their contextual meaning what means providing the skills to designate speech forms in the accordance to the context, to realize the connection between the language and social life and the skills to produce the utterance in accordance of their forms and usage to social context what means the social roles, shared information, the functions of the communication [2, p. 425].
Social competence has a special role because it deals rather with extra-linguistic factors than with the linguistic ones. Van Ek's definition states that social competence involves the ability to come into contact with other people and both the will and the skill to interact with others, involving motivation, attitude, self-confidence, empathy and the ability to handle social situations [6, p. 102].
To conclude, teaching culture is viewed as an essential element of teaching second language. In numerous sources cultural dimension of teaching is present and recommended though, there is not a single strategy and methodology of teaching culture. Neither CEFR nor Ukrainian Curriculum mentions the mode and the subject of teaching culture. The documents and materials of both European and Ukrainian ESL teaching context considered, a practical implementation of the mentioned issues and ideas is going to be presented, particularly, we are analyzing the optional course for English philologist where the main issues of culture study are presented. The name is Culture study in the context of intercultural communication. The theoretical researches, European and Ukrainian documents have determined the principles that lie on the basis of devising this optional course. We consider the following issues significant for teaching culture as they are the paradigm culture-language means integrative teaching with giving preference to culture as it influences language use , choice, and provides deep understanding of the country where the language exists/functuin. Psychological component is essential for culture perception as it provides changes in perceiving reality, in realizing existence of different perspectives, in forming openness. , positive attitude to foreign and native cultures.
While teaching foreign culture, students' native culture should be taken to consideration what results in their cultural identification and realizing their culturally biased attitude.
Students should be taught real and not ideal culture as it is not homogeneous, therefore the information about cultural social, ethnical, religious groups as a part of the same national culture should be provided what can lead to perceiving culture as a complex phenomenon.
Integrative language and culture teaching should be based not solely on facts about culture but rather on explaining the occurrence of the issues and phenomena in the culture what means realizing cultural values, beliefs, norms, perception.
The aim of the course is to provide the students with the information about culture, its components, the ways of interaction between people from different cultures, to develop skills to use the relevant methods of culture analysis and to use the knowledge and skills to present their own culture.
Consequently, the objectives of the course are: x to widen the students' horizon concerning culture and its components, x to present the information about intercultural communication and its psychological barriers, x to provide with tools to analyse different cultures objectively, x to teach to identify culturally determined acts, behavior, thoughts, x to develop psychological readiness to perceive the differences, x to develop awareness of the cultural relativity, x to develop the ability to present native culture.
As a result of cultural study, the students are expected to know and to be able to do the following things. The students should be able to come into contact with people of other cultures, be psychologically ready to perceive other cultures, behave in accordance to other culture's norms and regulations, understand native culture deeper. To achieve mentioned outcomes through realizing objectives, we have devised the syllabus that includes the following units. The article has analysed and summed up the ideas concerning the notion of the intercultural competence and its components in the major European and Ukrainian documents proving the occurrence of intercultural dimension in all of them. Still, the analysis has confirmed the lack of preciseness of terms and their content. The existing understanding of teaching culture serves as a basis for optional courses for teaching important cultural issues such as psychological perception of