Update: Alvino Fantini: A Pioneer in Language Education
Feb 20, 2025Alvino Fantini, a giant in multiple fields with a breadth of work that would circle the globe multiple times. This profile focuses on Alvino’s specific contributions to our intercultural field which is only a part of his professional work--and at the same time all of it.
To the reader:
- Have you participated in a study abroad program, a student exchange or hosted a student?
- Studied or taught a “foreign” language that integrated culture lessons?
- Accessed commercial materials to deliver cross-cultural training or to receive it?
If “yes” to any of these, chances are Alvino Fantini, PhD, Professor Emeritus of the School of International Training and past President of SIETAR International, contributed his expertise either directly or indirectly to the training of the trainer and/or to materials. As an educator-linguist-interculturalist Alvino has greatly influenced the development of intercultural professionals globally with the breadth and depth of his lived experience, his academic research and his practical fieldwork. And at 89 years old, his work continues to our benefit so let’s find out more about one of the longtime heroes in our intercultural world.
How Did This All Start?
Born into an Italian family in the U.S., Alvino grew up in a bilingual/bicultural environment and as a teenager participated in a study abroad program in Mexico with The Experiment in International Living. A new language, a “new” family and a new view of his Italian heritage. This experience deepened his own self-awareness and fostered a lifelong curiosity for other cultures and for the connection between language and culture. In college this attracted him to the International House and friendships across many cultures. After college Alvino’s next cultural experience was in Military Intelligence, U.S.-based but also a cultural experience where he sometimes used his Italian and Spanish language skills.
Once out of the military Alvino took his cultural interest and experience back to the Experiment in International Living (EIL), the origin of the original intercultural-language spark. Under the umbrella organization of World Learning, EIL and later the School of International Training (SIT) would become his career “home.” This eventually necessitated graduate school so that he could be full time faculty. Thus began the search for a school that would allow him to combine all of his interests expanded and influenced by a course in sociolinguistics. The course specifically helped Alvino “understand the significance of the interconnection between language communication and intercultural dimensions. Both are part of the same phenomenon….” The reality however was, and still is, separate fields, separate departments, separate professions.
Eventually Alvino found a PhD program at University of Texas-Austin that broke these barriers and allowed him to build a cross-disciplinary program that combined education, linguistics and intercultural into his studies. This interdisciplinary approach has positioned him to be among the very few in the intercultural field who span both language education and intercultural communication. One of Alvino’s goals has been to get the two fields--language education and intercultural communication communicating more consistently with each other.
The Language-Culture Thread Through a Decades-Long Career
From the standpoint of the intercultural field perhaps Alvino’s greatest contribution is bringing language into the field, or more accurately, not allowing language to be left out. He has observed that in contrast to language educators who have been actively incorporating intercultural practices into the language classroom, the intercultural field has not reciprocated. Very seldom are the cultural elements of language or the experience of communicating in a non-native language being incorporated into intercultural work. Especially noteworthy is the absence of a competence measurement for “communicating in a non-native language.” Almost all of the assessment instruments typically used for Intercultural Competence omit this skill of communicating in a non-native language with speakers of that language in their cultural environment, “on their own terms.” For Alvino core to this experience isn’t proficiency in the language but the self-learning and empathy that come from grappling with the language without becoming proficient.
Putting “Communicative” into Intercultural Competence = ICC
To fill this “Communicative” gap Alvino with the Federation of the Experiment in International Living (EIL) collaborated on a 2-part project carried out in 2005-6 and 2014 and resulting in two major outcomes:
- A definition of Intercultural Communicative Competence “developed collectively by colleagues in 8 countries, who researched ICC definitions in 8 languages covering a period of 50 years.”
ICC is a complex of abilities (including host language proficiency) that are needed to perform effectively and appropriately when interacting with others who are linguistically and culturally different from oneself.
- With this agreed definition the group developed the “Assessment of Intercultural Competence: A Research Project of the Federation EIL.” (available upon request) The Assessment was then administered on 2,200 participants in international educational exchanges. Of the seven Parts one of the survey components is Language Proficiency.
The work of this group continues by expanding the languages-cultures researching their definition for ICC Competency and continuing to translate and administer the Assessment.
Continuing To Contribute
Alvino continues his work to include more cultures and to collaborate more globally in order to increase the international reach of our work as interculturalists. We benefit from his uniqueness spanning both language education and intercultural communication.
By Carolyn Ryffel, Communications Committee
