The 'I care' Language: A Lexicon-based Analysis of the Discourse of Peace

Selecting authentic materials for language classrooms has for long been a common routine among language teaching professionals. The use of such materials has been acknowledged as good practice for language classrooms since it gives students the opportunity to analyze discourse which easily leads to authentic tasks (Widdowson 1978). Starting from a classroom experience, the present study concentrates on the discourse of Social Forums. This is implemented by drawing attention to the terminology which a group of students majoring in Social Science for Cooperation Development and Peace has perceived as conveying positive intercultural meanings in the analyzed texts. While starting from university students' emotional reactions to texts on social issues and proceeding through the lexicon analysis of a given community specialized discourse, the study has the overall objective of showing the potential that a language classroom can have as a means for spreading social cohesion and positive intercultural energy.