Foreign Language Teachers and the Intercultural Dimension in Primary Education/Učitelji stranih jezika i interkulturalna dimenzija u osnovnoškolskom obrazovanju

Abstract

The article presents the results of an investigation into the self-concepts primary school teachers of English hold regarding foreign language teaching objectives, culture teaching objectives, the possibility of developing intercultural competence in foreign language classes and their culture teaching practices. The aim was to establish to what extent the teachers comply with a newly conceptualised foreign language and intercultural competence teacher profile. The results have confirmed the teachers' positive disposition towards intercultural competence development. The results also reveal certain inconsistencies between the teachers' cognition and beliefs on the one hand and the teachers' self-perception of their culture teaching practices on the other. A number of implications arise from the results which might be relevant to further research on both teacher competences required for the development of intercultural competence in foreign language classes and foreign language teachers' initial education and professional development.

Key words: development of intercultural competence in foreign language classes; foreign language and intercultural competence teacher profile; foreign language teaching and learning; intercultural competence.

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