Forging Synergy between a Foreign Language and Intercultural Education

Forging Synergy between a Foreign Language and Intercultural Education

Chodzkienė, Loreta

The expansion of the borders of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) provides members of academic communities with a challenging opportunity to participate in various exchange programmes. The phenomenon of mobility tests the proficiency level of the participants’ Intercultural Communicative Competence, whichenables them not only to speak a common language but also interact effectively and appropriately in the context of a hosting country. The paper focuses on the case study of internationalisation process implemented by eight European Teacher Training institutions – CáFoscari University (Italy), thePedagogical University of Tirol (Austria), the University of Cyprus (Cyprus), the School of Education of Aarhus University (Denmark), theUniversity of Nantes (France), EötvösLoránd University in Budapest (Hungary), Jagiellonian University, Krakow (Poland), and the Institute of Foreign Languages, Vilnius University (Lithuania) –via the designed educational project carried out within the framework of an Intensive Programme in the socio-cultural context of the Republic of Lithuania. The data of the study based on the participants’ reflections reveals that no matter how positive the respondents’ attitudes towards mobility are, and how willing they are to participate in various exchange programmes, the level of their ICC does not always meet the desired internal and external outcomes. This proves the necessity of Intercultural education to be integrated into the content of many subjects, foreign languages, above all. Keywords: teachers' Intercultural Communicative Competence, Intercultural education, educational project, diary, reflection

Article
PeerReviewed

2015-04-21

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