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Students Teachers’ International Experience and Their Beliefs About Developing Intercultural Communicative Competence

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Challenges of Second and Foreign Language Education in a Globalized World

Part of the book series: Second Language Learning and Teaching ((SLLT))

Abstract

A thorough awareness of the role of intercultural communicative competence (ICC) and expertise in developing this construct in the classroom have become essential attributes of a foreign language teacher. The present study aims to explore whether the length of time pre-service teachers of English have spent abroad exerts any effect on their beliefs about ICC and their awareness of how this construct should be developed in the language classroom. The data was collected by means of a questionnaire consisting of both open- and closed-ended tasks conducted among students of English attending a teaching course at a large university in the south of Poland. The results indicate that despite some minor discrepancies in the understanding of ICC between the participants with different international experience, it is clear that in general the future teachers linked this concept to the ability to communicate cross-culturally. Still, regardless of the time spent abroad, the participants seemed to lack practical skills to develop this competence in the classroom context.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The new national curriculum for foreign language teaching is effective as of September 2017.

  2. 2.

    All translations from Polish were made by the author of this chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland

    Anna Czura

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  1. Anna Czura
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Correspondence to Anna Czura .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts, Adam Mickiewicz University, Kalisz, Poland

    Mirosław Pawlak

  2. Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts, Adam Mickiewicz University, Kalisz, Poland

    Anna Mystkowska-Wiertelak

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Czura, A. (2018). Students Teachers’ International Experience and Their Beliefs About Developing Intercultural Communicative Competence. In: Pawlak, M., Mystkowska-Wiertelak, A. (eds) Challenges of Second and Foreign Language Education in a Globalized World. Second Language Learning and Teaching. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66975-5_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66975-5_19

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