EXTENSION OF TEACHER KNOWLEDGE: DEVELOPING THE INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE OF PRE-SERVICE

Abstract: Due to the increased interconnections among people, there has been an increasing awareness of the need to extend the knowledge of teachers to include global perspectives and cultural awareness. The objective of the study is to develop the intercultural competence of pre-service foreign- language teachers in a classroom context in Turkey. The study employed a mixed research method to examine the effect of a cultural content program on pre-service teachers ’ intercultural competence. Quantitative data were collected using Intercultural Competence (IC) Instrument before and after the instruction, and qualitative data were collected through participants ’ weekly written reflections, intercultural tasks, and post study open-ended questions. The cultural content instruction was found to have significant effects on developing the cultural knowledge, intercultural skills, and intercultural awareness, but resulted in no significant attitudinal change in these pre-service teachers in a Turkish EFL context. The results indicated that, to a certain degree, it is possible to develop the intercultural competence of foreign-language pre-service teachers through systematic instruction in teacher-education departments in the absence of study abroad experience