Foreign Language Learning as a Factor of Intercultural Tolerance

AbstractThe paper deals with the outcomes of an empirical, explorative research aiming at considering the relation between foreign language learning and intercultural tolerance. The research problem was whether foreign language learning influences the increase of intercultural tolerance, with the aim to consider the influence a new foreign language has on changes occurring in the attitudes towards other nations. The assumption was that foreign language acquisition has positive effects on intercultural tolerance. The research sample was casual, consisting of 247 Belgrade University students. The independent variable was foreign language learning and dependent variable was intercultural tolerance. The method of systematic non-experimental observation was used in the research. Intentional manipulation of variables was not carried out, except for the statistical analyses in a sense replacing experimental controls. The link between empirical data and the theoretical background was searched for in qualitative interpretation of findings, in a sense using systematic approach through synthesis of the data; this is justified by the very subject of the research, i.e. complexity of attitudes and the ways they change. Statistical procedure was based on the comparison of the rankings of the European nations in the test and retest – Mann -Whitney Test.The findings confirm the hypothesis that foreign language acquisition, followed by the knowledge on the related nations and cultures makes people more open for the new and the unknown and more tolerant to diversity, thus more ready to accept life not only in multi-, but also in intercultural world, that has become our reality. As a consequence, it has once again been confirmed that there is a need to acquire foreign language and learn about foreign cultures from the earliest age, as well as to introduce a number of foreign languages in schools, since this is how open and tolerant society is created