Foreign Language Teachers’ Intercultural Competence as a New Aspect of Professional Development
This mixed-method study aims to offer an insight into foreign language teachers’ perceptions on the relationship between intercultural competence and professional development. It is also attempted to explore some methods for evaluating teachers’ intercultural competence through their professional development activities. The research participants are local and international instructors at a private university in Turkey. Data was collected via a web-based questionnaire and a semi-structured interview designed by the researchers. The general findings of the study indicate that learning about a) target culture, b) local culture, and c) international students’ culture contribute to foreign language teachers’ intercultural competence and it is considered as a part of their professional development. However, it is pointed out that pre-service and in-service teacher training programs in Turkey cannot provide sufficient facilities to develop teachers’ intercultural competence.
Avalos, B. (2011). Teacher professional development in Teaching and Teacher Education over ten years. Teaching and teacher education, 27(1), 10-20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2010.08.007
Byram, M., Gribkova, B., & Starkey, H. (2002). Developing the intercultural dimension in language teaching. Strasbourg: Council of Europe, 41.
Byram, M., & Risager, K. (1999). Language teachers, politics and cultures. Multilingual matters.
Deardorff, D. K. (2009). Implementing intercultural competence assessment. The SAGE handbook of intercultural competence, 477-491.
Desimone, L. M. (2009). Improving impact studies of teachers’ professional development: Toward better conceptualizations and measures. Educational researcher, 38(3), 181-199.
Diaz-Maggioli, G. (2004). A passion for learning: Teacher-centered professional development. Alexandria, VA: Association for Su¬pervision and Curriculum Development.
Diaz-Maggioli, G. H. (2003). Professional development for language teachers. ERIC Digest No. EDOFL-03-03. Retrieved November 12, 2016, from http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/0303diaz.html
Duff, P. A., & Uchida, Y. (1997). The negotiation of teachers' sociocultural identities and practices in postsecondary EFL classrooms. Tesol Quarterly, 31(3), 451-486.
Jimei, X. (2002). A report on investigating the College English teachers' knowledge of and beliefs in foreign language education and their roles in teaching, researching and professional development [J]. Foreign Language World, 5.
Qiang, G. X. W. (2003). Reflective Teaching: an Effective Approach to Enhancing EFL Teachers' Professional Development [J]. Foreign Language Education, 2.
Sercu, L. (2004). Assessing Intercultural Competence: A Framework for Systematic Test Development in Foreign Language Education and Beyond. Intercultural Education, 15(1), 73-89.
Sercu, L. (2006). The foreign language and intercultural competence teacher: The acquisition of a new professional identity. Intercultural education, 17(1), 55-72.
Sparks, D. (2002). Designing powerful staff development for teach¬ers and principals. Oxford, OH: National Staff Development Council.
Yi-an, W. U. (2008). A Study of Effective EFL Teachers' Professional Development [J]. Foreign Languages Research, 3.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.