The Effect of Applying Intercultural Tasks on Pre-Service ELT Teachers’ Intercultural Awareness in a Course on English for Intercultural Communication
Keywords:
English for intercultural communication, Intercultural awareness, English as a lingua franca, English language teaching, Teacher educationAbstract
The study investigates the development of pre-service teachers’ intercultural awareness by incorporating various cultural activities based on Baker’s (2022) model of Intercultural Awareness (ICA) into a course on English for Intercultural Communication. Data were collected for four months from 24 pre-service ELT teachers through pre- and post-test questionnaires, classroom observations, and document archives. Content analysis was employed to analyze the data. Empirical evidence indicates that intercultural activities based on Baker’s (2022) ICA model can significantly enhance pre-service teachers’ intercultural awareness. This increase in their ICA development is likely to influence their future cultural instruction in English language classrooms. Given the participants’ ICA development, the study strongly supports integrating intercultural tasks to promote ELT teachers’ awareness of English as a lingua franca (ELF) and intercultural communication in teacher education.
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