Intercultural competence within the English subject

Abstract

This thesis attempts to investigate two lower secondary school teachers’ possibilities for teaching intercultural competence in the English classroom, focusing on stereotypes and prejudice. Two research questions were formed with the intention of collecting data from teachers and pupils at a lower secondary school regarding their experiences with topics related to intercultural competence. In order to answer our thesis question, we have used a qualitative research approach with an action research project where we have worked closely with one teacher while designing lesson plans. As a part of our action research, before implementing the lesson plans, we interviewed three teachers about how they experienced working with intercultural competence after the implementation of the renewed curriculum from 2020. Their experiences were used in the planning of the lesson plans. After implementing the lessons, ten pupils were interviewed about their experiences of participating in the lessons. The data material also consists of field notes and observation of teacher meetings and classroom practice. Our findings indicate that teachers experience approaching, working, and assessing intercultural competence as fancy, difficult and complex. While being in the process of reorganizing the cultural content of the English subject from the previous curriculum to the renewed curriculum, teachers' focus appears to be on mainly the measure of knowledge, which appears easier to teach and assess. At the same time, the teachers mention working with intercultural competence interdisciplinarity across different subjects and express a need for external resources to help them further understand the term intercultural competence and how to assess it. From the pupils' perspective, lessons on stereotypes and prejudices appear to be experienced as relevant. We also noticed that pupils' maturity levels and prerequisites such as past experiences appear to play a role in their attempts to understand and relate to topics on stereotyped and prejudiced learning. Based on our findings, we suggest some guidelines that may benefit teachers in dealing with intercultural competence