Educating the 21st Century Language Teacher

Abstract

This study engages with how prospective teachers of English (PTEs) conceptualize intercultural communicative competence (ICC). In particular, we focus on the underlying sources that influence the development of ICC for pre-service teachers in a teacher education program in Turkey. A self-assessment scale and semi-structured interviews were used as data collection tools. The results reveal that the definition of ICC is vague among the PTEs, and their understanding of it is insufficient. In particular, while they can provide a definition of ICC, they rarely mention characteristics beyond linguistic competence. Further to this, travel and exchange programs, as well as peer interactions are the primary sources of ICC as reported by PTEs; while academic courses have no statistically significant contribution.