INTEGRATING INTERCULTURAL ASPECTS IN EFL LESSONS AT SLOVAK SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Аннотация

Over the last decades the importance of incorporating intercultural aspects in FL education has often been emphasized, especially by intercultural communication as well as foreign language pedagogy scholars. Yet the everyday teaching practice in Slovakia does not always reflect this viewpoint, as it has been revealed due to some research in the field. 

The aim of the paper was to summarize the results of the observations carried out at secondary schools in Slovakia in order to map which intercultural aspects were developed suitably and sufficiently in the observed EFL lessons. The investigation showed that EFL courses at Slovak secondary schools tend to disregard the must of integrating cultural aspects in FL education. One of the reasons can be the lack of further education for in-service teachers in the given field; hence, the paper also includes some proposals for teacher development in terms of developing intercultural competences in FL courses