Intercomprehension: a portal to teachers' intercultural sensitivity

Abstract

The development of opportunities for teachers' professional development in plurilingual and intercultural education is a key issue in language teacher education and ‘intercomprehension’ (IC) can provide a potential portal for the development of teachers' intercultural sensitivity. Particularly relevant to this is the creation of powerful learning environments in which language teachers can construct new structures of meaning and professional knowledge and develop teaching which is more sensitive to diversity. This article reports on a research project that investigated the use of IC in an initial teacher education programme in Portugal and the effects of this programme on the intercultural sensitivity and professional learning of a group of student-teachers. The study was based on content analysis of participants' narratives, seen as contexts for personal and professional self-discovery/awareness. The results reveal the student-teachers' growing intercultural sensitivity as they build their understanding of IC as a communicative and pedagogic approach, expand their critical cultural awareness and come to recognise how they might implement intercultural and plurilingual education. The article concludes by reflecting on possible ways to encourage language teachers to become more interculturally sensitive and more aware of and engaged with diversity.