Poly- / multicultural education in foreign language teaching

Abstract

The paper considers poly- and multicultural education in foreign language (FL) teaching from the perspective of content components; and argues that the terms of polycultural’ and multicultural’ education can be used interchangeably as presented in many works by Kazakh, Armenian, Ukrainian, and other scholars from the post-Soviet countries. Thus, at large, it strives to align terminology in education and social sciences in the European and global professional academic contexts. Then, in a narrower sense, the objectives of the study aim at the description and analysis of poly- and multicultural education in foreign language teaching and methodology in connection to the class which is poly- or multicultural. The list and description of the educational components at the philosophical, professional, and methodological levels in the light of poly- and multiculturalism as psycholinguistic and intercultural phenomena in communication envelope in defining poly- / multicultural education in foreign language teaching. That results to account for the poly- / multiculture in communication via knowledge, behavior, emotional being, and leadership, to be established and cultivated as skills in a variety of in- and out-of-class activities raising students’ culture awareness and linguistic differences in the settings other than their own. Reflection as a thought provoking and insightful tool is considered to be brought to class in FL teaching through the coaching dialogue between the teacher and the student(s). It is concluded that reflection in foreign language teaching that focuses on poly- and multicultural education enables students to exercise and benefit from fast and effective language and culture code-switching, and results in well-developed hard and soft skills and competencies. Linguistic and cultural tolerance best evidences the dialogue of cultures and celebrates the thought leadership inside and outside classroom.