Proceedings of The 6th International Conference on Advanced Research in Education, Teaching and Learning
Year: 2022
DOI:
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Developing intercultural competence in EFL through collaboration and research: a project in global skills development
Anabela Simões, Timothy Oswald, Gillian Moreira
ABSTRACT:
The OECD Learning Compass 2030 sets out an aspirational vision for the future of education and identifies the need for the articulation of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values in our classrooms. Empathy and mutual respect, curiosity, collaboration, awareness (of oneself, of others and the world) and openness to experience are some of the skills associated with academic success and better preparation for the challenges of an ever more global and interconnected world. As global skills grow in importance, educators are challenged to consider new pedagogical approaches and design learning experiences that foster the development of these 21st century skills. The aim of this paper is to present a collaborative project developed at the University of Aveiro, during the 1st term of academic year 2021/22, involving students from two different departments and EFL subjects. In addition to consolidating students’ intercultural awareness and multilingual competences, this learner-centred approach also aimed to foster the development of personal, social and learning to learn competences, as these are defined in the Recommendation on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning, which establishes a framework of the competences citizens need in ever more diverse, mobile, digital, and global societies. In addition to a detailed description of the project and presentation of some concrete outputs, this paper also aims to present students’ perceptions of the process. The data obtained indicates that this perception is generally positive and that cognitive, social and intercultural competencies were successfully addressed.
keywords: global skills, intercultural communication, language pedagogy, learner-centred learning, learning design.