Proceedings of the 7th World Conference on Research in Education
Year: 2024
DOI:
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Developing Intercultural Competence through Mindfulness: A Project-Based Learning Proposal in the EFL Classroom
María José Luelmo del Castillo, Alan M. Smyth and Andrea Martínez Celis
ABSTRACT:
Intercultural competence is one of the essential skills in today’s world. Therefore, limiting language learning to linguistic skills does not provide students with the tools needed to effectively interact with people from different cultures who use English as an international language. The starting point to successfully develop one’s intercultural abilities has been established to be self-awareness, and, in this line, the practice of mindfulness techniques as a mechanism of introspection has been gaining more and more momentum. Concerning, more specifically, the classroom setting, methodological decisions have an inevitable impact on course development and, subsequently, on students’ outcomes. On this account, through the implementation of active learning methodologies, together with the application of mindfulness, teachers could grant students a useful framework in a meaningful multicultural context. ProjectBased Learning (PBL) includes the necessary elements to cover all the dimensions that intercultural competence training requires. This research presents a comprehensive didactic proposal, placing mindfulness in its foundations, that enables students to enhance their intercultural competence, providing a space for self-reflection and cultural mirroring.
keywords: interculturality, language learning, introspection, active learning, self-awareness