Intercultural English Language Teaching in Georgian Higher Education: A Qualitative Study of English Language Instructors’
Over the past decade, the Georgian higher education landscape has changed due to a range of factors. The primary cause of that transformation was the internalization, expansion, and accreditation of the education programs. English language instruction has been reconfigured to focus not just on students’ language proficiency but also on integrating the specific issues related to a culturally diverse classroom.
Teachers’ perspectives and relevant knowledge of intercultural language instruction inform the content and activities distributed to language classes. Furthermore, English language teachers’ expectations and competence help foster student engagement, motivation, satisfaction, and academic achievement. Given these circumstances, there is limited insight into how to put intercultural English language teaching into practice in the Georgian context. To close the identified gap, this study employed a qualitative method. Focus group interviews were conducted to gain deeper insights into the issue. The participants were 30 English-language instructors from public and private higher education institutions (HEIs). The findings confirm that teachers view IELL as a positive approach that contributes to student engagement, motivation, satisfaction, and academic achievements. Students perceive intercultural content integrated into their language classes positively. Thus, despite obstacles that arise during IELL due to learners’ communication styles, language proficiency levels, unequal participation, and classroom behavior, teachers advocate for its value in an intercultural learning environment.
However, the findings confirm that IELL requires coordinated and systematic improvement aligned to curricular, institutional, and professional levels.
Keywords: Intercultural English Language Teaching, English as a Foreign Language, Higher Education, Multicultural Education, Teacher Experiences, Georgia
Abbreviations:
- IELL – Intercultural English Language Teaching;
- EFL – English as a Foreign Language:
- HEIs – Higher Education Institutions;
- ICC– Intercultural Communicative Competence;
- IC – Intercultural Competence
