DOI: 10.18413/2313-8971-2021-7-2-0-6

The importance of teaching intercultural competencies in an EFL classroom: a case study conducted at the Faculty of Law of a certain University

Fisnike Pllana (South-Eastern European University, Republic of Northern Macedonia, Skopje)

Intercultural competence is a basic skill that everyone needs to learn, not to mention university students about to enter the workforce. Mastering this skill means tolerating, respecting, understanding and accepting cultural differences. A sample of 68 students was taken from the Faculty of Law at the University of Prishtina “Hasan Prishtina” in Prishtina to fill in a questionnaire regarding the importance of the skill in life and profession. Results show that even though students have some knowledge regarding IC, there is still space for improvements. Teachers have to be professionally trained and the higher institutions should compile more culture-based curricula. The research results were quite surprising and some recommendations were given in order to raise awareness of the significance of this skill.

Keywords: intercultural competencies, culture, language learning, awareness.

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