Intercultural sensitivity of students of pedagogy and students of English at the Faculty of humanities and social sciences in Zagreb: a comparative study

Hokman, Petar. (2018). Intercultural sensitivity of students of pedagogy and students of English at the Faculty of humanities and social sciences in Zagreb: a comparative study. Diploma Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of English Language and Literature
Department of Pedagogy. [mentor Geld, Renata and Širanović, Ana].

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Abstract

In a contemporary society, in which intercultural interactions take place on a daily basis and permeate all spheres of society, intercultural competence is one of the most important competences of an individual. Education, among other factors, greatly contributes to the development of one’s intercultural competence. Implementation of intercultural education in the true sense of the word and development of students’ intercultural competence is impossible without interculturally competent teachers. Intercultural sensitivity represents the affective domain of intercultural competence and is one of the most crucial aspects of intercultural competence. Starting from the assumption that intercultural sensitivity is a prerequisite and an important factor of teachers’ intercultural competence, this graduation thesis has, using Intercultural sensitivity scale (Chen & Starosta, 2000), explored intercultural sensitivity of students of pedagogy and students of English at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb. The results of frequency analyses, t-tests and analyses of variance have shown that there are no statistically significant differences in students’ intercultural sensitivity considering their field of study, knowledge of foreign languages and frequency of intercultural interaction. The thesis has also pinpointed the necessity of a unique conceptualization of intercultural education, its school-wide implementation, as well as the need for further, more detailed and broader conceptualization and research on both intercultural sensitivity and intercultural competence.

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