As society becomes more linguistically and culturally diverse due to migration and globalization, schools must adapt to educate children for a progressively multilingual and multicultural world, ensuring they can co-exist harmoniously with people from diverse backgrounds. In Norway, intercultural communicative competence (ICC) is now recognized as a crucial component of English education, shifting the roles of English Language Teaching (ELT) teachers from solely teaching English to also fostering ICC, as stipulated in the Norwegian English curriculum. This study examines ELT teachers' perceptions and practices regarding ICC using a convergent mixed-methods design. Data were collected through a questionnaire from 88 lower-secondary ELT teachers across Norway, providing both quantitative and qualitative insights. The findings indicate that most ELT teachers recognize the importance of integrating ICC not only in English classes but also across other subjects (e.g., religion, social science), highlighting the interdisciplinary nature of intercultural education. They further believe that fostering ICC is essential in all classrooms, regardless of their cultural composition, to prepare pupils for intercultural interactions beyond the school context. Despite the recognized importance of ICC, there is a notable gap between teachers' beliefs and their teaching practices. Several challenges hinder the effective integration of ICC in the classroom, including a lack of appropriate resources, curriculum constraints, insufficient professional development opportunities, and the varying proficiency and maturity levels of the pupils. These obstacles underscore the need for enhanced support and resources to enable teachers to effectively cultivate intercultural competence in their learners.

Authors:
Minjeong Son, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Norway
Julie Lilanda Johansen, Tromsø International School, Norway

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Minjeong Son is an associate professor of English in the Dept. of Teacher Education at UiT The Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø. Her research interests include multilingualism in the English classroom, English didactics, and ICC.

Additional website of interest
https://uit.no/ansatte/minjeong.son

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