engleski

Intercultural Communication of Pupils - the Varaždin County Case

The core of interculturalism are interpersonal relations. Children and young people should be taught that coexistence with others is a challenge and not an obstacle or punishment. Teachers should work on the intercultural competence of the pupils on a daily basis, because it is not innate and has be developed and learned. Pupils who have a developed inter- cultural competence are able to communicate better and resolve conflicts in a non- aggressive manner. According to Borrelli the awareness of one’s own cultural identity strengthens the ability of effective perception of the reality and encourages a person to accept himself and others. In order to establish relations with others and those who are different, we first need to harmonize the relationship toward ourselves and toward those who are close to us (Sekuliæ-Majurec, 1996). To be interculturally educated means to be able to understand and accept people who belong to different cultures and who have their own cultural identity. According to Gay (1995) it is necessary for the teachers to develop situation competence so that the children can show their skills in the classroom and be able to improve them. The aim of our research was to determine the level and development aspects of the intercultural communication competence of Varaždin high-school pupils (209 pupils attending the gymnasium, medical and technical school). The age of the subjects was between 17 and 18. Our research question was: what kind of inter-cultural and communication skills and abilities the pupils posses at the end of the high-school? The answer to that question can also give us insight into the competence of their teachers and the quality of their teaching. “Intercultural Communication Competence Scale (ICC)” by Lily A. Arasaratnam, 2002, has been used as the instrument and the results of our research show that the pupils of the gymnasium scored higher than the pupils attending other schools, whereas girls scored higher than boys.

Intercultural, Communication, Pupils, Case research, Competences

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