In-service Teachers’ Intercultural Sensitivity

Abstract

It is urgent to develop intercultural sensitivity (IS hereafter) for the society and especially for in-service teachers as they are the agents that help learners to acquire the intercultural competencies needed to live in a dramatically globalized world. However, few research studies focused on in-service teachers’ intercultural sensitivity though there were many studies conducted with pre-service teachers or university students. Therefore, the study’s objectives were to identify the intercultural sensitivity of teachers and seek any connections between their sensitivity and demographic variables. The questionnaire with demographic questions and an intercultural sensitivity scale received responses from 214 teachers. The results showed that the teachers’ general intercultural sensitivity was not significantly impacted by their age, gender, level of teaching, or the type of institution they worked at. Nevertheless, teachers with international experience had higher scores than those without international experience, and there was a positive relationship between teachers’ intercultural sensitivity and the length of their international experience. Teachers of general subjects showed lower intercultural sensitivity than those teaching English. Furthermore, multilingual teachers had much higher intercultural sensitivity than their monolingual counterparts. The implications of the study might guide some stakeholders such as in-service trainers and policy makers in teacher education.

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