Table 1 The Study Main Themes
From: Maltese as a foreign language educators’ acquisition of intercultural capabilities
Theme | Number of Participants who answered the theme | The Theme’s Factors | Frequency of mentions of factors |
|---|---|---|---|
1. Teachers’ Perceptions of IC | 11 | ||
-Not knowing the meaning of the term “IC” | 6 | ||
- No intercultural training | 17 | ||
- Supporting and validating diverse students | 11 | ||
- Recognising and respecting students with diverse cultural affiliations | 7 | ||
- Engaging and communicating with multicultural students | 8 | ||
- Developing strong and productive relationships | 9 | ||
- Being able to embrace diversity | 7 | ||
- Being sensitive and accommodative to multicultural learners | 8 | ||
- Using socially and culturally appropriate features when communicating with others | 5 | ||
- Being culturally aware | 6 | ||
- Being non-judgemental | 9 | ||
- Empathising with others from different cultures | 10 | ||
- Using culturally relevant features when communicating | 7 | ||
2. Teachers’ perceptions of the characteristics of an interculturally competent MFL educator | 17 | ||
- Recognising, respecting and embracing one’s own culture and the cultures of others | 15 | ||
- Learning a foreign language | 15 | ||
- Feeling confident with one’s own interests, capabilities, shortcomings, and one’s mental wellbeing | 9 | ||
- Respecting people’s communication habits | 16 | ||
- Improving one’s own communication abilities by writing and speaking clearly | 4 | ||
- Empathising with other people’s thoughts and desires | 17 | ||
- Having an open mind and be curious about what is distinctive | 14 | ||
- Creating new understanding connections among various social classes | 12 | ||
- Investigating other cultures in considerable detail than a typical Facebook post | 2 | ||
3. The MFL educators’ development of IC | 17 | ||
- Learning within the school environment | 15 | ||
- Being tolerant of other cultures | 9 | ||
- Interacting with learners on a day-to-day basis | 14 | ||
- Visiting other countries and interacting with the local people | 15 | ||
- Embracing cultural diversity | 12 | ||
- Being sensitive and accommodative to learners from different cultures | 11 | ||
- Using socially and culturally appropriate features during communication | 9 | ||
- Respecting and accepting other cultures | 8 | ||
- Understanding one’s own culture and those of others | 8 | ||
- Observing and critically reflecting one’s own and their students’ behaviours | 11 | ||
- Learning about various cultural perspectives through constant self-reflection | 11 | ||