FORMATION OF STUDENTS’ INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE IN THE CONDITIONS OF MODERN GLOBAL CHANGES

Abstract

The article is devoted to the topical problem of formation of intercultural competence of students in higher education institutions in the conditions of modern global changes. The aim of the present study is to analyse the current national and international sources on the problem of formation of person’s intercultural competence in the context of global changes; to outline the basic components of cross-cultural competence of personality; to identify the main barriers of the formation of students’ intercultural competence in institutions of higher education.
To achieve the goal and implement the objectives of the study, we used theoretical methods: content-analysis and generalization of scientific research in order to define the main approaches in the formation of students’ intercultural competence in institutions of higher education; systematization and comparison of theoretical data in order to identify the main barriers of the formation of students’ intercultural competence.
Based on the analysis of scientific sources, the notion of “intercultural competence” is revealed, the structural components of intercultural competence are discovered, the main barriers of intercultural communication are highlighted, the scientific approaches to the formation of students’ intercultural competence in institution of higher education are outlined.
The obtained results have shown that students’ intercultural competence express through verbal and nonverbal communication, interest in cross-cultural values, tolerant attitudes towards representatives of different cultures, overcoming communication barriers that may arise due to intercultural differences in various activities, using knowledge of national traditions, norms, and values of a different culture. It is found that in order to achieve the goal of the formation of students’ intercultural competence, academic curricula of higher education should (in particular, educational programs of foreign language disciplines) should be modernized taking into account current intercultural integration processes and the global changes.
The practical significance of the article is that its materials can be used in the organization of educational work in institutions of higher education, for the development of curricula for learning a foreign language for students, in the system of teacher training.
Future research could continue to explore the issue of the formation of students’ intercultural competence that is necessary to develop technology of the formation of students’ intercultural competence in the process of blended and distance learning.