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The predictive power of intercultural sensitivity on preservice EFL teachers’ plurilingual and pluricultural competence

ORCiD logo with link | Hatay Mustafa Kemal University
Published online: 25 February 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.24053.ere
Abstract
Multilingualism is becoming more ubiquitous and studies on this nexus have proliferated, with a focus on plurilingual individuals’ behaviors within their contexts of interaction. However, there is a paucity of research regarding the effects of the intrinsic relationship between affective dimensions of culture and multilingualism. To address this research gap, the current study investigated the predictive power of intercultural sensitivity on preservice EFL teachers’ (n = 241) plurilingual and pluricultural competence through quantitative and qualitative analyses. Several regression analyses revealed that dimensions of intercultural sensitivity significantly predicted the variance in plurilingual and pluricultural competence with medium explanatory power. Multivariate analyses examined the contributions of demographic variables (gender, bilingualism vs. multilingualism, hometown, the sojourn experience) to the overall model, and findings indicated that the sojourn experience contributed to higher plurilingual competence as well as higher self-confidence. Plurilingual individuals seem to have higher pluricultural competence and are more attentive compared to bilinguals. However, gender and hometown did not reveal a significant relationship. Participants’ reflections reiterated the findings through three main constructs: (1) Collectivist Pluricultural Identity, (2) Emotions and Multilingual Awareness, and (3) Unitary Translanguaging Practices.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • ‘Plurilingualism,’ ‘plurilingual,’ and ‘pluricultural competence’
  • Multilingualism and the multifaceted nature of language learning
  • Emotions and intercultural sensitivity
  • Research gaps and rationale for the study
  • Method
  • Context and participants
  • Data collection instruments
  • Analysis
  • Results
    • The impact of intercultural sensitivity
    • Multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) results
    • Post-hoc Test Results
    • Linear and Hierarchical Regression Results
    • Reflections from the qualitative data
      • Theme 1: Collectivist pluricultural identity
      • Theme 2: Emotions and multilingual awareness
      • Theme 3: Unitary translanguaging practices
  • Discussion
  • Conclusions
  • Disclosure statement
  • References
References (51)
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