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Demands for communicative competence development among Lithuanian teachers of secondary education
Date Issued |
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2019 |
The modern world of increasing globalisation and technological advance has been dramatically extending the scope of competences indispensable for a contemporary teacher. Such dynamics has been largely determined by the expanding roles and functions teachers must assume like engaging in projects of international cooperation, teaching in multilingual classes, harnessing technological novelties, etc. As a result, within the essential repertoire of competences for a contemporary teacher one must necessarily highlight a good competence of English, no longer treated as merely a foreign language but as a basic skill, other foreign languages, as a significant key to personal and professional enrichment, and the skills of intercultural communication. In light of the above, in 2017 a study was carried out, with 228 respondents, aimed at analysing the current communicative competences of Lithuanian teachers of secondary education and the needs for such competence development. Part of the study results, those focusing on added value of communicative competences in teaching practices, was presented in a national CLIL teachers’ conference in 2017. The present conference paper therefore further analyzes the respondents’ current communicative competences, the role of foreign languages in their daily work routines and the demands for communicative competence development. By disclosing the variety in the demands for language skills among the respondents, the study thus conjectures the necessity in differentiating strategies for the development of teachers’ communicative competences as part of teachers’ in-service education.