INTEGRATION OF THE INTERCULTURAL COMPONENT INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGE CURRICULA: MODELS AND STRATEGIES

Abstract

The article examines the integration of the intercultural component into foreign language curricula as a necessary condition for developing learners’ intercultural communicative competence in contemporary education. The study is based on the premise that foreign language teaching should not be limited to the formation of linguistic, grammatical, and communicative skills, but should also include systematic work with cultural meanings, value systems, norms of interaction, patterns of verbal and non-verbal behaviour, and strategies of intercultural mediation. Particular attention is paid to the theoretical foundations of intercultural education, curriculum design principles, and pedagogical models that enable the meaningful inclusion of intercultural content in foreign language instruction. The article analyzes major approaches to integrating intercultural elements into educational programmes, including content-based, competence-based, comparative-cultural, dialogic, and project-oriented models. It is argued that the effectiveness of intercultural integration depends on the coherence between learning objectives, teaching materials, classroom activities, assessment criteria, and students’ real communicative needs. The study also identifies key instructional strategies, such as the use of authentic texts, comparative analysis of cultures, case studies, critical incidents, role plays, reflective tasks, and digital intercultural communication. The findings suggest that the intercultural component contributes to the development of tolerance, cultural awareness, critical thinking, empathy, and readiness for dialogue in multilingual and multicultural contexts. The article concludes that intercultural integration should be regarded not as an additional thematic element, but as a structural and methodological principle of modern foreign language education.

Keywords

intercultural component, foreign language curriculum, intercultural communicative competence, foreign language teaching, curriculum integration, cultural awareness, intercultural education, teaching strategies, multilingual education.