3.1. Intercultural Engagement. Readings

In an academic context, lecturers cannot fail to use diversity as a resource in their lectures at the same time they aim to create an inclusive education environment. For example, they should integrate various perspectives, authors, and historical events into their lessons, ensuring that students see themselves reflected in the material used in the lectures. Lecturers are supposed to be trained for intercultural interactions and be able to integrate students' experiences into their professional development. The promotion of a future teacher's intercultural competence within pedagogical interaction represents an innovative approach aimed at enhancing professional competence among university graduates.

This approach emphasizes shared values in intercultural dialogues and underscores tolerance as fundamental for human social interaction. It equips lecturers to navigate diverse cultural contexts effectively, transcending their own cultural boundaries to engage constructively where values, attitudes, and norms differ. Central to this competence is the lecturer's ability to understand and respect cultural diversity, interpreting information contextually and fostering dialogue based on personal meaning. Intercultural competence encompasses perceiving, comprehending, appropriating, and analysing events through cultural lenses. It involves motivational aspects, sustaining interest in learning foreign languages and cultures, cognitive dimensions in acquiring professional knowledge for intercultural interactions, operational skills in practical intercultural contexts, reflexive capacities for self-reflection and personal growth, and integrative-personal qualities that cultivate a secondary linguistic persona. It also contributes to the preparation of students for community life, their development as democratic citizens and their ability to engage.