Teachers’ Perceptions of Cultural Otherness in Sri Lanka: Bridging the Gap in ELT Interculturality

Abstract

Sri Lanka is a multi-ethnic country where schools are segregated based on medium of instruction. However, the teachers of English are increasingly being required to work in schools where the medium of instruction is not their mother tongue and students come from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Therefore, communication across cultural boundaries has become a prerequisite for their professional competence. This research is an attempt to identify whether the teachers of English trained by pre-service teacher education institutes in Sri Lanka possess this mandatory competency. The chapter reports findings from a mixed method study carried out in a College of Education in Kalutara district. Data include an attitudinal survey based on a purposive sample of 63 first- and second-year teacher trainees to ascertain their intercultural sensitivity. Findings revealed that the majority of the student teachers have negative perceptions of cultural diversity which would ultimately have a negative impact on their teaching. The present chapter suggests practical ways to overcome this challenge with a specially designed curriculum and introduces a context-based definition of intercultural competence.