Promoting the intercultural competence among secondary students in linguistic immersion programs

Abstract

[eng] Over the past decades, the need to master more than one language has become increasingly widespread. Thus, the idea that going to a foreign country for an extended period of time is almost a compulsory requirement for mastering a second language is widely accepted (Pinar, 2016). This article proposes intercultural language exchange projects as experiences to motivate secondary school students to learn and understand the importance of mastering a foreign language. For this purpose, an analysis of the theoretical framework on the importance of learning from an intercultural approach and how it can positively affect students' preparation before participating in language immersion programmes is carried out. In addition, there is also a didactic proposal to be implemented before the students participate in a language immersion programme to enhance their communicative and intercultural competence. Through this study, it is concluded that intercultural contact between teenagers improves their general outcome, motivation, and involvement in the learning process of a foreign language.