Language as a social phenomenon in a global context: Implications for teaching practice

It is of great importance to study languages within the framework of social sciences. The language not only connects but also separates people, which depends on (the lack of) knowledge of the elements of language and the social context in which language is spoken. Today’scommunication is largely intercultural, implying the need for a competent interaction with members of other (sub)cultures, within or outside the society in which we live. Within the present pilot study, we have analysed assessments given by Croatian university professors of languages in terms of their competence to discuss globalisation, the development of intercultural competence within language teaching, the interest of students for learning languages as well as the position of language and communication group of subjects in the educational system and in society. The results obtained point to the importance of transferring intercultural competence and a favourable self-assessment of teacher engagement on this issue.