Abstract:

Globalization and the increasing cultural diversity of countries have led to a necessity to bring certain arrangements in every aspect of education. Interculturalism has become an issue in terms of educational, economic, political, cultural, and technological developments in the world. In Europe, the Council of Europe had a leading role in development and promotion of intercultural education since 1997, based on cultural and linguistic diversity in education emerging from increased mobility, plurality and complexity. Because of the rise of communicative language teaching in the 1980s and globalization, teaching of target cultures has become a part of foreign language courses and many techniques and materials have been developed. Foreign language education may play an important role in promoting cultural diversity and tolerance towards this diversity. Teachers should be able to teach culture besides language structures. Avoiding prejudice, helping students to have a more open and positive viewpoint to other cultures are also roles of the foreign language teachers. Therefore, teachers are expected to be aware of power imbalances, stereotyping and discrimination. However, teachers may not appreciate this function of foreign language courses.This study aims to find out and explain the perceptions of pre-service teachers on intercultural education to reveal their concepts of intercultural education. In this study qualitative method is used and the data gathered with metaphors from pre-service English Teaching students in two universities. The data is analysed by using content analysis. In the analysis of the data obtained, metaphors are analyzed in four stages (coding and sorting, sample metaphor compilation, category development, ensuring validity and reliability).The analysis of the derived data still continues.

Keywords:

Intercultural education, pre-service teachers, English teaching.