PEDAGOGICAL TECHNOLOGIES FOR DEVELOPING STUDENTS’ INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE THROUGH A COMPARATIVE APPROACH

Abstract

This article identifies and describes a set of concrete pedagogical technologies that operationalize the comparative approach to intercultural competence development in higher education. Whereas much of the existing literature discusses comparative pedagogy at the level of general principle, this study focuses on the technological level of implementation, detailing four specific instructional technologies — the comparative case-study technology, the cultural-mapping technology, the critical-incident simulation technology, and the reflective comparative portfolio technology — together with their procedural stages, assessment criteria, and classroom management requirements. The proposed technologies were piloted with 76 university students over one academic semester and evaluated through structured observation, expert assessment of student work, and a competence rating scale. The results indicate that combining these four technologies within a single instructional module produces balanced development across the cognitive, affective, and behavioral components of intercultural competence, and the article offers a stage-by-stage model that instructors can adapt to their own disciplinary context.