Intercultural communication and competence: practices at the education level

Abstract

The present article focuses on the main theoretical aspects of the intercultural communication and intercultural competence in order to propose appropriate practices to be promoted at the education level. Based on the theoretical framework of Auerneheimer about intercultural communication and the challenges than can create barriers to intercultural communication we argue about the prerequisite of intercultural competence in order to propose certain practices in different levels of education. The efforts to build intercultural competence can be met by intercultural training programs which should follow the principle of the understanding of the "other" that presupposes not only knowledge of one’s culture but also knowledge of the social conditions in which one thinks and acts. Thus, the transformation of the classroom into an exploratory community can help build the key elements that make up intercultural competence based on a dynamic understanding of culture, cultural differences, the relationship between individual and culture, and does not overlook the reality of asymmetric social relations in a multicultural society.