ETHNIC IDENTITY AS A BASIS FOR STUDENTS’ INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCY FORMATION

Abstract

The article considers the relevant and urgent issue of formation and development of ethnic identity of agricultural students as a framework for the development of intercultural competency. It is an essential and key competence in a modern world. Ethnic identity developing in childhood and youth maintains its stability lifelong and it is a key factor determining one’s emotional state. During the intercultural communication the manifestations of “our” and “other” ethnocentrism may result in aggression, frustration and depression. Ethnic and cultural identity management as a significant component of developed intercultural competency gives the opportunity to avoid undesirable negative consequences. Ethnic identity can be developed in the process of intercultural foreign languages teaching in higher education on the basis of methodological principles of the personal and activity approach, contextual education, the competency-based approach. The formation of positive ethnic and cultural identity starts with the perception of specific and particular features of native culture which is problematic as people become accustomed to accept values, customs and traditions of their own culture as something firm and permanent, as a matter of course. In this regard, the syllabus should contain ethnic and cultural knowledge and skills, the skill to see a situation from different perspectives on the base of understanding the relativity of ethnic and cultural events, the skill to govern one’s own emotional state. In this case the self-analysis, empathy and reflection become the psychological mechanism of stereotypes transformation, the realization of habitual ethnic and cultural preconceptions, and the acceptance of cultural diversity as a standard.