Perceptions of pre-service teachers and teacher educators about global competence and their global competence awareness in EFL context

We live in an ever-changing world, the world of globalization, in which every aspect of human life has been affected. Today, English as a lingua franca is used as a means of global communication to understand the dynamic structure of this globalized world. However, knowing English alone is not enough to deal with the new conditions of globalization. Therefore, English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers have a global responsibility to ensure that global communication is conducted effectively by globally competent individuals. To fulfill this responsibility, the concept of global competence can guide EFL teachers by providing the characteristics that students and teachers are expected to have in a globalized world. Since EFL teachers play a crucial role in developing global competency in students, first and foremost, they should possess global competence and then deliver globally competent teaching to EFL students. Yet no single study exists, to the best of our knowledge, which specifically focuses on the global competence phenomenon in EFL teacher education context. Therefore, this study aimed to find out the perceptions of pre-service EFL teachers and EFL teacher educators towards global competence. Additionally, the study sought to understand how pre-service EFL teachers and EFL teacher educators perceive the inclusion of global competence related issues into EFL teacher education. For this purpose, a mixed-methods study was implemented in two phases. The quantitative phase of the study was conducted with 80 4th-year pre-service EFL teachers and 13 EFL teacher educators in the English Language Teaching Department at a Turkish state university. Global Competence (GC) Questionnaires which were adapted from global competence related questions in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)'s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 Teacher Questionnaire, were administered separately to two groups of participants. Later on, in the qualitative phase of the study, online forms consisting of 10 open-ended questions were applied to 46 pre-service EFL teachers and seven EFL teacher educators of the former phase. The quantitative data were analyzed with descriptive statistical techniques, including frequency (f), and percentage (%). The qualitative data were analyzed with content analysis. Based on the findings, it was concluded that the perceptions of the participants towards global competence were mostly limited to intercultural communicative competence and knowledge of global issues. Therefore, in the light of the findings, it was concluded that participants' awareness of global competence was to a limited extent. Regarding globally competent teaching, it was found out that while pre-service ELT teachers' perceptions towards the inclusion of intercultural competence into lessons were in line with the perceptions of teacher educators, the perceptions of the participants of two groups towards the incorporation of other global competence related issues were in line to some extent. In the light of these conclusions, this study is expected to contribute to the literature on global competence in the context of EFL teacher education.