The development of interculturality from a critical perspective in the Spanish as a Foreign Language classroom: an action research study

The point of departure for this study was the need to encourage students in a Spanish as Foreign Language (SFL) classroom to develop a critical attitude towards the large amount of language input they receive on the one hand and a sense of the intercultural competence since a critical perspective on the other. This twofold challenge led to an action research study, longitudinal in nature, which was carried out over the 45 hours of an SFL course involving 16 undergraduate university students in Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona, Spain). Our research questions asked, first, how such a critical attitude regarding information and the intercultural competence from a critical perspective could be fostered in the classroom and, second, how the agents involved, namely instructor and students, would judge the value of the model implemented. Data was gathered by means of questionnaires, student field diaries, and the instructor's classroom diary, and this input was then subjected to thematic and relational analysis. The results indicate general satisfaction with the approach but point to the need for improvement in areas such as assessment methods and group dynamics. This feedback can be used to fine-tune the model in further stages of this action research.