Creating supplementary learning activities for the development of pluricultural competence in a culturally diverse year 6 EFL classroom

Abstract

While pluricultural competence is increasingly emphasised in language education policy documents such as the CEFR (2001) and its Companion Volume (2020), its practical implementation in EFL classrooms remains limited. This thesis addresses that gap by designing supplementary English language teaching materials to support the development of pluricultural competence among culturally diverse sixth-grade learners in Estonia. The thesis consists of an introduction, two core chapters and a conclusion. The introduction states the motivation for the thesis and describes its structure. The first chapter provides a theoretical foundation, exploring concepts such as culture, pluricultural competence and the CEFR’s role in shaping pluricultural education. The second chapter presents the methodology for and design of five CEFR-informed worksheet sets supplementing the coursebook Academy Stars 6. The thesis ends with a conclusion summarising the most important aspects of supporting pluricultural competence in the EFL classroom. Created materials are included in the appendices. Keywords: pluricultural competence, CEFR, English language teaching, materials development, intercultural communication