ABSTRACT
The communicative approach to foreign language teaching, based on the concept of communicative competence brought into focus the importance of communication skills. Although there has been increasing interest in intercultural comparative studies among linguists, and intercultural learning is a concept often met in pedagogical literature, the concept of intercultural competence has rather come out of the sciences of persons and societies. The holistic view of learning means that learners are involved in every learning situation with their whole personality: as knowing, feeling, thinking and acting individuals. Understandably, intercultural learning is often identified with growth towards internationalism. When considering the need for, and the nature of, intercultural learning, a number of phenomena such as racism, xenophobia, discrimination needs to be considered. It is typical of human beings' thinking to use categories and classifications such as stereotypes, but with regard to intercultural learning we have to consider how we are to deal with them.
