The purpose of the study is to examine Spanish teachers’ understanding of the concepts of intercultural perspective and intercultural approach within the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language. The study investigates this understanding in relation to Swedish governing documents and directives. Another question is whether teachers consider themselves to include this in their own teaching and how they experience the support given by the schools where they operate concerning how to cover intercultural perspective and intercultural approach in Spanish language teaching and learning. In the study we use a qualitative method, specifically the semi-structured and explorative interview. Seven teachers are interviewed digitally.
The results of this investigation indicate that the informants possess some knowledge as to the meaning and significance of intercultural perspective and intercultural approach within the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language. However, this knowledge seems to depend on the size of the community in which they operate and whether they consider themselves to be surrounded by multiple cultures or not and therefore have experience and continuous practice regarding the subject of the study. The results of the study also show that the informants share their view on work-related time pressure and that they claim this to affect their ability to work with an intercultural perspective.