Teachers’ perceptions of oral communicative competence in intercultural Mexican classrooms: Validation of a questionnaire and analysis across educational contexts

Abstract

Mexico presents a unique linguistic context with extensive linguistic and cultural diversity. This study presents the results of a quantitative descriptive-correlational and inferential analysis based on the perceptions of 202 elementary school teachers regarding oral language teaching in Mexican intercultural educational contexts. It addresses the difficulties and strategies they use in the classroom, as well as the significant differences found among the various educational contexts in Mexico. The main results reveal challenges in the teaching of oral communicative competence, with highly significant differences between the public and private sectors, geographic location (urban or rural), and years of teaching experience. There is also a difference between theory and practice in the teaching of oral communicative competence and intercultural competence. These results underscore the need to strengthen teacher training and generate more contextualized strategies that articulate theory and practice in culturally diverse educational settings.