Based on the literature and the above presented research problem, the research project seeks to answer the following research questions:

 

RQ 1.1 What do Hungarian secondary school EFL teachers and university tutors in EFL teacher training understand by global competence development?

RQ 1.2 How do Hungarian secondary school EFL teachers and university tutors in EFL teacher training view their role in developing students’ global competence?

RQ 2.1 What topics do Hungarian secondary school EFL teachers and university tutors in EFL teacher training deal with for global competence development?

RQ 2.2 What attitudes do secondary school EFL teachers and university EFL teacher trainers in Hungary have towards dealing with local, global, and intercultural issues?

RQ 2.3 What influences secondary school EFL teachers and university tutors in EFL teacher training in Hungary in dealing with local, global, and intercultural issues?

RQ 3.1 What approach do secondary school EFL teachers and university tutors in EFL teacher training in Hungary take when dealing with local, global, and intercultural issues for global competence development?

RQ 3.2 How do Hungarian secondary school EFL teachers and university tutors in EFL teacher training create a safe space for doing activities aimed to develop global competence?

RQ 3.3 What activity types do Hungarian secondary school EFL teachers and university tutors in EFL teacher training use to develop their students’ global competence?

RQ 3.4 What views do secondary school EFL teachers and university tutors in EFL teacher training in Hungary hold on activities aimed to develop students’ global competence?

RQ 3.5 What are the students’ views on activities aimed to develop global competence?

 

The aim of RQ 1 and its sub-questions was to explore Hungarian teachers’ views on GCD in the ELT setting, as they are assumed to influence their decisions about the incorporation of the global dimension in their lessons (Goren & Yemini, 2017). The second RQ and its sub-questions were intended to gain insight into the ways in which Hungarian teachers develop the knowledge dimension of global competence in their students, meaning the ways in which they deal with global, local, and intercultural issues in the language lessons. I decided to focus on the knowledge dimension of global competence development (GCD) in the second set of RQs because empirical studies suggest (Evripidou & Çavuşoglu, 2011; Haynes, 2009; Yoshihara, 2013) that one of the main concerns of teachers about global competence development is not so much the work on attitudes and skills but discussing these rather sensitive and controversial issues in class and I intended to reveal whether that is the case with Hungarian teachers. Another reason for focusing on the knowledge dimension of GCD was the fact that teachers participating in some of the empirical studies presented in Section 2.2 (Basarir, 2017; Divéki, 2018; Gürsoy & Saglam, 2011; Yakovchuk, 2004; Yoshihara, 2013) claimed that they did not have the necessary knowledge to teach about global, local, and intercultural issues and it seemed like an interesting enquiry in the Hungarian context as well. The aim of RQ 3 and its sub-questions was to identify some good practices in connection with global education to inform the Hungarian EFL teacher community. The two last sub-questions, RQ 3.4 and RQ 3.5 merit further elaboration, though: their aim was to enquire into the views of the teachers and the students participating in the two classroom studies (Studies 5 and 6) where they had the chance to try out activities aiming at global competence development.