This article discusses intercultural competence, which is closely related to the concepts of culture and multiculturalism and which enables learners to become more familiar with the culture of the target language and to reduce prejudices and stereotypes in German-as-a-Foreign-Language lessons. The aim of developing intercultural competence in German as a foreign language classes is to enable learners to recognize different religions, languages, races and social groups and to develop democratic attitudes by reducing prejudices and negative thoughts towards other cultures. They should develop a positive attitude towards other cultures through multicultural education. The aim of this study is to raise awareness of the importance of intercultural competence in GFL teaching. This study argues that learners in GFL lessons should be encouraged to reduce their prejudices by recognizing and comparing both the culture of the foreign language they are learning and their own culture. In this way, they will be more successful in learning foreign languages, intercultural conflicts will be eliminated and a peaceful environment will be created. First, the concepts of culture, multiculturalism and intercultural competence on which researchers and authors in the world and in Türkiye have commented are discussed and their definitions are given. Then, the goals of multicultural education are stated and the importance of intercultural competence for foreign language teaching is highlighted. Finally, suggestions are made on how to give more importance to intercultural competence in GFL teaching.
Keywords: intercultural competence, culture, multiculturalism, prejudices, stereotypes, GFL