Abstract:  The most significant phenomenon of our times is the intensive development of scientific and technical progress. Knowledge becomes “the greatest wealth” of the contemporary society, which is defined as “information society”, “society of services” or “knowledge society”. Through education people acquire knowledge and skills that are in accordance with the labor needs. “Knowledge society” is also faced with the challenges of social inclusion and good citizenship, which are related to need for new educational models. The requirements for the teacher increase, because of the necessity of forming of rational civil society. Under the information technology influence the students will be able to work at home via a computer connection. Teachers may be unnecessary. However, only through direct communication between a teacher and a student, more rapid approval of adequate behavioral models and forming attitudes towards values of changingthe social order by students, become possible.

Keywords: „knowledge society”, liberal education, teacher, student.

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 8, April 2013,  http://rhetoric.bg/, ISSN 1314-4464

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Abstract: The development of a multicultural competence of the future teachers in Belarus still remains a matter of a distant future for a large part of pedagogues, as Belarusian schools are not as much filled with immigrants from Eastern countries, as classes in other European schools, and the problem of integration of children from other cultures today is not a priority problem for teaching public. However, this position is very unreasonable. Usually multicultural competence relates to general social competence, not connected to a certain profession. But the content of multicultural competence of teachers is wider than that of other specialists. Future teachers not only have to live in a multicultural environment, but they have to work in international teams in frames of educational projects, to establish long-term relations with foreign partners, to demonstrate ethics and culture of multicultural communication, to solve professional tasks in a multicultural society, etc. Therefore, they need to speak a foreign language at a proper level that allows participating in written and oral professional discussions at the international level. These qualities do not appear spontaneously, they require development. Teachers face a controversial situation when they are required to demonstrate results of international collaboration not obtaining special competences for that, as pedagogical universities in Belarus do not regard development of multicultural competence of students as a task. In this article the status of multicultural competence shown as a key requirement to the 21st century teacher needed for the effective implementation of professional activities; a possible structure of this competence according to changing professional requirements is discussed, a framework of its development is marked.

Key words: Cross-cultural situation, modern teacher competenceы, multicultural competence, organizational competence, global/international competence, intercultural communication competence, multicultural academic competence multicultural, virtual academic space.

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 8, April 2013,  http://rhetoric.bg/, ISSN 1314-4464

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Abstract: The communication theory can aspire to become a master discipline that synthesizes related theories and insights and considers them as part of a comprehensive conception guiding research in different fields. In the present paper the communication theory is used to describe the influence of the teacher’s verbal and nonverbal cues in the instructional context. The results in the presented studies indicate that both the proximity and availability of word messages and nonverbal signals affect communication processes. The cited authors discuss the theory underlining the construct of teacher’s immediacy and think that it is something more than responsiveness. The psychological closeness, the physical attractiveness, the sense of humour, the gestures while talking to the class have an effect to the teaching effectiveness. The analysed empirical findings in the paper reflect the gains and losses due to presence of the nonverbal and verbal teacher’s attractiveness during the classroom interactions and seeks to enlarge the discussion of this issue under educationalists.

Keywords: communication, immediacy, teaching, nonverbal, verbal.

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 8, April 2013,  http://rhetoric.bg/, ISSN 1314-4464

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Abstract: Social competence and communicative competence as its integral aspect are focused by social and behavior researchers during the last decades. Nevertheless the lack of a commonly accepted definition of the construct, it aims at describing the human potential and skills to function adapting to the various types  of context and environment  – family, school, professional activity, community in general throughout the life cycle – childhood, youth and early adulthood. Thearticle outlines the key role of the social and communicative competence within the wide range of the significant professional competences of the teacher. Theauthors review the results from two studies on this tropic. The first one measures and accesses seven key aspects of the social competence among education specialists, implementing the Bulgarian modified and adapted version of the Swiss self-report scale of А. Frey and L. Balzer (2005, 2007). The second one is detailing one of the teachers social competence aspects – their skills to manage conflict situations – by the means of studying their preferences and choice of leading communication strategy in problem situations.

Key words: teachers’ professional competence, social and communicative competence, effective professional communication, overcoming conflicts.

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 8, April 2013,  http://rhetoric.bg/, ISSN 1314-4464

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Abstract: The focus of the article is a trifocal. On one hand, perceptions and approaches toward formal teaching and communication are identified, on the other – challenging school models with different teachers, teaching and communication characteristics are portrayed. The third focus comes as a natural consequence of the first two, and allows identifying key questions and problems faced by the Bulgarian education, which is trying to redefine its contemporary role, to revitalize the school as an institution, and to reconceptualize the teacher training models.

Keywords:  teaching, communications, school models.

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 8, April 2013,  http://rhetoric.bg/, ISSN 1314-4464

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Abstract:The current article highlights collected facts about the transition in scientific research from quantitative to qualitative approaches to the study of the characteristics of human learning. The analysis of the presented results emphasizes the importance of the qualitative research of learning as a major perspective for the conceptualization and evaluation of human learning through the lifespan of an individual not only on behavioral level, but on cognitive level as well.

Key words: Learning, Qualitative research.

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 8, April 2013,  http://rhetoric.bg/, ISSN 1314-4464

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Abstract: The author is a leading expert in preschool and primary education. The paper explores the sociolinguistic topic of language and social context. The author claims that language education is closely related to issues in the new academic degree program of Pedagogy of mass and artistic communication.

Keywords: communication, language, arts, education.

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 8, April 2013,  http://rhetoric.bg/, ISSN 1314-4464

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Abstract: The author is a leading expert in administrative law. The paper presents the topic of communication with administration in civil society. The author claims that the infringement of the principles, described in the paper, in the administrative process, and the ignoring of the three basic obligations, at least, of each administrative body, make an issued administrative act illegal and justify its appeal in an administrative or juridical way.

Keywords: communication, administration.

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 8, April 2013,  http://rhetoric.bg/, ISSN 1314-4464

Read the original of the article (in Bulgarian)