The increasing focus on interculturality is paramount and recognized as essential for teacher education (UNESCO, 2006; Byram, 2012; Dervin, 2016). Due to the intrinsic link between language and culture, this becomes particularly relevant for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers. Researching interculturality, however, can be challenging due to the nuances of this concept and how it is characterised (Kecskes, 2012). An overview of theoretical positions reveals that competence-based models explain intercultural competence as comprised of four main dimensions: awareness about what being ‘intercultural’ means, knowledge about one’s own and other cultural practices, skills relating to interpreting and adopting different cultural behaviors and attitudes towards discovering and acting under this understanding (Spitzberg & Changnon, 2009). Other approximations, however, call for comprehensive explorations of interculturality, arguing that culture represents a field in which power dynamics are at play (Dervin, 2016). Walsh (2009) calls for a contextualized lens through critical interculturality, proposed as an emancipatory means to the effects of colonisation, particularly in Latin America, which also extrapolates to similar EFL contexts. These different approximations to the study of interculturality reflect its complexity but also call for understanding how interculturality is conceptualised and exercised by individuals in light of these many theoretical positions. To achieve this, this review adopts an inductive approach applying the “Funds of Knowledge” (FoK) framework (González et al., 2005). FoK refers to the historical bodies of knowledge that individuals accumulate throughout their lives and thus allows the review to systematize the different factors that influence the development of intercultural knowledge in pre-service teachers. This systematic literature review explores empirical evidence on how EFL pre-service teachers develop their intercultural knowledge, as an effort to systematise the scarce evidence provided in this matter. The guiding question for this systematic literature review is the following: What factors has the literature reported that influence the intercultural development of English as Foreign Language pre-service English teachers?

Through a systematic review process following PRISMA guidelines, 20 articles published between 2011 and 2025 were selected from Scopus and Web of Science. The criteria for inclusion pertained to the focus on EFL pre-service teachers alone, and their formal and informal intercultural learning experiences in their lives. These resulting corpus underwent thematic analysis, then were further analyzed through a Funds of Knowledge (González et al., 2005) lens to theorize about the evidence. This approach provided a nuanced understanding, validating PSTs' experiences and offering a pathway to integrate them into curriculum and teacher education.

Results reveal that PSTs develop intercultural knowledge through three main factors: personal, relational, and pedagogical. Personal factors include motivation, reflective personalities, and family influences. Relational factors encompass intercultural exchanges abroad, professional experiences, and digital interactions. Pedagogical factors highlight formal intercultural education, culturally responsive materials, and active participation in research or practicum. These pedagogical experiences, in particular, offer diverse opportunities for intercultural encounters and discussions, which may be shaped by the personal and societal factors, as strands of PSTs’ own funds of knowledge. These findings stress the fact that leveraging PSTs' funds of knowledge is crucial for enhancing their intercultural competence. This review, therefore, calls for teacher educators to implement culturally diverse approaches, acknowledging PSTs' unique characteristics and sociocultural backgrounds, within teacher education programs and classroom practice.

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