English Studies at NBU, 2016 pISSN 2367-5705, eISSN 2367-8704 Vol. 2, Issue 2, pp. 89-103 www.esnbu.org 89 REFLECTIONS ON THE RELATION BETWEEN NATIONAL CULTURES AND INNOVATIONS IN EDUCATION - THE CASE OF BULGARIA Ellie Boyadzhieva South-West University Neofit Rilsky, Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria Abstract Pluralism, multiculturalism, leaner autonomy and motivation have become buzz expressions discussed widely both by the Common European Framework of Reference and the European Centre for Modern Languages. However, despite the hard work to implement these new approaches in the classroom, some countries seem to be more adaptive compared to others. In the author’s opinion, the answer is rooted in the specifics of national cultures. The article discusses the roles of teacher and student as an archetypal case of micro social organization as they reveal typical patterns of social behaviour. Provided is a detailed description of the specifics of the Bulgarian national culture along the six dimensions of Hofstede’s theory of organizations and cultures with regard to the educational system. The readiness of the Bulgarian teachers and students to comply with the concepts of pluralistic approaches, multiculturalism, learner– centred teaching and autonomy in the Bulgarian classroom are explored. The general conclusion is that these ideas are highly culture-sensitive and the success of their implementation depends on the closeness of the cultures where they emerged and the recipient countries to which they are exported. Key words: education, culture, cultural dimensions, autonomy, multiculturalism Article history: Received: 2 December 2016 Reviewed: 20 December 2016 Revised: 27 December 2016 Accepted: 28 December 2016 Published: 31 December 2016 Copyright © 2016 Ellie Boyadzhieva Reflections on the Relation between National Cultures and Innovations in Education - the case of Bulgaria by Ellie Boyadzhieva is an open access article distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License which permits non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at e.boyadzhieva@gmail.com . If you want to use the work commercially, you must first get the author's permission. Citation: Boyadzhieva, E. (2016). Comprehensive quality assessment in higher education. English Studies at NBU, 2(2), 89-103. Retrieved from http://esnbu.org/data/files/2016/2016-2-3-boyadzhieva-pp89-103.pdf Ellie Boyadzhieva, PhD, is Associate Professor of General Linguistics, Cultural studies and English morphology and syntax at SWU “Neofit Rilsky” in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. Her main interests are in three basic areas: contrastive analysis, comparative analysis of cultures, and language planning and language policies with regard to the place of ELT in the Bulgarian cultural context. In the last 5 years she published two books: The Science of Language (2015) and The Verb in Standard Modern English (in comparison with Bulgarian) (2013) with SWU Publishing House. She is also an author of over 50 articles in these three fields. Presently, she is Head of the Department of Germanic and Romance Studies at the Philological Faculty of the South-West University of Blagoevgrad. E-mail: e.boyadzhieva@gmail.com