Abstract
Digital transformation is rapidly reshaping the skills required of teachers, while existing international competence frameworks do not fully reflect the realities of multilingual and technology-driven educational environments. This study aims to identify the key competencies required of pre-service foreign language teachers in Kazakhstan and to compare these needs with major international competence frameworks. The study employed an exploratory qualitative design based on a survey of 43 language educators from Al-Farabi Kazakh National University and West Kazakhstan Innovative and Technological University, combined with a comparative content analysis of major teacher competence frameworks, including DigCompEdu, UNICEF’s Educators’ Digital Competence Framework, UNESCO ICT-CFT, and EPOSTL. The results indicate that educators consider digital pedagogical competence, management of online interaction, multimodal literacy, digital assessment, AI literacy, and intercultural digital mediation to be essential components of professional competence. These competencies reveal important gaps in existing frameworks, particularly regarding AI-supported language practices and multilingual digital communication. In response, the study proposes the Integrative Competence Framework for Foreign Language Teachers, which conceptualizes teacher competence in digitally mediated language education as an integrated system of pedagogical, linguistic, intercultural, and technological dimensions. The findings highlight the need to update teacher education programs and suggest directions for further research to validate and refine the proposed competence model.