Over recent decades language teaching and learning has undergone a redefinition of the subject and a rapid change in its methodology. Language programmers can now be delivered in technology-based environments and communication at an international level can be a daily occurrence. This paper on the one hand analyses how these developments have extended and challenged the traditional roles and responsibilities of language teachers. On the other, it examines to what extent established models of language teacher education acknowledge and address the needs of language teachers today, in particular in relation to the integration of the intercultural dimension into language teaching and learning.