In this globalized world, graduating students with intercultural communicative competence (ICC) becomes essential (Saba ‘Ayon & Harb, 2022;Winstead, 2021). Concerned about the Lebanese graduates, the researchers in this follow-up study aimed to investigate the extent to which Lebanese private university students have the knowledge, attitudes, skills and critical cultural awareness of an intercultural speaker as per Byram’s (1997)？multidimensional model of ICC. Using a mixed-methods design, the researchers employed an online self-completion questionnaire emailed to 190 conveniently selected private university students in Lebanon and three focus groups to collect their quantitative and qualitative data. The researchers analyzed the collected data quantitatively and qualitatively. Conclusions of both types of analyses were triangulated. Major findings reveal that most of the respondents rank high on four components, namely knowledge, attitude, skills of interpreting and relating and critical cultural awareness, and moderate on one component of Byram’s ICC model, which is the skills of discovery and interaction. Major recommendations were made, among which was incorporating ICC within the Lebanese educational system.
References
[1]
Allen, T. J. (2021). Exploring Students’ Perceptions about Intercultural Communication Education: Rethinking the Design and Facilitation of a Course in Japan. Intercultural Communication Education, 4, 213-233. https://doi.org/10.29140/ice.v4n3.475
[2]
Byram, M. (1997). Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence. Multilingual Matters.
[3]
Byram, M. (2020). Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence Revisited. Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/BYRAM0244
[4]
Coperias-Aguilar, M. J. (2002). Intercultural Communicative Competence: A Step beyond Communicative Competence. Estudios de Lingüística Inglesa Aplicada, 3, 85-102.
https://revistas.uned.es/index.php/ELIA/article/view/18209
[5]
Deardorff, D. (2006). Identification and Assessment of Intercultural Competence as a Student Outcome of Internalization. Journal of Studies in International Education, 10, 241-266. https://doi.org/10.1177/1028315306287002
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1028315306287002?journalCode=jsia
[6]
Deardorff, D. K. (2015). A 21st Century Impressive: Integrating Intercultural Competence in Tuning. Tuning Journal for Higher Education, 3, 137-47.
https://doi.org/10.18543/tjhe-3(1)-2015pp137-147
[7]
Feeney, T., & Gajaseni, C. (2020). Effectiveness of Reading Short Stories to Develop Intercultural Communicative Competence among Thai Students at an International School. Language Education and Acquisition Research Network Journal, 13, 126-141.
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1258697.pdf
[8]
Halim, A., Atikah, D., Rezki, A., Fadillah, F. N., & Astuti, D. (2022). Students Reflections on Intercultural Communicative Competence: A Case Study of EFL Islamic Higher Education Students in Kendari. KnE Social Sciences, 7, 351-356.
https://doi.org/10.18502/kss.v7i8.10754
[9]
Hoff, H. E. (2020). The Evolution of Intercultural Communicative Competence: Conceptualizations, Critiques and Consequences for 21st Century Classroom Practice. Intercultural Communication Education, 3, 55-74. https://doi.org/10.29140/ice.v3n2.264
[10]
Houssari, I. (2008). Cultural Component of the Foreign Language Curriculum: Promoting the Concept of Cultural Awareness. The Modern Library.
[11]
Kempen, R., & Engel, A. (2017). Measuring Intercultural Competence: Development of a German Short Scale. Interculture Journal: Online-Zeitschrift für Interkulturelle Studien, 16, 39-60.
[12]
Liu, L. L. (2016). An Investigation of Non-English Majors’ Intercultural Communicative Competence: Based on a Case Study of China West Normal University. Cross-Cultural Communication, 12, 28-34.
[13]
Lopez-Rocha, S. (2016). Intercultural Communicative Competence: Creating Awareness and Promoting Skills in the Language Classroom. In C. Goria, O. Speicher, & S. Stollhans (Eds.), Innovative Language Teaching and Learning at University: Enhancing Participation and Collaboration (pp. 105-111). Research-Publishing.net.
https://doi.org/10.14705/rpnet.2016.000411
[14]
Lund, R. E. (2008). Intercultural Competence: An Aim for the Teaching of English in Norway? Acta Didactica Norge, 2, Article No. 9. https://doi.org/10.5617/adno.1025
[15]
Mu, Y., & Yu, B. (2021). Chinese College Students’ Intercultural Competence: Current Situation, Barriers, and Solutions. Journal of Intercultural Communication, 21, 44-57.
https://doi.org/10.36923/jicc.v21i2.13
[16]
Reid, E. (2015). Techniques Developing Intercultural Communicative Competences in English Language Lessons. Social and Behavioral Sciences, 186, 939-943.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.04.011
[17]
Saba ‘Ayon, N., & Harb, G. (2022). To What Extent Lebanese University Students Consider Themselves as Intercultural Communicators. The Paris Conference on Education 2022: Official Conference Proceedings (pp. 209-219). La Maison de la Chimie.
https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2758-0962.2022.18
[18]
Saba ‘Ayon, N. (2013). Teachers’ Conceptions of Teaching and Their Classroom Practice: The Case of English as a Foreign Language Teachers in Lebanese Public High Schools. Lambert Academic Publishing.
[19]
Saba ‘Ayon, N. (2016). Telecollaboration and Intercultural Communicative Competence. International Journal of Language and Applied Linguistics, 2, 96-122.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305728393_International_Journal_of_Language_and_Applied_Linguistics_Telecollaboration_and_Intercultural_Communicative_Competence
[20]
Saka, F. O., & Asma, B. (2020). A Study on Developing Intercultural Awareness Scale (ICAS) and Examining ELT Students’ Intercultural Awareness. International Journal of Current Approaches in Language, Education and Social Sciences, 2, 445-461.
https://doi.org/10.35452/caless.2020.23
[21]
Saricoban, A., & Oz, H. (2014). Research into Pre-Service English Teachers’ Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) in Turkish Context. The Anthropologist, 18, 523-531.
https://doi.org/10.1080/09720073.2014.11891570
[22]
Shah-Gordon, R. (2016). Intercultural Competence Development through Civic Engagement. Ph.D. Thesis, Antioch University. http://aura.antioch.edu/etds/273
[23]
Tumen-Akyildiz, S., Celik, V., & Ahmed, K. H. (2021). Intercultural Communicative Competence: Why Is It Significant and How Can It Be Enhanced in EFL Settings? Yasadikca Egitim, 35, 793-803. https://doi.org/10.33308/26674874.2021352314
[24]
Winstead, A. (2021). The Importance of Intercultural Communication in Today’s Workplace.
https://www.worth.com/the-importance-of-intercultural-communication-in-todays-workplace/
