Effective Strategies for Teaching Intercultural Communicative Competence: A Case Study

Abstract

The purpose of this collective case study was to explore the effect of ICC teaching strategies on three male and female beginning language students in a SC Lowcountry school. ICC was defined as a mixture of attitudes, knowledge, understanding, and skills, which facilitate an individual’s understanding and respect for others of different cultural backgrounds and allow for an appropriate response when communicating with these individuals (Byram & Wagner, 2018; Fantini, 2020; Mai, 2018). Theories guiding this study were Byram’s (1997) Five Characteristics or Savoirs of ICC and Fantini’s (2020) Five Components of ICC as they related to ICC competencies, effective strategies for teaching ICC, and the effects these strategies have on the development of ICC in beginning language students. The central research question was ‘What are effective strategies for developing ICC skills with beginning language students in a SC Lowcountry school?’ To respond, the researcher examined four different student assessment documents and compared them to the benchmark for intercultural communication at the novice proficiency level as defined by The South Carolina College- and Career-Ready Standard for World Language Proficiency 2019. To explore how beginning language learners perceived their own cultural identity, viewed differing cultures, and understood the role of language, the researcher analyzed interview responses to identify uniqueness and patterns in the students’ perspectives, attitudes, and beliefs. The results revealed the combined and recursive use of researched strategies for teaching ICC: active student participation and exploration, interdisciplinary study, sharing and discussing cultural experiences, use of technology for building a sense of community, and the use of tele-collaboration through language and culture study facilitated student understanding and respect for others of different cultural backgrounds.

Keywords: Culture, Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC), Interdisciplinary Study, Foreign Language, Sharing and Discussing Cultural Experiences, Student Participation and Exploration, Tele-collaboration