Reconceptualizing intercultural communicative competence: A multinational perspective

Abstract

Given current trends in international education, many institutions of higher education in the United States and elsewhere seek to prepare students for life and careers in a globalized world. For many institutions, this means internationalizing curriculum and campus, increasing educational exchange opportunities (for both domestic and international students), and developing intercultural abilities in their students. In the process, several questions arise: (1) which strategies are effective, (2) what research gaps exist, (3) what standards measure quality, and (4) what factors determine the quality and effectiveness of their efforts while lacking evidence about competencies? This article explores a possible response to the questions posed drawing on half a century of experience in educational exchange and intercultural service, a review of the intercultural literature, plus two multinational research projects. These combined efforts led to an expansion and (re)conceptualization of the seminar theme of intercultural effectiveness. Despite more than 50 terms found in the literature (including “intercultural effectiveness”) (see, among others, Byram, 1997; Deardorff, 2004; Edelstein, 2014; Martin and Nakayama, 2000), to describe abilities needed for intercultural interaction, one term emerges as perhaps the most comprehensive and most accurate – intercultural communicative competence (ICC).

Communicative Competence Development in Teaching Professional Discourse in Educational Establishments

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How To Achieve Understanding In Non-Dialogue Context Of Communication?

“…Thus, it can be stated that the question of preparing of a foreign language learners gradually leaves the state of a theoretical and ascertaining description. It goes into the phase of searching and implementing practical technologies, the realization of which will reduce the conflict of intercultural communication and create among students intercultural communicative competence (for more details, see Tareva, 2017;, Fantini, 20182020).…”

La competencia comunicativa en estudiantes de los grados de Maestro: Una revisión sistemática

“…Aspectos tales como la enseñanza de una segunda lengua, cómo la aprenden los estudiantes, así como la identificación de las condiciones más propicias para que tenga lugar los procesos instructivos, engloban una parte importante de los estudios lingüísticos en las bases de datos (Sadenova, Orazakynkyzy, Anuar, & Yesbulatova, 2017). En este campo, también se evidencia una tendencia a unificar la competencia lingüística en la enseñanza de una segunda lengua con la competencia cultural, a fin de iniciar procesos efectivos de transculturalidad e interculturalidad, sobre todo, en la Educación Superior (Begeka, 2019;Fantini, 2020).…”