جستجوی مقالات مرتبط با کلیدواژه « Intercultural Communicative Competence » در نشریات گروه « ادبیات و زبان ها »

 Intercultural communicative competence (ICC) and intercultural sensitivity (IS) have attracted the attention of a number of researchers in the field of foreign language teaching and learning. Like many other studies carried out by far, the present study tries to explore EFL teachers’ (with short- and long-term teaching experiences) ICC (intercultural communicative competence) and IS (intercultural sensitivity) levels and measure them in practice through administering two questionnaires to discover Iranian EFL teachers’ perceptions or beliefs in understanding ICC and intercultural sensitivity. In order to achieve the above-mentioned objectives, via a quantitative and descriptive design; a sample of 170 EFL teachers with short (N=82)- and long-term teaching experiences (N=88) from different language institutes and high schools in West Azerbaijan province was selected to fill out the two ICC and IS questionnaires. The results of quantitative data analysis showed that both groups of Iranian EFL teachers paid special attention to ICC and IS. It also turned out that the two groups of teachers (with short term teaching experience and long-term teaching experience) were not significantly different in terms of ICC and IS levels. To put it another way, though all EFL teachers were aware of the concepts of ICC and IS and their importance in their teaching practices, they paid attention to the concept of culture. The pedagogical implications of the study are discussed.

Pinpointing the role of language, emotion, and culture in intercultural interactions as the three basic needs of intercultural interactions is one of the most important problems in the intercultural field. Therefore, this paper probed the role of language, emotion, and culture simultaneously in intercultural communication in Iran. By using convenience sampling, one hundred Iranian language teachers were chosen and their language proficiency and ICC levels were specified by using Oxford Placement Test (OPT) and intercultural communicative competence (ICC) questionnaire. Then, the researchers used exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to classify ICC questions under language, emotion, and culture categories.  After classifying the questions, the researchers used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), standard solution coefficient, standard path coefficient, T value, and Sobel formula to analyze the collected data from the ICC questionnaire based on participants' answers. The results revealed that language, culture, and emotion were the main macro-elements of intercultural communication. Also, it was shown that language was the most important need and macro-element in intercultural communication and then the second and third place went to culture and emotion respectively.  It was found that emotion acted as a mediator variable between language and culture and there was a relationship among language, culture, and emotion, too. This study was of high importance for language teachers, curriculum designers, textbook writers, intercultural experts, and cultural psychologists

A long-standing concern reverberating over the minds of intercultural scholars is how best to incorporate intercultural issues in English language teaching, an issue on which there has been little research in EFL contexts. To fill this gap, this qualitative study examined the efficacy of interculturally-laden tasks in promoting Iranian learners’ intercultural competency in Anzali, Guilan province, Iran. Thus, a group of 22 Iranian intermediate EFL learners were recruited through convenience sampling from a pool of 44 according to their score on Oxford Quick Placement Test. All the participants were 12 females and 10 males aged 21-30. Then, they attended eighteen sessions of intercultural training using Mirrors and Windows: An intercultural communication textbook and completed seven intercultural tasks as a pretest and posttest. The data was collected through seven intercultural tasks and reflective worksheets. Drawing on the qualitative content analysis of intercultural tasks, the findings revealed that the tasks could help the participants increase their intercultural competence. Moreover, three themes were emerged from the analysis of the reflective worksheets as follow: (1) the participants’ evaluation of the ICC course and intercultural tasks, (2) perceptions regarding intercultural development and (3) language skills and anxiety. The implications and suggestions for further research are discussed.

Adopting a qualitative design, the current study explored the usefulness of interculturally-laden tasks and intercultural training in improving the Iranian English learners’ intercultural competency in Anzali, Guilan province, Iran. To this objective, a group of 25 intermediate levels whose ages ranged from 21 to 30 participated in the study. The participants were required, initially, to complete seven intercultural tasks to assess their current level of intercultural competence. Then, they attended in eighteen sessions of intercultural training using Mirror and Window: an intercultural textbook and then completed the same seven intercultural tasks one again at the end of the course. Anchored in Byram's (1997) ICC theory, five components of the learners’ ICC enhancement, namely Savoir Comprendre, Savoire Etre, Savoire S’engager, Savoirs, and Savoire Apprendre / Faire were investigated throughout an intercultural training course. Two major sources of data were intercultural tasks, which were written by the participants per week as part of their assignments, focused-group interviews and self-report evaluation survey conducted at the end of the course to elicit the views they harbor toward the course. Drawing on the qualitative content analysis, findings indicated that interculturally-laden tasks could help the participants enhance their intercultural competence. Meanwhile, the analysis of the focused-group interviews and self-report evaluation survey revealed that learners evaluated most aspects of the tasks and textbook positively. Finally, the implications of the current study and suggestions for further research were discussed.

In recent decades, developing intercultural sensitivity is one of the formidable challenges in foreign language education. EFL learners require appropriate intercultural skills to interact more effectively in culturally diverse settings. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of using interculturally-laden tasks in enhancing Iranian English language learner' intercultural sensitivity in Anzali, Iran. To this end, a sample of 44 intermediate EFL learners was selected through convenience sampling from a pool of 60 based on their performance on Quick Oxford Placement Test. The sample was then randomly assigned to a control group, with no intercultural training, and an experimental group receiving intercultural training during an eighteen-session treatment. Afterward, Chen and Starosta's intercultural sensitivity scale (ISS) and seven intercultural tasks were administered for two groups to evaluate their level of intercultural sensitivity prior to and after treatment implementation. The data collected through ISS was analyzed by conducting a multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA). Moreover, the data from intercultural tasks went through content analysis. The results manifested a notable enhancement of experimental groups' intercultural sensitivity under the definitions of Byram's ICC model. However, no significant difference between male and female learners' intercultural sensitivity was detected. Implications and suggestions for further research are discussed.

Globally occurring changes in an ever-shrinking world acknowledge the goal of making effective communication between people with various cultural backgrounds (East, 2012; Jin, 2014; Kramsh, 2013; Zheng, 2014) and hence the development of intercultural communicative competence (ICC) in EFL context respectively. This longitudinal study based on mixed method sequential design, and random sampling procedure strived to investigate male and female Iranian pre-service teachers' intercultural communicative competence. It also tried to assess the effect of mentor teachers on pre-service teachers' ICC and to see how and to what extent those perceptions are reflected in their classroom practices. This investigation was done in two academic semesters with participation of 49 pre-service teachers (M= 29, F=20) who were in their last year of their teacher education program in Farhangian university of Esfahan, one of the biggest teacher training centers in Iran. the second group of the participants was four mentor teachers (M=2, F=2).Results revealed that the first group of participants achieved an acceptable level of ICC, with higher mean scores in the attitude dimensions and lower levels in skill and knowledge components respectively. The results also indicated negative correlation between the attitudes and skill components of mentor teachers and pre- service teachers. The results of triangulation indicated an apparent disparity between teachers’ ICC perception and practice.

The global spread of English and its role as a lingua franca has created a great demand for learning English worldwide. Up to the present time, this demand has been mostly met by major international publishers of English-speaking countries such as the United States and Britain. However, the promotion of Anglo-American cultural content and ideology through international coursebooks has long been criticized in the EFL settings in which they are used. The current study investigated the cultural appropriacy of these coursebooks for the Iranian context. The main instruments were four researcher-made questionnaires. The questionnaires were first piloted and then administered among 197 teachers and 186 students who were selected based on availability and willingness to cooperate. Next, a one-sample t-test was run on the data and the results showed that the coursebooks spread the hegemony of English. Also, it was found that the coursebooks promote a concept of gender equality which is in contrast with the Iranian concept that assumes equal rights for both sexes in primary rights and not in secondary rights. The findings also suggest that the international teaching materials do not promote nonIslamic western values. Suggestions for developing localized language teaching materials have been put forward.

Developing intercultural communicative competence in EFL learners is one of the most recent aspects of language competency that aims at equipping learners with appropriate attitudes and skills to be able to interact more effectively in culturally-diverse settings. The current study was an attempt to explore the development of intercultural communicative competence (ICC) of a group of English majors and investigate what aspects of ICC explicit teaching could improve.Thus, an intercultural course was designed and implemented through an academic semester. A questionnaire of intercultural communicative competence was administered before and at the end of the semester to find out any possible significant change in the ICC level of the participants. The study also explored if there was any correlation between language proficiency of the participants and their level of ICC. The results of the study indicated that the overall ICC level of the learners increased significantly through the intervention of the intercultural course with the most significant rise in behavioral, cognitive and affective dimensions of the construct respectively. The results showed that there was not any significant correlation between language proficiency and the overall level of intercultural communicative competence; however, regarding the components of ICC some differences were found across two groups. The results of the study have implications in teacher education programs, teaching methodology, curriculum and materials development and the assessment of the ICC construct.