Assessing intercultural communicative competence in EFL college learners : a validation study

Abstract EN

Intercultural communication competence is an integral part of linguistic competence.

While the literature stresses the significance of intercultural communication competence, the assessment of this competence remains a developing area of research.

This study seeks to develop an intercultural communication survey particularly for EFL learners at the college level.

It further seeks to explore validation evidence for this ICC survey, which is made up of five components (Motivation, Self-knowledge, Other-knowledge, Mindfulness and Cognitive Flexibility and Tolerance for Uncertainty) comprising 20 items.

The ICC survey is intended to be used as an intercultural communication assessment too in university-level EFL programs to evaluate the intercultural communication competency in colleges that offer English education programs.

The researchers further collected evidence from a nonrandom sample (N = 346 participants) on the construct validity and reliability of the ICC survey to support its design as a tool for assessing intercultural communication competence.

Descriptive statistics, correlation analyses, and linear regression were used to analyze aspects of construct validity.

Findings showed that the ICC survey is sufficiently reliable and valid enough to assess intercultural communication competence.