Intercultural Communicative Competence

How can Intercultural Communicative Competence be defined? Is it possible to teach and to assess ICC? Discuss

In learning a foreign language, one mostly puts, or is told to put, four items on their agenda, which obviously includes speaking, writing, reading, and listening. And that is it; these four items are it. However, according to various discussions and empirical studies, these may be it on just the surface; deeper below the surface is something known as ‘Intercultural Communicative Competence,’ which is sometimes referred to as “the fifth skill”. This essay will look closely at this “fifth skill”, determining how it can be properly defined, and then discuss if the teaching and assessment of this skill is possible.

If each word of Intercultural Communicative Competence is examined literally, ICC can be most safely described as the ability to communicate across cultures. However, is it really that simple and straightforward? ICC is mentioned in an article by Fantini (2005) as without “clear consensus” about its actual definition. He wrote, “Some researchers stress global knowledge, others emphasize sensitivity, and still others point to certain skills.” Acknowledging this being true, Fantini also gives a conclusive definition of ICC as “the the complex of abilities needed to perform effectively and appropriately when interacting with others who are linguistically and culturally different from oneself.” One example is the ability to be able to interact with others with cultural relativism, being open and ready to delay any judgement on (the behavior of) other people of different cultures. Another is the knowledge of one’s culture, of other culture, and how both are different, which enables one to know what to do and what not to do in particular circumstances in the presence of other people without the incidents of offending or/and clashing with them.

As an illustration of this definition, let us look at the example of foreigners wanting to do business in Japan. For one thing, as not many Japanese people speak English, knowing Japanese is definitely an advantage. Besides, with a long history, with an ancient culture, Japanese people have developed “unique values, traditions and customs” (Kwintessential), so to do business with them in their societies, one have to know and understand those aspects (such as: stress on teamwork and group cohesiveness, maintenance of respect by the use of appropriate language, behaviour, body language, etc.), and be ready to conform to them, with an open mind and tolerance for the differences. With these being understood and followed, mutual understanding between both sides is promoted, misunderstanding minimized, time saved, fruitful outcomes generated, and successful business deals made.

Anyway, can ICC be taught and assessed? With it as a hard-to-define concept, it can be argued that how to teach or assess ICC can be done in various ways, none of which may be labeled as the single best one. This competence can be improved through curricular activities and further bettered through genuine experience and exposure with people belonging to different societies, cultures, beliefs, and so on, both manners of which can be considered as the learning process. Besides, with regards to assessment of ICC, based on a composition by Faniti (2001), “competence is abstract and cannot be witnessed directly; consequently, it must be inferred by observing how one performs” (as ICC correlates with “the abilities to perform effectively and appropriately [when in contact with] another language-culture […].” Thus, assessing one’s intercultural communicative competence can be done by the means of examining or “observing” his/her performance.

In short, although defining the intercultural communicative competence may be of some complications, it can be put as the combinations of abilities, including attitudes, knowledge, and skills, all of which enable one to perform effectively and suitably while dealing with members of “another language-culture background on their terms” (Fantini, 2001); plus, teaching and assessing it is not impossible; in one way or another, it can be done. After all, there should be 5 items on the agenda of every language student – speaking, writing, listening, and reading as the first 4 skills and intercultural communicative competence as the fifth one.

Reference:

Byram, Michael, Gribkova, Bella & Starkey, Hugh 2002. Developing the Intercultural Dimension in Language Teaching. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.

Fantini, Alvino E. 2001. “Exploring Intercultural Competence: A Construct Proposal”. Available at: www.councilnet.org/papers/Fantini.doc

Fantini, Alvino E. 2005. “About Intercultural Competence: A Construct”. Available at: http://www.sit.edu/SITOccasionalPapers/feil_appendix_e.pdf

Kwintessential, n.d., “Doing Business in Japan”. Available at: http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/etiquette/doing-business-japan.html