Reconceptualizing intercultural communicative competence: A multinational perspective

• Published in: Research in comparative and international education Vol. 15; no. 1; pp. 52 - 61
• Main Author: Fantini, Alvino E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01-03-2020
• Subjects: College Students; Communicative Competence (Languages); Cultural Awareness; Educational Improvement; Educational Quality; Educational Strategies; Educational Trends; Exchange Programs; Foreign Students; Formative Evaluation; Global Approach; Higher Education; Intercultural Communication; International Education; International Educational Exchange; Language Proficiency; Second Language Instruction; Second Language Learning; Study Abroad; research findings; formative assessment; educational exchange; Intercultural communicative competence; multinational perspective; ICC components
• ISSN: 1745-4999; 1745-4999
• DOI: 10.1177/1745499920901948

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).