Strategies Used by Iranian EFL Teachers to Develop Learners' Intercultural Communicative Competence

Subject Areas : All areas of language and translation

Khorram-e-din Rahiminahad ¹ , Katayoon Afzali ²

1 - English Department, Sheikhbahaee University, Isfahan, Iran
2 - English Department, Sheikhbahaee University, Isfahan, Iran

Received: 2023-07-04 Accepted : 2023-10-04 Published : 2024-08-13

Keywords: Intercultural communicative competence, EFL teachers, Iranian context, classroom observation,

Abstract :

The aim of this study was to identify the strategies used by Iranian teachers to develop their EFL learners' intercultural communicative competence. For this purpose, one hundred Iranian in-service EFL teachers (male and female) teaching at different private language schools in Ahwaz and Isfahan participated in the study and completed a questionnaire that assessed the frequency and perceived effectiveness of different strategies for developing intercultural communicative competence. The obtained data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and regression analysis. The findings revealed that Iranian EFL teachers employ different strategies to promote their learners' ICC, which can be categorized into teacher-centered, student-centered, and collaboration between teacher and student strategies. It was also revealed that teacher-centered strategies are the most commonly used strategies, while there is a need as well for more student-centered and collaborative strategies that actively involve learners in the process of developing their ICC. The implications of these findings for language teaching and learning practices are discussed at the end of this study.