Improving Intercultural Communicative Competence through PBL-Based Collaborative Activities between Foreign International Students and Korean EFL Learners

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the PBL-based collaborative work between international students and Korean university students on improving international students` intercultural communicative competence (ICC). Fantini`s (2006) ICC instrument was implemented to measure the international students` ICC performance through a pre- and a post- survey. Also, the post-survey results were compared with those of Korean host students. The data analysis focused on four areas: knowledge, attitude, skills, and awareness. The results showed that the international students improved their ICC overall in the four areas. Especially, a robust improvement was found in the skills area. The results have implications, namely, that PBL-based collaborative work with Korean host students in class helped international students improve their ICC and acquire the skills, techniques, and strategies to deal with hurdles in intercultural situation.