Iraq EFL Learners’ Perceptions of Intercultural Communicative Education Through Online Platform

Abstract

Intercultural communicative competence or intercultural competence (hence ICC or IC) refers to the essential competency or the awareness that EFL learners should have to act effectively and successfully in intercultural situations. However, ICC or IC’s integration in EFL classrooms is often a challenge and remains limited in EFL teaching. This is because language instructors usually tend to focus on knowledge especially the linguistic items of target language rather than its cultural aspects. Hence, the current research reports on a triangulated study aim to explore the Iraqi EFL learners’ perceptions before and after the integration of the ICC in the online course. The study also attempts to show the learners’ attitudes towards the intercultural communicative competence teaching (hence ICCT) model used to improve the learners’ ICC competency. The participants were 40 Iraqi EFL students studying English language at the department of English, College of Arts, University of Anbar. Data were collected via two research instruments, namely a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews with the learners. The questionnaire was used for quantitative data collection, while the interviews questions were used for collecting qualitative data. The findings obtained revealed that there was an interesting significant difference in the perceptions of the EFL learners after the ICC’s integration course. This is attributed to the increased knowledge and awareness of the learners about ICC's important role in the English culture. Similarly, learners had positive attitudes towards the ICCT model and its steps. Thus, with the obtained results, the study encourages the integration of ICCT in EFL teaching.