The Development and Validation of an Intercultural Communicative Competence Scale for Students

Abstract

Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) plays a significant role in learning a foreign language. Therefore, it is important to measure the ICC level of language learners before taking actions to improve the educational process. The present study aimed at developing an ICC Scale to measure the perceived ICC level of Academic English students studying in the Foreign Language Division of an international university. The participants of the study consisted of 325 first year students in their second semester in the 2021 to 2022 academic year enrolled in 48 English-medium instructed (EMI) departments. In order to produce a reliable and valid ICC Scale, statistical data were analyzed through software programs. Further, the Exploratory Factor Analysis generated an 18-item Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) Scale with four factors, namely knowledge, awareness, attitude, and skills. Additionally, the Confirmatory Factor Analysis results confirmed and validated the four factors. Consequently, the ICC Scale was found to be highly reliable in measuring the perceived ICC level of students and had a high internal consistency. The newly designed ICC Scale proves to be a useful instrument for measuring the perceived ICC level of language learners.