Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC)

The assessment of the ICC is complex as the self-evident arguments of the dimensions of ICC that we have discussed in Module 7.2. Another thing, there are still misinterpretations about the conceptualization of the ICC on which it is still hard to reach a consensus among intercultural scholars in the field. Based on the literature review, the process of becoming interculturally competent requires certain attitudes, knowledge, and skills to be promoted, in addition to learners’ linguistic, sociolinguistic, and discourse competence. Accordingly, Byram and Zarate identify the following
components of ICC within foreign language education: “savoirs” (knowledge of Self and Other), “savoir comprendre” (skills of interpreting and relating), “savoir être” (intercultural attitudes), and “savoir faire/apprendre” (skills of discovery and interaction) (Byram and Zarate, 1997: 11). The conceptual frameworks of ICC are frequently applied and cited by many scholars in assessing ICC.

Some issues we should know about the assessment of the ICC:

First, the assessment of the three components of ICC is complex but rewarding as it provides feedback to the participants.

Second, ICC covers cognitive, behavioral, and affective domains, its evaluation should be formative rather than summative (Lussier et al. 2007).

Third, the assessment of ICC should be continuous, and not administered at one or two instances during a course (Lussier et al. 2007).

Fourth, different types of test formats (including objective and subjective ones) may be resorted to at different stages of an intercultural course, depending on the goals of instruction.

A further distinction is made between holistic(making a global impressionistic judgment) and analytic assessment(observing
closely all the three dimensions of ICC, or each dimension separately).

Finally, the assessment of ICC may be either direct( for instance, requiring the assessees to perform a role play) or indirect(say, a pen-and-paper test of intercultural knowledge).

The hardest part is the rating scale for assessing each of the dimensions with validity, reliability, and practicality.

A Quiz: self-assessment of IC

Make the best answer from the following choices. You will get one point for one correct answer. Add all the points you have gained to see how well you are in grasping intercultural information.

(0–6 points: Your journey to developing your intercultural competence has just begun. So, keep exploring. There is always more to learn!

7–13 points: You are well on the road and have already developed adequate preparation for intercultural communication. Well done! There is still room for improvement. Keep it up!

14–18 points: Congratulations! You are well-informed about intercultural communication. Your knowledge will clearly increase your likelihood of adapting to a new environment. )

Assessing Intercultural Competence - an Overview:

学术讲座分享：

Further reading on the issue:

Salient studies at home in the field of assessment:

Intercultural Puzzle: Ask or not to ask in class

Li is a Chinese student studying in an Americanuniversity. He finds it hard to participate in discussions with classmates andto ask questions in class, because he feels many classroom discussions are awaste of time since many students' views and questions prove to be a lack ofreading of the assigned chapters, which is required by professors before class.Moreover, professors rarely give the correct answer after the discussion, which makes him think the discussions were even more meaningless.

Another thing that puzzled Li to a large degree is the fact that American students actually argue with their professors about exam results. When asking questions about their exam results, American students tend to talk to their professors directly and fight to get the results fixed. If not, they seek help or suggestions from their professors so that they can do better in the next exam. This is absolutely new to Li. As a Chinese person, Li holds the idea that questioning teachers about the exam result is shameful and embarrassing, since a poor exam result shows the student’s lack of diligence and dedication.

Li was a good student in China: smart, diligent,obedient and well-liked by his professors. Though he has now studied in theStates for a few years, he has been struggling with his teacher-student relationship. Now gradually Li has realized the benefits of direct communication style, and become adapted to it. So he participated more in classroom discussions and took professors’ office hours whenever possible. He even talked to one of his professors about his exam result.

Li got c plus for his chemistry course in the second semester of his first year, which would lower his GPA greatly and would affect his future applications for graduate study. Paying tuition fees to retake the course or to take another relative course to replace this course grade is aroutine remedy. Not knowing which choice to make, Li took the initiative totalk to his chemistry professor and confide in him his problems and troubles sincerely. To his surprise, the professor allowed him to retake the course for free during the summer semester, promising to help him replace his previous result with his new grade if he did well in the exam. The result was a happy ending. Li succeeded in changing the result of this course from C to A with his hard work and active participation in class.

Questions for Intercultural Understanding