Cultural awareness, communication apprehension, and communication competence: a case study of Saint John’s International School

Abstract

Cross‐cultural communication competence is a key issue in teaching in international schools. Cultural awareness issues are likely to play a role in how effectively the expat teachers in international schools are able to teach. This research examines communication competence, cultural awareness, and communication apprehension of UK teachers in a British curriculum international school in Bangkok, Thailand. Generally, the respondents have a high level of self‐reported communication competence, high levels of cultural awareness, and low communication apprehension. Although the sample size in this pilot work is small, the data do seem to show that intercultural awareness is related to communication competence, and that it is also related to communication apprehension, which itself relates to communication competence. This is an important issue for future research.