Exploring Novice Thai EFL Lecturers’ Perceptions of Intercultural Communication Competence

Abstract

With the rapid changes of world population, people are likely to come into contact with others with diverse backgrounds and experiences.  Accordingly, Thai graduates are often required to have intercultural communication skills. The skills are parts of professional communication skills that the students should be acquired so as to respond to employers’ demand. As such, institutions are placing more consideration on intercultural communication competence (ICC). This study, therefore, aims to: 1) investigate teachers’ perceptions of ICC; and 2) investigate how teachers integrated ICC into their classes/lessons. Six novice EFL teachers from Thai universities were interviewed. Then, the interview data was transcribed and grouped into themes. According to the findings, overall, the participants have various understanding of ICC. For the ICC’s integration, participants’ answers can be categorized into five main groups, which are: 1) intercultural attitudes, 2) knowledge, 3) skills of interpreting and relating, 4) skills of discovery and interaction, and 5) critical cultural awareness. This study shows the teachers’ perceptions of ICC and how they could integrate ICC in classes. The results also reveal that the teachers are willing to intercorporate activities regarding ICC into their teaching contexts.  Pedagogical implications of this study are proposed. On the basis of these findings, the pedagogical implications and suggestions are included in this paper.