Intercultural Communicative Competence in Colombia: Insights from Foreign Language Education

Abstract

Intercultural communicative competence (ICC) has become increasingly important in foreign language teaching and is crucial for effective cross-cultural communication. Despite extensive theoretical discussions on ICC, those involved in the language teaching field seem to remain unaware of the concept or struggle to materialize it in their lessons. In this vein, this collective case study examines the understanding, principles, and practices of Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) among a group of Colombian language educators and in-service and pre-service teachers. Additionally, it considers whether the participants’ knowledge aligns with their practices. Data were collected from 14 participants through semi-structured interviews. The findings reveal that while all groups hold cultural views conducive to developing ICC, their knowledge of ICC is often vague or nonexistent. In terms of their practices, only teacher educators, possibly intuitively, described actions that could promote ICC. The results suggest the need to articulate actions that would encourage the consistent integration of ICC across language education.