Strategies and Practices for Cultivating Intercultural Communicative Competence in English as a Second Language Education

Abstract

Cultivating intercultural communicative competence in English as a second language is essential in improving cross-cultural communications and understanding the diversity between cultures. Our study seeks to examine the strategies and practices for cultivating intercultural communicative competence in English as a second language education. We adopted a mixed methods approach involving qualitative and quantitative methods on a sample size of 80 participants recruited from the Shanghai Foreign Language School. Participants were required to complete the Intercultural Communication Competence Scale before and after the study. The findings showed that integrating new media such as social media and online discussions exposed participants to diverse cultural content and increased engagement. Micro-courses offered focused learning on specific cultural aspects and improved knowledge retention. The flipped classroom fostered student autonomy and deeper exploration of cultural topics in class discussions, and situational teaching focusing on practical application and communication skill development was effective. In summary, a combination of interactive, application-oriented strategies and practices alongside focused learning resources can be beneficial for developing intercultural communicative competence in English as second language.