Module 8 – Intercultural Communicative Competence

In this module we are going to explore the notion of Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC from now on), and how this competence can be worked on in the second language (L2) class. As we will see, the environment of L2 teaching and learning is one of the most appropriate contexts for the development of ICC, as culture and language ‘go together’: they are two sides of the same coin.
There is plenty of literature on good classroom practices for fostering ICC, providing the reader with indications and suggestions on how to make progress in ICC through specific techniques and activities (to find out more, you can see online publications such as Byram et al. and Lázár, et al., 2007). Some of these recommendations are summarised below.
Before we begin, it is important to take into account that (1) culture is much more than obvious cultural symbols such as traditions or works of art; (2) being intercultural is not simply being tolerant with others; (3) intercultural situations do not only take place between people from different countries or who speak different mother tongues. Let’s see that the concepts of culture and interculturality exactly are.