A Study of the Intercultural Communicative Competence ofJapanese University Students

Arisa ODAZAKIPostgraduate Student, Kagoshima University

ar1smile.1126@gmail.com

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Abstract

Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) characterized by Byram (1997) has been highlighted in these days because the globalization has been rapidly progressed and we have to work with people in different cultural and historical contexts.This study conducted the questionnaire survey by asking 91 first year Japanese university students about three aspects of ICC: knowledge of other cultures, attitudes to other cultures, and their skills of communication with people from different cultures. As a result, this study strongly suggests that ICC should be adopted in a more robust and meaningful way in current English education in Japan. This will be discussed later on in this study.

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Contents1. World Englishes2. Communicative competence 3.　 Intercultural Communicative Competences4. Present study5.　 Results & discussions6.　 Salient features7. Pedagogical implications8.　 Conclusion9.　 Limitations

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1. World Englishes

Inner circle320-380 （ Million)

Outer circle300-500 （ Million)

Expanding circle500-1000

（ Million)

Kachru （ 1985 ）Crystal (2003)

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2. Communicative Competence

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There are many definitions in Communicative Competence according to researchers such as Chomsky (1965), Hymes (1972 ） , Sauvignon (1983), Backman (1990), 　In Japan, however, the definition has still been used is the framework by Swain & Canale (1980). This NOT enough in this study.

Grammatical

Discourse

Socio-linguistic

Strategic

Communicative

Competence

(Swain & Canale, 1980)

3. Intercultural Communicative Competence　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 (Byram, 1997, p.73)

Linguistic Competence

Social-linguistic Competence

Discourse Competence

Intercultural Competence

Critical cultural awareness

Skills of discovery and interaction

Intercultural Attitudes

Knowledge

Skills of interpreting and relating

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3. Continued （ 1 ）

(Intercultural) AttitudesCuriosity and openness, readiness to suspend disbelief about other cultures and belief about one’s own.

KnowledgeOf social groups and their products and practices in one’s own and in one’s interlocutor’s country, and of the general processes of social and individual interaction.

Attitudes, Knowledge, Skills of interpreting and relating, Skills of discovery and interaction, and Critical cultural awareness

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Skills of interpreting and relatingAbility to interpret a document or event from another culture, to explain it and relate it to documents from one’s own.

Skills of discovery and interactionAbility to acquire new knowledge of a culture and cultural practices and the ability to operate knowledge, attitudes and skills under the constraints of real-time communication and interaction.

Critical cultural awarenessAbility to evaluate critically and on the basis of explicit criteria perspectives, practices and products in one’s own and other cultures and countries.

3. Continued (2)

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4. Present studyMethod

For collecting the data, 91 first year university students were subjects in Kagoshima University. They were as follows:

Faculty of engineering Faculty of Agriculture Faculty of Science

48 20 23

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5. Results and Discussions (1)

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Statistical correlation in personal attributes

 Having the experience in foreign countries

Having an interest of English

Having an interest of

foreign cultures

Being eager to

communicate with

foreignersHaving the experience in foreign countries 1. -.069 -.058 .086Having an interest of English -.069 1. .327* .345*

Having an interest of foreign cultures -.058 .327* 1. .506*

Being eager to communicate with foreigners

.086 .345* .506* 1.

N=91 * p<.05

Figure 1.

Factor analysis

Factor analysis• 29 question items were divided by the factor analysis into

three categories: they were Knowledge scores, Attitude scores, and Skills scores.

• Then, ‘two personal attributes’ in Figure 1 such as ‘having an interest of foreign cultures’, and ‘being eager to communicate with foreigners’ were analyzed with the three categories to see the relations among them.

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HypothesisAt first, we considered that there might be relations among the three Scores and two personal attributes.It was because we considered that the first step to improve students’ ICC was to have them interests and motivation of other cultures and people.

However, about Attitude scores and Knowledge scores, we could not find anything new, therefore we decided to only focus on Skills score in this study.

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Five components of Skills scores• Developing ethnographic and research skills• Exploring cultures• Interpreting things from other cultures• Comparing them to own culture• Developing new perspectives through comparison and

contrast Byram(ibid)

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In order to see relations among students’ personal attributes and Skills score, T-test was conducted. Then, following salient features were found out.

6. Salient features (1)

N Average Standard Deviation

Strong interests 78 17.13 3.416Low interests 13 14.69 4.309

**p<.05

Students have interests in foreign cultures V.S students who do not (In Skills score)

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Figure 2.

There were 78 students who showed strong interest in foreign cultures (average 17.13), they also showed high average score in five questions in Skills scores. (See Figure 2)

6. Salient features (2)Students being eager to communicate to foreigners V.S students who are not (In Skills score)

N Average Standard Deviation

High motivation 77 17.05 3.406Low motivation 14 14.00 5.123

**p<.05

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Figure 3.

There were 77 students who showed high motivation of communicating with foreigners (average 17.05), they also showed high average score in five questions in Skills scores. (See Figure 3 )

6. Continued

From this study, we have found out that two following important things.

1. For students showing strong interests in foreign cultures, they also showed high average scores in Skills scores.

2. For students showing high motivation in communicating with foreigners, they also showed high average scores in Skills scores.

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6. Continued

In addition, according to Byram (1997), there were five important factors in ICC: (1) Attitudes, (2) Knowledge, (3) Skills of interpreting and relating, (4) Skills of discovery and interaction, and (5) Critical cultural awareness.

Among the five factors in ICC, three factors such as (3) Skills of interpreting and relating, (4) Skills of discovery and interaction, and (5) Critical cultural awareness can be considered as difficult factors for young learners. Therefore, these three factors should be trained and acquired for adult learners.

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6. Pedagogical implications

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(1) For young learners

• Having interests in foreign cultures and positive attitudes for communicating with people in overseas.

• Enhancing their knowledge in one’s own and in one’s interlocutors’ countries.

This study suggests the following two points, (1) For young learners and (2) For adult learners from the data analysis.

6. Pedagogical implications

(2) For adult learners

• Establishing more activities with foreign students in the discussion and group presentation to enhance understanding foreign cultures.• Developing skills of interpreting and relating, and of

discovery and interaction.

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7. Conclusion

• Communicative competence model in Japan should be shifted to Byram’s ICC model for the globalized societies.

【 For young learners 】• It is important for young learners to have interests

in foreign cultures and positive attitudes for communicating with people in overseas. • Therefore, teachers should enhance their knowledge

in one’s own and in one’s interlocutors’ countries.

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7. Continued

【 For adult learners 】• It is important for adult learners to develop skills of

interpreting and relating, and of discovery and interaction.

• Therefore, it is needed to establish more activities with foreign students in the discussion and group presentation to improve their skills of communicate with people who live in a different context.

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8. Limitations① More questionnaire surveys should have been conducted

because we held them only in our university and only for science course students.

② Some survey questions were difficult to answer because some sentences of the questionnaire were ambiguous and not linked to the real situations, therefore they should have been conducted in easier way.

③ This present study was cross-sectional and questionnaire survey was conducted only once. Therefore, a longitudinal survey needs to be conducted in a subsequent study.

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Thank you very much.

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Selected references• Bachman, Lyle (1990). Fundamental considerations in language testing. Oxford:

Oxford University Press.• Byram, M. (1989), Cultural studies in foreign language education, (D. Sharp, Ed.),

Clevedon UK, Multilingual Matters Ltd.• ―――(2010), Linguistic and Cultural Education for Building and Citizenship, The

Modern Language Journal, 94, ii, (2010), The Modern Language Journal• Byram, M. (1997), Teaching and assessing intercultural communicative competence,

Clevedon, United Kingdom, Multilingual Matters..• Byram, M., Nichols, A., & Stevens, D. (2001), Developing intercultural competence in

practice, Clevedon UK, Multilingual Matters LTD.• Canale, M and M. Swain. (1980), Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to

second language teaching and testing, Applied Linguistics. Vol. 1, pp. 1-47.• Chomsky, N. (1965). Aspects of the theory of syntax. Cambridge: M.I.T. Press.• Hymes, D. (1972). On communicative competence. In J. B. Pride & J. Holmes (Eds.),

Sociolinguistics, pp. 269-293. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin• Sauvignon, S. (1983). Communicative competence: theory and classroom practice:

texts and contexts in second language learning (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.24