Intercultural Communicative Competence in ELT

Based on a critical review of selected relevant studies and with a historical perspective, this discussion paper, as a piece of secondary research (Nunan, 1992, p. 8), aimed to point out where the world of language teaching is in terms of the competences that learners are expected to gain. It was determined that intercultural communicative competence, i.e. the knowledge, motivation and skills needed to interact effectively and appropriately with members of different cultures (Wiseman, 2002, p. 208), is currently the highly favored type of competence after the sequential dominance of grammatical (linguistic) competence and communicative competence. The major inference drawn from the review was that although a number of particular studies draw heavily on intercultural communicative competence, they are paradoxical or not clear about where and how they differ from the tenets of its much-criticized predecessor, i.e. communicative language teaching, and about whose culture is to be taught along with the language. Taking sides for a pedagogical philosophy predicated on intercultural communicative competence, the author concludes that this is still merely a set of beliefs and procedures in need of multidisciplinary research-driven clarification and maturation and in this respect, he refers to and discusses some fundamental principles and standpoints on which a new model based on intercultural communicative competence can be built.