Practicum Summary:

Using Intercultural Communicative Competence Learning Platfom to Increase Student’s Communicative Skills and Intercultural Competence at An Giant University, Vietnam

Ngo Tien Nguyen’s research practicum examines a new methodology to develop communicative skills and intercultural communicative competence for English students at An Giant University in Vietnam by employing more intercultural-based materials and activities. At the university level, English acquisition in Vietnam relied heavily on Western-cultural based textbooks for many years. These learning texts do not reflect the culture of nonnative English speakers, resulting in strong communication skills via the English language, but a lack of intercultural competence that prevents students from being successful global citizens. In order to improve intercultural competence, Eastern Mennonite University and An Giant University created the Intercultural Communicative Competence Platform (IC3) designed to provide a new learning experience for English students. To test the effectiveness of the learning material on language learning so that it is improved for the benefit of the student, an action research experiment was undertaken. Using data collected from students’ tests, questionnaires, and interviews, students were analyzed to find how intercultural competent they were in terms of motivation, knowledge, attitude, and confidence. Although the students observed from the experimental class showed growing improvement in basic language skills and intercultural competence, results were not as high as expected, partially due to a lack of indicators to measure intercultural competency. Nguyen recommends improving IC3 material with more diversified activities and updated information related to intercultural competency.