Intercultural Communication Competence Projects within English as a Lingua Franca Contexts (Published)
Highlighting the essential role intercultural communication plays as an integral component of effective communication skills in a globalized world, the current paper portrays an intercultural communication competence project the main aim of which is to augment students’ communication skills in English as a lingua franca, whilst targeting both intercultural communication competence and electronic communication. The research project lasted for over three academic years in a row, involving two universities in Dubai and Bonn. Utilizing modern communication tools synchronously and asynchronously, the participating students engaged in intercultural communication online for nine weeks each academic semester. Throughout project implementation, the participating students used self-created texts, audio and video posts. To measure project effectiveness, the researcher administered a questionnaire the results of which indicated subjects’ positive attitudes towards the intercultural communication competence project as a means for fostering intercultural communication, enhancing language mastery, and enriching technology literacy.
Keywords: Communication Skills, EFL, Electronic Communication, English as a Lingua Franca, Intercultural Communication Competence, Intercultural Communication Competence Project