Assessing intercultural communicative competence: a survey-based needs analysis of Thai university students

Kamolphan Jangarun

International Journal of Innovation and Learning, 2026, vol. 40, issue 5, 1-25

Abstract: Intercultural communicative competence (ICC) remains underexplored in Thai EFL university contexts. This study investigated the ICC levels of 159 third-year English-major students at a public university with an aim to identify their intercultural communication needs. A survey questionnaire developed based on Byram's (1997, 2021) ICC model, which demonstrated good reliability (α = 0.81, ω = 0.82), was used in data collection. Students had a high level of ICC across all five components; emotional tasks were the most frequently encountered while knowledge-based tasks were the least frequent but among the most difficult. Explaining their own culture's history or politics to a foreigner was the only item rated as a high-priority need. Online gaming and social media were the most common contexts for intercultural contact; linguistic skills were the most urgent training need. These findings highlight the need for teachers to incorporate more specific learning activities to promote language learners' ICC in addition to language skills.

Keywords: intercultural communicative competence; ICC; needs analysis; Thai university students. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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