Developing Intercultural Communicative Competence Through an Intercultural Communication Course: Evidence from Moroccan University EFL Students

Abstract

With the growing impact of globalisation, foreign language education has increasingly emphasised the ability to communicate across cultures. In view of this, the present study examines the effectiveness of an Intercultural Communication course in developing intercultural communicative competence (ICC) among Moroccan university EFL students. To this end, drawing on Byram’s (1997) model of ICC, a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design was adopted. The study included 99 third-year English-major students who were assigned to an experimental group (n = 56) and a control group (n = 43). The data was collected through an intercultural test assessing four ICC dimensions: intercultural knowledge, skills of interpreting and relating, skills of discovery and interaction, and critical cultural awareness. The findings revealed that students who attended the course showed greater improvement across all four dimensions compared to those who were not exposed to the course. The most remarkable progress was observed in intercultural knowledge and skills, while the development in critical cultural awareness, although significant, was less noticeable. In light of these findings, the study recommends integrating intercultural communication more systematically into EFL curricula in Moroccan higher education and placing greater emphasis on critically oriented tasks. It also highlights the need for sustained instructional practices that support the gradual development of critical cultural awareness.