Intercultural Communicative Competence in EFL Algerian Higher Education.

Abstract

The present study attempts to investigate and analyze intercultural communicative competence in Algerian higher education. Indeed, it examines to which extent Algerian EFL teachers are considered as intercultural speakers. In order to confirm the research hypothesis and answer the research questions we adopted qualitative methodology. Therefore, to conduct this research we have used a questionnaire as a data-gathering tool to Eight English teachers at the department of English university of Tiaret. To this effect, the research adopted the model of intercultural communicative competence to analyze teachers’ responses that was developed by Byram (1997). The obtained results seem to be highly significant since it shows that the ultimate goal of this research is to overcome that EFL teachers employed Byram’s model of intercultural communicative competence in teaching English as a foreign language. As a result, EFL teachers act as intercultural speakers, use cultural elements, and having knowledge about the English socio-cultural norms and expression, which link between teaching English as a foreign language in relation to the Algerian cultural context.