A Method for Teaching Intercultural Competence in Iranian University English Programs: Cross-cultural Website Analysis

Drawing from the researchers acknowledgement of the importance of teaching English as a Lingua Franka (TELF), some language institutions in the EFL context of Iran attempt to effectively teach English and assist students in developing the intercultural skills necessary for the multicultural environment. A method aimed at teaching English and intercultural competence within the same language course which was based on cross-cultural communication research and intercultural competence skill development was employed in this study. The language centers providing this special extra-curricular English language program for two Iranian universities (Yazd University and Yazd Shahid Sadughi University of Medical Sciences and Health) were used for the pilot program. Pre-course, mid-course and final evaluations were conducted for diagnosis of intercultural competence level and oral English language ECFR level. Assessment tools based on ECFR evaluation methods and an instrument based on the DMIS by Milton Bennett (2003) were used. The course activities were based on multimodal analysis (Baldry, Thibault, 2006) and cross-cultural website analysis (Toffle, 2012). Final results showed an improvement ranging from 0.5 to one complete ECFR level in 40 hours. The intercultural competence level was initially found to be in the area of ethnocentrism but ended in the area of ethno- relativism, mostly in the ‘acceptance’ zone. More research and development of this form of assessment is recommended in our EFL context but the preliminary results were positive.

Keywords:

intercultural competence , cross-cultural communication , English language proficiency , multimodal analysis , cross- cultural website analysis