Implications of Intercultural Communicative Competence in English Language Teaching/Learning in the 21st Century (Journal Article)

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Abstract: English language has come a long way from being the coloniser’s tongue to an international language. It is now considered the means of intercultural communication between the native speakers of English and the second (or even)/ foreign language learners of the medium. So the new concept of ICC (Intercultural Communicative Competence) in ELT classrooms has assumed significance in the globalised era. Language and culture are two sides of a coin, learning a foreign language also includes learning the target culture. This is imperative to communicate with people of various countries in real­time situations which is highly possible in the existing scenario of the global village, in the 21st century. At present ICC is applauded as the perspective in ELT which moulds the learner to become balanced mediators between their own and other cultures with cultural and Communicative Competence in the English language. The article intends to make a comprehensive view of the significance of this concept in the present language classroom and how it is different from the earlier concept of communicative competence which had informed language pedagogy. The different methods used in ELT before the 1950s and the relative merit of the later designer (humanistic) approaches are also detailed. The latest approaches of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and Task Based Language Teaching (TBLT) are considered to be best employed in acquiring Intercultural Communicative Competence. The learning methods, materials as well as the scope of such learners as skilled ethnographers are also dealt with in this paper.