Fostering inter-cultural communication skills among learners through teaching English as an international language

Abstract

Inter-Cultural Competence (ICC) is a topic of hot debate in the educational circles since 1960s. The traditional models of Communicative Competence which focus on native speaker models fall short of making learners adjustable in the international settings. Fostering ICC through English Language Teaching (ELT) is a norm in the current scenario of globalization rather than exception, which the teachers and researchers in Applied Linguistics are trying to establish since quite some decades. This case study is the part of an empirical research taken with the objectives to explore the implications of developing ICC in the learners through teaching EIL. This paper draws on the need of EIL for the Saudi learners for which interviews with the selected teachers from English Language Centre of Jazan University (KSA) provided data. The results show a wide array of concerns for the learners and teachers, and the policy makers. Teachers are the most important factor in developing modalities of ICC in the learners. A locally modified curriculum is needed to implement EIL in the class room.