Students’ Perspectives on Teaching Intercultural Communicative Competence: Evaluation in Philippine Senior High Schools

Abstract

Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC)—the capacity to comprehend one's own culture, acquire knowledge regarding foreign cultures, and utilize this understanding to establish meaningful cross-cultural connections—remains under-researched regarding instructional frequency across its sub-components (Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes) and student-preferred learning strategies in Southeast Asian secondary education. Employing a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design, this study empirically evaluated these dimensions among 62 Grade 12 Senior High School students in Benguet, Philippines, utilizing a validated questionnaire (Aiken’s V = 0.97, Cronbach’s α = 0.915) followed by Focus Group Discussions (FGD, n = 8). Quantitative results revealed that ICC instruction is overall "Seldom Discussed" across language classrooms (Overall M = 3.31, SD = 0.42), with ICC-Skills recording the highest mean (M = 3.38, SD = 0.45), followed by ICC-Attitudes (M = 3.29, SD = 0.48) and ICC-Knowledge (M = 3.26, SD = 0.41). Strategy preference analysis indicated that students most favored first-hand accounts challenging cultural norms for ICC-Knowledge (Mode = 5), interactive group activities and role-playing for ICC-Skills (Mode = 5), and deep structured discussions on taboo or controversial issues for ICC-Attitudes (Mode = 5). Qualitative thematic analysis illuminated that low reading comprehension and standardized curricular time constraints severely hinder deep cultural engagement. The study underscores the necessity of integrating contextualized, student-centered pedagogies to operationalize Byram's ICC framework in language curricula.