The Impact of Intercultural Communicative Competence on Enhancing EFL Students’ Intercultural Awareness: Case of Master 02 LS Students at the University of Tlemcen

Abstract

Learning English as a foreign or a second language has become tightly anchored and deeply rooted with the notion of culture. In line with such, this research serves as an investigation about the impact of Intercultural Communicative Competence on Master 2 LS students at Tlemcen University, in other words, the knowledge that Master2 students have and the beliefs they hold about culture likely affect their awareness toward ICC. The research has opted for the use of a Semistructured interview with 5 teachers at Tlemcen University and a questionnaire with 30 M2 LS students from the same university. Moreover , the data obtained were both qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed, and the results have showen that teaching ICC improves students intercultural awareness and competence. Furthermore, ICC has positive and negative impact on learners‟ cultural awareness and behaviors .