"Foreign Language Students’ Perceptions of Their Intercultural Communication Competence: An Investigation at Can Tho University "

Abstract

In today's globalized world, intercultural competence is an essential component that language learners need to acquire in order to communicate well. Besides, foreign language learners not only master four basic language skills but also need to improve their intercultural communication competence if learners really want to become successful communicators. To this end, intercultural communication has become an important content included in teaching and learning foreign languages. Therefore, the present study aimed to find out the perceived level of intercultural communication competence of students of Foreign Languages. With a descriptive research method, a questionnaire with 20 statements was administered to 199 students of Foreign Languages at CTU to collect data. Then, the data were analyzed by the Statistic Package for Social Science (SPSS) software. The finding showed that the majority of participants have a relative perception of their intercultural communication competence. Furthermore, the study found underlying reasons for their underestimation of their intercultural communication competence. In light of the findings, some implications and recommendations for further studies were also addressed.