Strategies for Cultivating Intercultural Communicative Competence in English Education: A Case Study of the Lesson 'Neither pine nor apple in pineapple' from Unit 2 Exploring English in Compulsory English Textbook 1

In the context of globalization, intercultural communicative competence has become one of the essential core competencies for talents in the 21st century, particularly playing a crucial role in English education. With the increasing fre-quency of international exchanges, cultivating students' intercultural aware-ness, understanding, and communication skills is of great significance for pro-moting their comprehensive development and enhancing their international competitiveness. This study adopts a case study approach, focusing on effective strategies for cultivating intercultural communicative competence in English education, with the specific case of the lesson "Neither pine nor apple in pine-apple" from Unit 2 Exploring English in Compulsory English Textbook 1, pub-lished by Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press. It aims to uncover the actual cultivation pathways and effects of intercultural communicative compe-tence in English classrooms. The study found that through the implementation of a series of teaching strategies such as cultural introduction, close reading of texts, role-playing, group discussions, and extended reading in the lesson "Nei-ther pine nor apple in pineapple," students' intercultural communicative com-petence was effectively enhanced. These strategies not only strengthened stu-dents' cultural awareness and sensitivity but also promoted the development of their critical thinking and language proficiency. Furthermore, the study also found that when implementing these strategies, teachers should focus on stu-dents' agency, encouraging their active participation and reflection to maximize teaching effectiveness.