Cultivating Intercultural Communicative Competence in Chinese General University Students Using the Triad-Layers Model

Developing intercultural communicative competence among Chinese university students is essential in the era of globalization; however, disparities persist between ranked universities and general universities. While RUs benefit from extensive internationalization resources, general universities often lack structured intercultural communication instruction and opportunities due to resource disparities, prestige, or geographic constraints, and economic and social factors. This study aimed to enhance intercultural communicative competence in general universities by proposing and testing the Triad-Layers intercultural communicative competence model, an experiential framework grounded in Vygotsky’s social constructivism. Using a qualitative design and development research approach, the study involved 40 first-year undergraduate students from non-English majors and adopted mixed methods. Data were collected through pre- and post-instruction intercultural communicative competence tests, semi-structured interviews, and students' reflective writing. The model consisted of three phases: MOOCs for pre-class preparation, interactive in-class activities, and post-class reflective writing. Quantitative results showed significant improvements in intercultural communicative competence, with the strongest gains in source culture knowledge and communication skills. The findings of the study revealed that students increasingly viewed intercultural communication as an opportunity rather than a barrier, actively engaging in intercultural exchanges and developing conflict navigation strategies. The model also mitigated Chinese Cultural Aphasia by enhancing cultural knowledge. This study demonstrates that experiential, curriculum-integrated approaches can effectively foster intercultural communicative competence in resource-constrained settings. It highlights the need to assess the effectiveness of MOOCs during pre-class preparation, balance source and international culture content to address, and emphasize student-centered pedagogies even during theory introduction.