Exploring English language instructors’ in-class practices of intercultural communicative competence through vignette cases

Abstract Being an intercultural speaker has been acknowledged as one of the essential skills in foreign language teaching. Therefore, Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) of foreign language learners and related in-class practices have gained significance. This study aims to explore English language instructors’ in-class practices of ICC through vignette cases to reduce the self-reported ideas. Following the phenomenological research design, data were collected from ten participants through the vignette-based interview designed within the study. The results revealed that ideal and real versions of ICC practices differed; they ideally believed that it should be at the centre of language teaching, yet it was not covered extensively in real situations. The participants were mostly able to determine the problem of teaching ICC throughout the vignette cases, offering numerous suggestions and sharing their reactions to the cases. They also provided hypothetical practices for themselves and shared their in-class experiences. Pedagogical implications and suggestions for further research were provided at the end of the study.