Assessing intercultural communicative competence: internet memes for telecollaboration

Abstract With globalization and digitalization being a prevalent attribute of society, the Global Englishes paradigm advocates for competent teachers that can navigate global contexts. In this sense, intercultural communicative competence (ICC) suggests that English teachers should possess cultural knowledge and skills and positive attitudes to successfully engage in intercultural contact. This paper argues that using memes via telecollaboration with English speakers can create intercultural encounters to provide an opportunity for assessment of intercultural communicative competence. For this, a collaborative activity using memes was arranged, where pre-service English teachers had to work together with English users of different cultural backgrounds. After the task, and conducting semi-structured and dyadic interviews with the participants, strengths and weaknesses of the activity were identified by the means of thematic analysis. The advantages include using memes as 1) (trans)cultural experience, 2) a safe medium of communication and 3) an intercultural encounter. The challenges include 1) silence during an online task, 2) limited non-verbal communication and 3) degree of acquaintanceship among the participants. The findings highlight the importance of collaborative activities with English speakers, where pre-service English teachers not only have to converse with them, but to reach a common goal by applying their ICC; thus, creating a positive environment and an opportunity for more well-rounded assessment. The pedagogical and practical implications are discussed.