A Classroom-Based Dialogue Activity Aimed at Developing Intercultural Communicative Competence:

Focusing on Methods of Developing Topics to Deepen Intercultural Understanding

Abstract

With increasing globalization, fostering intercultural communicative competence (ICC) among international students has become a critical goal in Japanese conversation education. This study involved intercultural discussion classes between international students and Japanese conversation volunteers to develop ICC through dialogue. As a pre-task, students described their own intercultural experiences, which were discussed and analyzed in class. The analysis showed that prompts fostering reflection on cultural background and comparison with one’s own culture facilitated discussion and enhanced cross-cultural understanding. Furthermore, partially sharing prior knowledge or assumptions about the other’s culture was suggested to facilitate topic development during discussions.