Intercultural Communicative Competence across the Curriculum of a Foreign Languages Teaching Program : A Proposal for its Development and Assessment

Abstract

This study investigated the co-construction of an in-house model for the promotion and assessment of Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) within a Foreign Language Teacher Education Program (FLTEP). In an increasingly globalized and conflict-ridden world, the development of Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) in foreign language education has become an educational and civic imperative. Contemporary geopolitical tensions, humanitarian crises, and polarized public discourse highlight the urgent need for education systems to equip learners with the skills to navigate cultural complexity and engage ethically with difference. In this context, ICC is essential for fostering global citizenship, promoting empathy, and cultivating democratic values (Jackson, 2014; Risager, 2020; Spitzberg & Chagnon, 2009). In Colombia, the promotion of ICC is particularly salient given the country's post-conflict context, its internal socio-political challenges, and recent policy efforts to foster inclusive and intercultural higher education. While national policy frameworks advocate for the integration of intercultural dimensions into teacher education curricula, research suggests that ICC remains marginal within FLTEPs, both in terms of planning and assessment (Álvarez-Valencia, 2014; de Mejía & Tejada, 2022). Although a growing body of Colombian scholarship has explored ICC in relation to technological tools, task design, and identity construction (Carreño, 2018; Ramírez & Cabrera, 2020; Ramos et al., 2018), there is limited evidence of systematic, curriculum-wide approaches to ICC development and evaluation. This dissertation addressed this gap by implementing a participatory research study at the School of Language Sciences of Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia. Against this background, the study aimed to co-construct, alongside teacher educators, a locally grounded framework for the development and assessment of ICC across the FLTEP curriculum. Informed by a Professional Learning (PL) model (Timperley, 2011), the research engaged teacher educators in sustained dialogue, reflection, and curriculum co-design. The study responded to calls for democratic, teacher-led professional learning communities that foster intercultural competence and promote curricular transformation (Liddicoat, 2021; Yücel & Yavuz, 2019). The research design corresponds to a single case study that comprises four research stages. Stage 1 aimed to identify the strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for the development of ICC across the curriculum of FLTEP at Universidad del Valle. To this end, two types of data were gathered: (1) documentary data, consisting of 53 institutional documents and course syllabi, and (2) qualitative interview data, obtained through semi-structured interviews with 12 teacher educators. These interviews explored participants’ views on where and how ICC should be integrated into the curriculum, and whether they subscribed to a specific ICC model. Stage 2 focused on the design of a Professional Learning Program (PLP), informed by the findings from stage 1. The PLP design followed Timperley et al.’s (2007) framework. Data for this stage involved the conceptual and structural planning of the PLP, grounded in both the documentary analysis and interview insights from the first stage. Stage 3 involved the implementation of the PLP through 6 seven interactive sessions designed to foster collaborative reflection and the co-construction of an in-house referential framework for ICC development and assessment. Interactional data were collected through session video recordings, which were later transcribed and analyzed using Reflective Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2024). Finally, stage 4 evaluated the practical application of the in-house ICC model. Seven participants from the PLP were selected for classroom observation. Observations focused on how the newly developed framework was being integrated into course syllabi and pedagogical practices. The findings of the first stage show that teacher educators identified several curricular strengths, such as faculty commitment, accreditation support, and student diversity, alongside structural and conceptual weaknesses related to ICC integration. While participants demonstrated critical and decolonial views of interculturality, some essentialist understandings of language and culture persisted. In the second and third stages, findings reveal how a semester-long Professional Learning Program (PLP) effectively addressed several gaps by fostering collaboration, critical curriculum analysis, and shared theoretical frameworks. Through dialogic engagement, participants co-constructed foundational definitions of culture and interculturality. These informed the creation of the ARKS model, a locally grounded framework for ICC development and assessment. The PLP also produced practical pedagogical guidelines and helped shift academic culture toward shared leadership and curricular ownership. Findings in the subsequent classroom observations (stage 4) confirmed that participants foregrounded learners' self-awareness and local realities as central to intercultural learning. The design of an ICC in-house model was shown to support a lived, situated, and transformative curriculum. Overall, the study evidences how collective, context-responsive professional learning can foster sustainable curricular change in FLTEPs. Finally, the study pursued three main contributions. First, it addressed a critical gap in the international and Colombian literature by developing a curriculum-wide ICC model tailored to the local sociocultural context. Second, it aligned with national education policy by operationalizing the intercultural standards mandated by the Ministry of National Education (MEN). Third, it contributed to educational practice at Univalle by empowering teacher educators to integrate ICC into their teaching through collaborative curriculum innovation. Finally, the findings reveal that collaborative curriculum design, grounded in locally relevant theory and practice, can lead to meaningful shifts in how interculturality is understood, taught, and assessed in teacher education.