Investigating the Intercultural Communicative Competence Level of University EFL Graduates in Indonesia

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-543-0_16How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Cultural Understanding; Degree; Intercultural Communicative Competence; Speaking

Abstract

Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) skill is crucial for EFL graduates as they prepare for the future Society 5.0. Improving this competence would significantly enhance their ability to create speech that is fluent, acceptable, and suitable. Furthermore, ICC helps ensure that graduates understand cultural differences when communicating verbally in diverse settings, which is necessary for achieving success in any profession. A study was specifically carried out to assess the current ICC level among university students. The research design included a survey given to 127 first-year students attending various universities in East Java, Indonesia. The assessment tool utilized was the Intercultural Communicative Competence Questionnaire. This questionnaire evaluated ICC based on three main elements: knowledge, skills, and attitudes. A key statistical result showed that almost all participants demonstrated a low level of intercultural communicative competence. This weakness appears to be caused primarily by two issues: limited personal cultural understanding and a lack of practice speaking with people from other nations. Based on these outcomes, the source proposes that it is essential to develop a teaching model and corresponding learning materials for intercultural communication as soon as possible.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Samsul Arifin
AU  - Dwi Setiyadi
AU  - Sutri Ekawati
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/02/26
TI  - Investigating the Intercultural Communicative Competence Level of University EFL Graduates in Indonesia
BT  - Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Education and Social Science Research (ICESRE 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 158
EP  - 166
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-543-0_16
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-543-0_16
ID  - Arifin2026
ER  -