AN ANALYSIS OF INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION COMPETENCIES (ICC) AMONG STUDENTS IN INTERNATIONAL CLASSROOM (A Narrative Study at the Tertiary Students in One of Universities in Ciamis)

Abstract

This research investigated an analysis of Intercultural Communication Competencies (ICC) among students in international classroom. The purpose was to figure out the students’ perceptions on Intercultural Communication Competencies (ICC) in international classroom with foreigners. A narrative study was carried out to the tertiary students in one of universities in Ciamis. Based on the purposeful sampling technique, the writer selected four tertiary students as the participants in which two students from Thailand and two students from Ciamis, Indonesia. The writer used two research instruments that were the questionnaires and the interview. Triangulation analysis was used by the writer to analyze the data. The findings indicated that the tertiary students perceived positively on five components of ICC in international classroom with foreigners. The findings also indicated that five components of ICC were understood and mastered by them in international classroom with foreigners including attitudes, knowledge, skills of interpreting and relating, skills of discovering and interacting, and critical cultural awareness. The conclusions revealed that understanding and mastering ICC brought some advantages to improve their English skills to communicate with foreigners and broaden their knowledge of English. However, the mastery of ICC in international classroom has several challenges because there was a misunderstanding and a miscommunication when they speak with the foreigners. Several strategies were used by them to overcome their challenges by trying to learn the foreigners’ cultures a lot and always communicate with the foreigners. Based on the conclusions, the lecturers are expected to present more deep explanation of the theories about ICC in teaching English to the tertiary students in international classroom with foreigners. Meanwhile, the tertiary students are expected to improve their mastery of ICC in international classroom with foreigners. In addition, the results of the research are expected to provide additional reference for those who want to conduct similar research.