Intercultural competence as a perceived predictor of cooperative EFL learning and classroom life among Ethiopian university students

Abstract

This study aims to establish the significance of intercultural competence (IC) as a perceived predictor of cooperative EFL learning and classroom life among Ethiopian higher education students. In so doing, a quantitative correlational design was employed to answer the research questions. The data were gathered through Intercultural Competence Scale (ICS) and Classroom Life Measure (CLM) questionnaires administered to 292 randomly sampled undergraduate Communicative English Skills students. Correlation and multiple linear regression were computed via SPSS to analyze the data. The results have revealed that there is a significant positive relationship between perceived IC and cooperative classroom life (CCL) among the target EFL students. Besides, learners’ overall IC is found to be a significant positive perceived predictor of CCL, with intercultural knowledge, behavioral performance and affective orientation significantly contributing to this effect as individual IC factors. Based on the findings, fresh insights and implications are offered for intercultural cooperative EFL learning theory, pedagogy and research in higher education.

Keywords:

• Culture
• intercultural competence
• cooperative learning
• cooperative classroom life
• English as a foreign language (EFL)
• foreign language teaching
• intercultural classrooms
• higher education

REVIEWING EDITOR:

• Stephen Darwin, Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Chile

SUBJECTS:

• Adult Education and Lifelong Learning
• Higher Education
• Theories of Learning
• Teaching Assistants
• Theory of Education
• Classroom Practice
• Language Teaching & Learning

Acknowledgements

The authors express their gratitude to the participants of the pilot and main study for providing the required information and data, to Dr. Behailu Atinafu and Dr. Antehun Atanaw for offering the reverse-translations and expert feedback in adapting the instruments, and to the Common Course Coordination Office of Debre Tabor University for allowing access to the student records used as the study’s sampling frame.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 We further observed some inconsistencies in previous uses of the CLM. The last ten “alienation” items (29-38) in Ghaith’s (2002) modified version are not, in fact, entirely peculiar to alienation, which Ghaith described as “learners’ feelings of estrangement from school, peers and classroom activities” (p. 266). Some of the items indicate other psychological and academic traits including self-esteem (e.g., “Whenever I take a test I am afraid I would fail”) and fairness (e.g., “If a student works hard, he/she can definitely succeed”). In fact, in an early use of the tool, Johnson et al. (1983) applied the same items for separate factors; e.g., the items “I am not doing as well in school as I would like to”, “School work is fairly easy for me”, “Whenever I take a test I am afraid I will fail”, and “I am a good student” are repeatedly used to measure “Academic self-esteem” and “Alienation”, which are then merged under the latter factor in Ghaith’s version. Such indices of psychological CL outcomes, alienation and self-esteem included, are yet collectively considered and justified as psychological health in subsequent social interdependence theory and CL research (Johnson et al., 2014). Despite the relatively faint role of the CLM sub-divisions when analyzed as a whole such as in the case of CCL in this study, we strongly suggest that researchers who are to adapt the tool for detailed CL assessments and factor analysis should take these issues into careful consideration.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Zelealem Shitahun Haregu

Zelealem Shitahun is a doctoral candidate in Bahir Dar University. He also works as EFL lecturer and teacher educator in Debre Tabor University. His current research activities relate to foreign language learning across cultures. He particularly explores the constructs and outcomes of IC in cooperative EFL learning and classroom life at indigenous higher education settings, Ethiopia emphasized.

Abiy Yigzaw Filatie

Prof. Abiy Yigzaw Filatie is a senior professor and post-graduate program coordinator in the Department of English Language and Literature, Bahir Dar University. He has been teaching and advising undergraduate and post-graduate students for over three decades now. His research engagements encompass a wide range of topics including mediation, CL, testing, and teacher training in FLT.

Birhanu Simegn Chanie

Dr. Birhanu Simegn is an associate professor in the Department of English Language and Literature, Bahir Dar University, where he teaches and advises undergraduate and post-graduate students. His research interests include teaching writing and related communicative skills.