Jo-ELT (Journal of English Language Teachin.
Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris IKIP https://e-journal.
id/index.
php/joelt Email: joelt@undikma.
December 2024.
Vol.
11 No.
online: 2548-5865 print: 2355-0309 doi:10.
33394/jo-elt.
PRESERVICE TEACHERSAo PERCEPTIONS OF INTERCULTURAL
COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE: A PATHWAY TO PEACE AND
21ST CENTURY SKILLS IN NEPAL
Purna Bahadur Kadel Reader.
Tribhuvan University.
Central Department of Education.
Kathmandu.
Nepal http://orcid.
org/0000-0001-8741-6196 Corresponding Author Email: purna.
kadel@tucded.
ABSTRACTS
Intercultural communicative competence is an essential attribute and phenomenon to maintain harmony and a sense of cosmopolitanism in a diverse and heterogeneous society like Nepal.
This study explored preservice teachersAo perceptions of the importance of intercultural communicative competence and what specific 21st century skills are enhanced by intercultural communicative competence.
In order to address the research questions, the hermeneutic phenomenological research design was adopted to carry out this The in-depth- interview was administered as a tool to collect the lived experiences of the participants.
Eight preservice teachers were selected from 4 strata: madheshi community, ethnic community, untouchable community, and brahmin community as participants for this study.
The findings of this study were maintaining peace and promoting social cohesion, developing global citizens, prescribing ICC in school curriculum, blessing ICC for heterogeneous society, promoting ICC through English and Nepali languages, and enhancing 21st century skills by ICC.
Intercultural communicative competence plays a significant role in promoting human civilization, confidence, and sense of security in the society.
ARTICLE INFO
Article History:
Received: October, 2024 Revised: November, 2024 Published: December, 2024 Keywords:
Intercultural Communicative Competence.
Cosmopolitanism.
Hermeneutic Phenomenology.
Heterogenous Society, 21st Century Skills.
Preservice Teachers.
How to cite: Kadel.
Preservice TeachersAo Perceptions of Intercultural Communicative Competence: A Pathway to Peace and 21st Century Skills in Nepal.
Jo-ELT (Journal of English Language Teachin.
Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa & Seni Prodi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris IKIP, 11.
, 143-153.
doi:https://doi.
org/10.
33394/jo-elt.
INTRODUCTION
Nepal is a multiethnic, multilingual, multireligious, and multicultural country.
It is a diverse country with 142 ethnic groups and 124 national languages (NPHC, 2.
so awareness of intercultural communicative competence is inevitable to maintain peace, harmony and sense of brotherhood and sisterhood in every society in Nepal.
It is rarely exception to find out ethnically and culturally homogenous country in this postmodern age so there are some issues of inter-ethnic communication, interethnic interaction and coexistence in the heterogenous society (Akhmadieva et al.
, 2.
Intercultural communication competence refers to the communication between people with different cultural backgrounds and identities.
The course of ICC was introduced in the communication department at the University of Pittsburgh and Michigan State University in the 1970s.
Since then, the course of ICC has been expanded in Higher Education Institutions worldwide broadly (Zhu.
Handford & Young, 2.
Culture is a set of beliefs, values, customs, traditions and ways of behaviors which represents a particular community.
In addition, culture is way of thinking and acting of the Jo-ELT (Journal of English Language Teachin.
Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris IKIP.
December 2024.
Vol.
11 No.
2 | Page 143 Kadel Preservice TeachersAo Perceptions of a group of particular community (Bhandari & Bhusal, 2.
Intercultural communication competence (ICC) deals with the appropriate understanding of the beliefs and tradition of the people from different cultures in the society (Ter-Minasova, 2.
In ICC, there is respect for ethnic cultural and religious norms, values and practices of interethnic, interaction and coexistence in the heterogenous society.
ICC refers to the situation of communication between the people who belong more than two diverse community (Auwalu et al.
, 2.
The interlocutors have to know the cultures of behaving, greeting, culture of respect and culture of cooperation and coordination to each culture prior to communication, otherwise there may be some misunderstandings and misconceptions due to the lack of information gap about the cultures to each other.
In this context.
ICC helps them make their communication and relation Intercultural communicative competence is one of the main requirements for good human life in the 21st century for globalization.
It is an inevitable component of 21st century skills without which it is impossible to survive peacefully in this globalized world (Sarwari et al.
ICC plays a vital role for the students, teachers, academicians, politicians, diplomats, journalists, and businessmen to be globalized good citizens.
There are 21st century skills such as collaboration, communication, digital literacy, good citizenship, problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity and production (Voogt & Robin, 2.
Intercultural competence, refers to the ability to interact in oneAos own language with people from another culture and does not necessarily require knowledge of the target language.
Moreover.
ICC refers to about interacting with people from another culture in a foreign language (Byram, 1.
Intercultural communicative competence is very mandatory approach to understand ourselves and others better to promote mutual relations, respects, understandings, and cooperation in this digitalized global society.
More importantly, the approach of ICC avoids misunderstanding, misinterpretation, and misconstruction of cultural practices and behaviors to each other (Santos, 2.
In fact, cross-cultural communication helps each of the participants study the cultural variations and similarities of the cultural behaviors and practices which in turn, facilitate them to consolidate the good relationships among the people of different cultures.
They can develop 21st century skills for a good citizen through ICC.
The main purpose of ICC is to enhance abilities to understand the target language and behaviors of target community and explain them to the home community (Negi, 2.
To recognize and acknowledge the cultures of each other.
ICC approach is inevitable for the betterment of the people of globalized world.
Furthermore.
ICC plays a pivotal role for political reconciliation and social cohesion in diverse country like Nepal.
ICC reaches in the common grounds of different values, customs, traditions and beliefs among different individuals with different cultures in the society.
Intercultural communicative competence incorporates skills, attitudes, knowledge and contents that are required to fulfill the communication between two cultures.
Intercultural competence is considered as the ability to communicate appropriately in intercultural situation.
Furthermore, intercultural competence is considered as knowledge, skills, and attitudes of an individuals to carry out any particular job successfully.
Intercultural competence comprises knowledge, skills, and critical cultural awareness of the people (Byram, 1997 as cited in Peng.
Language and culture are inseparable entities of the society.
Language influences the culture vice-versa.
Teaching language means teaching of culture (Byram, 1.
In order to make communicative function successful, interlocutors have to internalize the well concepts of language and culture of the target language (Peng, 2.
In addition, language carries the culture of the society.
Intercultural communicative competence helps the interlocutors to bridge the gap between language and culture of the target language.
Language represents and reflects the culture so there is symbiotic relationship between language and culture.
More importantly.
Jo-ELT (Journal of English Language Teachin.
Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris IKIP.
December 2024.
Vol.
11 No.
2 | Page 144 Kadel Preservice TeachersAo Perceptions of a the speakers from various cultures speak and think differently owing to the blessing of their languages which enable them to think differently.
In this regard, all of the publications and researches in science and technology are communicated and published in English language due to the dominance of English as a global language and English as lingua franca (Rao, 2.
English language plays a vital role to strengthen intercultural communicative competence across the world.
We can respect and know every language and culture through English language in this world.
In this regard.
Lazar argues .
that ICC should be incorporated in language teachersAo education program to make the teachers and learners aware of the importance of ICC in the global society.
English language as a global language helps to maintain harmony and peace in the world because it is a medium of communication, delivery, dialogue, and use in public ICT platform.
Owing to English as a global academic, language of media and lingua franca, it helps to consolidate brotherhood, sisterhood and sense of cosmopolitanism in the world.
There is a symbiotic relationship between English language and intercultural communicative competence in the world.
Moreover.
English has become a language of business, education and media so.
English plays a universal role in the intercrural communication (Grigoryeva & Zakirova, 2.
ICC incorporates cognitive, affective and behavioral attributes while communicating across various cultures effectively.
Affective refers to intercultural sensitivity in intercultural communicative competence.
Cognitive attribute is known as intercultural awareness and behavioral attributes includes intercultural adroitness.
Affective elements include intercultures sensitivity in which the people of two cultures can develop positive feelings and emotions during interculture communication.
Furthermore, affective includes willingness or motivation to understand acknowledged respect and accept differences of the two cultures.
Affective elements involve cultural self-efficacy, positive cultural orientation, tolerance of ambiguity, and interaction enjoyment (Griffith et al.
, 2016.
Lee & Song, 2019.
Toscu & Erten, 2.
The main issue of the heterogenous society is that the people have issue of ethnocentrism.
Moreover, they regard their culture is superior to others and better than others in the society in which they have been residing for a long time.
In fact, ethnocentrism is a seed of row in the society.
In order to mitigate the sense of ethnocentrism, there should be spreading of intercultural communication in the society among the people of various ethnic groups.
The main cause of ethnocentrism is negative modification of ethnic identity of individuals (Bromley, 1.
In this regard, the development of intercultural communication is very essential to maintain social dynamics, justice, and social harmony in the heterogenous global village-oriented society through mode-ranging set of cognitive affective and behavioral skills (Diaz & Moore, 2.
The discipline of Intercultural communication has very short history.
Sharma .
carried out ethnography research on intercultural communication training course for tourism workers in Nepal which explores ways of greeting, language and communication styles in Nepali culture.
This study found that tourism industry in Nepal has been conventionally a domain of menAos work.
Moreover, tourist guides learn the communicative tools to support them in commodifying their identities in the society.
Likewise.
Negi .
explores lived experiences of university level English teachers to promote intercultural communication in English Language Teaching (ELT) through phenomenological research design.
This study found that all of the university level English teachers were positive to promote ICC and local culture through ELT.
Bhandari and Bhusal .
carried out a study on intercultural communicative competence in ELT classroom in which they explored integrating language and literature facilitate communicative and interactive reading and writing practice and provides an opportunity to construct cultural knowledge through social interaction.
The finding of this study revealed that textbooks of English language of school level undervalue the socio-cultural and local context of Nepalese society.
In the same vein.
Ranabhat .
conducted a study on intercultural approach to language teaching in which he explored Jo-ELT (Journal of English Language Teachin.
Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris IKIP.
December 2024.
Vol.
11 No.
2 | Page 145 Kadel Preservice TeachersAo Perceptions of a the significance of the intercultural approach to language teaching.
As such, this study found that the learners require to enhance intercultural communicative competence to learn language in cross cultural setting due to the unrealistic utopian constrained and decontextualized nature of communicative competence.
Based on the empirical research in Nepal on ICC, this study is very relevant and necessary to address the following research questions: What are the perceptions of preservice teachers on the importance of intercultural communicative competence for reconciliation and peace in the society?.
What specific 21st century skills are enhanced by intercultural communicative competence according to preservice teachers?.
Why do you think that intercultural communicative competence has to be prescribed in secondary level school curriculum? RESEARCH METHOD Research Design The hermeneutic phenomenological research design under qualitative research approach was adopted instead of quantitative and mixed methods in this study since hermeneutic phenomenological research design would be appropriate to address the research questions in this study.
This study needs in-depth lived experiences of the participants so qualitative research approach has become appropriate to carry out this study.
In depth lived experiences of the participants could help to answer the research gaps in this study so researcher adopted interpretive research paradigm to analyze and interpret the data in this study.
In this section, research design, papulation and sample, research instrument, participants and ethical consideration were incorporated.
Hermeneutic phenomenological research design was employed to collect subjective and multiple realities of the preservice teachers on the importance of intercultural communicative competence to mitigate violence and misunderstanding in the diverse society like Nepal.
The hermeneutic phenomenological research design attempts to investigate understanding of the meaning and significance of a particular lived phenomenon of the participants (Diaz, 2.
Phenomenology is conceived as Ausocial and cultural situatedness of actions and interactions, together with participantsAo interpretation of actionsAy (Cohen et al.
, 2.
The hermeneutic phenomenology is a constructivist approach through which multiple and socially constructed realities are collected from the participants (Hatch, 2.
Population and Sample The researcher adopted stratified non-random sampling procedure to select sample for this study.
There are more than 200 students in the department of English Education under Central Department of Education.
Tribhuvan University who belong to a large heterogenous The sample of preservice teachers were selected from 4 strata: madheshi community, ethnic community, untouchable community, and brahmin community.
The main reason behind adopting 4 strata was that they represent all of the cultural communities resided in Nepal.
such, the findings of this study can be validating and generalized.
Eight preservice teachers as participants were selected from madheshi community, ethnic community, untouchable community, and Braham in community.
Two preservice teachers were selected from each The age of the participants is ranging from 23 to 26 years old.
The participants were entitled as pseudo names as Dhiraj.
Chandreshor.
Karma.
Tenjing.
Shere.
Sita.
Yamlal, and Baburam to maintain confidentiality and anonymity.
The researcher behaved with participants in democratic manner while administrating semi-structured interview.
He did not coerce them to share anything in course of employing interview.
Their perceptions on the importance of intercultural communicative competence were allowed to share freely.
Jo-ELT (Journal of English Language Teachin.
Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris IKIP.
December 2024.
Vol.
11 No.
2 | Page 146 Kadel Preservice TeachersAo Perceptions of a Instruments The in-depth semi-interview as a research tool was employed to collect data from preservice teachers who have been studying third semester of master of Education in English education regularly in Central Department of Education.
Tribhuvan University.
Data Analysis Firstly, the researcher developed rapport with head of the department to grant the permission to conduct this study in the department of English education.
Tribhuvan University.
After getting the permission from the authority, the researcher talked to each participant to get consent regarding the time for the semi-structured interview.
Having collected data, the researcher coded and decoded the data into basic themes, subsequently global themes were developed out of organized themes.
The verbatims of each participant were transcribed, coded, and decoded.
Eventually, the researcher emailed them for member check to confirm their data.
The researcher adopted thematic data analysis procedure in this study.
The themes were analyzed and interpreted descriptively.
RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Research Findings There are 6 global themes viz.
mitigating violence, war and misunderstanding, promoting good human relation and good citizenship, prescribing intercultural communicative competence in school curriculum, intercultural communicative competence as blessing for the heterogenous society, and promoting awareness of intercultural communicative competence through English and enhancing 21st century skills by intercultural communicative competence which are analyzed and interpreted as follows:
Mitigating Violence.
War and Misunderstanding The introduction of intercultural communicative competence (ICC) in the Master of Education in English education makes the pre-service teachers aware about the principles of ICC and its purposes and significance in the society.
Furthermore, in order to mitigate the unrest, riots, violence and civil war in the country, there should be broad orientations and spreading of ICC through mass media and school education from school to university levels to establish peace, and harmony in diverse society in Nepal.
In this regard.
Yamlal asserted that Audissemination of intercultural communicative competence through academic curriculum of school education, mass media and university curriculum help for reducing possible conflict, and violence even in the issues of dominance of minority ethnic groups by the majority in diverse society like Nepal.
Ay Intercultural communicative competence helps the people to respect the culture of other ethnic groups in the society where there are 125 ethnic groups across the country.
Prescribing the ICC contents in the curriculum of secondary level particularly in English language teaching (ELT) help to reduce the hostility among the people in the society since the preservice teachers are the prospective teachers of secondary and university levels in Nepal.
In this regard.
Klyukanov .
argues that effective intercultural communication is essential to acknowledge and appreciate cultural diversity to found harmony and social cohesion in every society in any country in the world.
In Nepal, there is no such huge and serious communal violence like the neighboring countries India and Bangladesh.
However, there are riot and conflict in the Nepalese society on the basis of the unique distinct cultural practices.
All of the participants.
Dhiraj.
Chandreshor.
Karma.
Tenjing.
Shere.
Sita.
Yamlal, and Baburam were positive in this regard.
In a similar vein, one of the participants.
Sita claimed that Auin my society, main issue of the conflict arises between the people from different ethnic communities owing to the misunderstanding and insulting Jo-ELT (Journal of English Language Teachin.
Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris IKIP.
December 2024.
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11 No.
2 | Page 147 Kadel Preservice TeachersAo Perceptions of a the behaviors, type of ornaments, type of food and styles and dialects of language that people wear, eat, and use in their respective community.
Ay The people from minority community are exploited and insulted by the people from majority community because of the lack of understanding and respect of the cultures, languages, and food that diverse people use and consume in their socio-cultural situation.
Intercultural communicative competence can be made successful and effective through the philosophy of cosmopolitanism.
Development and dissemination of ICC is one of the best ways for the construction of the concept of cosmopolitanism in the 21st century.
We can promote the principles of open-mindedness, inclusivity, and recognition of universal values for the consolidation of intercultural communicative competence.
In this context, misunderstanding, conflict, row, unjust, unrest, and riots can occur owing to the disrespect and dishearten the people from different cultures with different norms, values, and beliefs (Santos, 2.
Developing Global Citizen Intercultural communicative competence is one the 21st century skills which is inevitable to survive in this globalized society.
Unless people have awareness of the ICC, they cannot be a globalized citizen in this digitalized age.
Human relation cannot be consolidated at home and abroad without the knowledge and dissemination of the essence of intercultural communicative In this regard.
Chandreshor stated that Authe assault, rape and conflict on Bangladeshi Hindu community was the consequences of disrespect and dishearten against people of the other community with diverse religion, culture and language.
All of the riots and assaults on Bangladeshi Hind people were due to the misunderstanding and lack of the awareness of the main essence of intercultural communicative Thousands of the people from Hindu community were suffered and exploited by majority of Muslim community in Bangladesh in second week of the month of August, 2024.
Ay The goodness of intercultural communicative competence should be disseminated to heterogenous society regarding the globalized phenomena of ICC by government organizations, non-government organizations (NGOS) and international non-government organizations (INGOS) to promote global citizen.
In this context.
Sita asserted that Authousands of women are being raped and exploited due to the lack of knowledge and essence of intercultural communicative competence in the societyAy.
All of the participants accepted that the unexpected assaults, rapes, and assassinations are being occurred due to the prejudices and biasness in terms of culture, religion, language and color in the world.
Prescribing Intercultural Communicative Competence in School Curriculum The ICC is advised to introduce in the school curriculum in Nepal to produce the SLC/Plus two graduates with knowledge of ICC for their bright careers as well.
The students who want to join the job after plus 2 will be benefitted from ICC.
Intercultural communicative competence refers to about interacting with people from another culture in a foreign language.
Intercultural communicative competence should be prescribed from secondary level If intercultural communicative competence has been incorporated in the syllabi of grade 11 and 12, the pass outs of plus 2/School Leaving Certificate (SLC) would know strategies and knowledge of 21st skills of respecting the culture of the other language They can learn essence of ICC from the classroom since classroom is a miniature of society (Freire, 1.
In this point.
Chandreshor stated that Auone unit of syllabus should be incorporated with introduction of intercultural communication in the curriculum of ELT from 8 to 12 grades because there are students from diverse learners in terms of languages, religions, castes, cultures, ethnic groups, and regions.
The learners can learn Jo-ELT (Journal of English Language Teachin.
Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris IKIP.
December 2024.
Vol.
11 No.
2 | Page 148 Kadel Preservice TeachersAo Perceptions of a how to be socialized and to socialize other the people from other community with diverse languages, religions and cultures.
If they learn how to respect to one anotherAos languages, cultures, and religions as a result, there will be no any conflict.
Ay In the heterogenous society, particularly, young teenagers have the sense of ethnocentrism which can be a seed of row in the society.
The emotional teen agers can involve in conflict, quarrels and violence for a trivial issue.
So, the introduction of intercultural communicative competence in the of the curriculum of grades 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 can promote the intercultural communicative competence among the young teenagers.
The extreme forms of ethnocentrism are ethnic arrogance and sense of national superiority (Adler, 1997.
Reich.
In the similar vein.
Tenjing asserted that Auparticularly uneducated illiterate seniorsAo citizen can have their own sense superiority and egoism for their own clanAos language, culture and religion in the diverse society which can be a spark of negative issue for violence and conflict in the society.
I think the prescribing of at least one unit in the curriculum from class 8 to 12 grades can have remarkable impacts on their cream mind to comprehend the concepts of intercultural communicative competence and to apply in the real practical society.
Ay The misunderstanding, conflict, row, unjust, unrest, and riots can occur owing to the disrespect and dishearten the people from different cultures with different norms, values, and beliefs (Santos, 2.
In this context, all of the participants agreed that incorporation of small components of the intercultural communicative competence in the curriculum from grade 8 to grade 12 would help them to be a social and good citizen with spirits of intercultural communicative competence.
In the similar vein.
Yamlal stated that Auinclusion of the examples in each text should be incorporated from every minority ethnic group such as madheshi community, ethnic community, and untouchable community which helps to share the cultural differences and similarity of different communities in the county thereby developing the sense of equality, and respect to each otherAos cultures, languages, and Ay There was no inclusion of intercultural competence in the existing school level curriculum which is a big gap of sharing the knowledge about intercultural communication competence through formal education.
Intercultural communicative competence helps each of the participants study the cultural variations and similarities of the cultural behaviors and practices to consolidate the good relationships among the people of different cultures and Intercultural Communicative Competence as Blessing for the Heterogenous Society In fact.
ICC is not simply knowing about the language and about the products and practices of culture, rather ICC is an active participation in communicating with those from another culture experiencing and discovering the culture because of an inherent curiosity and forming new attitudes that mediate between oneAos own and the otherAos culture (Van-Houton & Shelton, 2.
In this regard.
Karma stated that Authe approach of ICC is very useful to communicate and behave smoothly with the people from other culture.
I have developed a good rapport with the people of brahmins and chhetri communities.
We are very aware and smart enough to understand the culture of every event which helps us to strengthen the relationships between the people of two communities.
Ay Intercultural communicative competence facilitates the people to interact in oneAos own language with people from another culture.
ICC promotes harmony and sense of Jo-ELT (Journal of English Language Teachin.
Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris IKIP.
December 2024.
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11 No.
2 | Page 149 Kadel Preservice TeachersAo Perceptions of a cosmopolitanism in the heterogenous society.
ICC alleviates the extremity on religion, nationality, culture, ethnic group, caste, and language thereby increasing sense of brotherhood, sisterhood, and humanity in the heterogenous society.
The participants.
Dhiraj.
Chandreshor.
Karma.
Tenjing.
Shere.
Sita.
Yamlal, and Baburam accepted that ICC is essential to reduce the conflict, row, war, and terrorism among the countries due to the issue of encroachment of the boarders, different religions, languages, ethnic communities and ideologies in the world.
The extreme forms of ethnocentrism are ethnic arrogance and sense of ultranationalism (Adler.
Reich, 2.
Promoting Awareness of ICC through English and Nepali Languages Internal communicative competence (ICC) is using language skills, and cultural knowledge understanding in authentic contexts to effectively interact with people.
ICC focuses on communication between specific cultural groupings.
The intercultural speakers are to be relevant to the fluid communicative practices and cultural references of intercultural communication through English language.
In this regard.
Dhiraj stated that AuEnglish language teaching (ELT) plays a major role to communicate with the foreign people through English.
English language has become a global language in the world.
Almost every foreign citizen who visits different countries need to communicate through English.
Moreover, the varieties of Englishes can be comprehensive though English practiced and used in Nepal is deviated from standard British English.
In my experience.
English language helps us to know the cultural practices of the people and their Ay Cultural awareness is an understanding of the relative nature of cultural norms which leads to the ability to compare and mediate between different cultural norms in intercultural The cultural awareness can be consolidated through good communication among people.
In this regard.
Chandreshor asserted that AuNepali language should be taught to the adult people through adult literacy programme to develop communicative competence of Nepali language.
Nepali language is the lingua franca in Nepal.
People can respect and understand to one another through Nepali languageAy.
Nepali language can work as a tool to share the cultural practices and indigenous knowledge of each ethnic community since Nepal is a multilingual country with 124 national languages and 142 ethnic groups (NPHC, 2.
The rest of the participants Karma.
Tenjing.
Shere.
Sita.
Yamlal, and Baburam agreed that particularly.
English and Nepali languages are incorporated as an important tool to bridge international and national nationals respectively.
Enhancing 21st Century Skills through Intercultural Communicative Competence Intercultural communicative competence helps the learners to develop the 21st century skills which are also called the life skills (Safina et al.
, 2.
In this regard.
Tenjing stated that Auwhen ICC helps the learners develop the 21st century skills.
They should develop ICT skills to communicate with a large number of participants within a country and outside the country.
ICT skill is one the 21st century skills without which learners cannot develop communication in this globalized society.
Moreover, they develop the communicative skills with their colleagues in the class and society.
ICC is very useful for the learners to develop the leadership skills in the society.
Ay In fact, intercultural communicative skills help to enhance 21st century skills such as communicative sills, leadership skills, and empathy and sympathy.
The learners can develop bravery, fairness, and convincing skills through including ICC in school and university This world has become a global village due to the miraculous development in the field of science and technology and ICT.
In the similar vein.
Baburam said that Jo-ELT (Journal of English Language Teachin.
Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris IKIP.
December 2024.
Vol.
11 No.
2 | Page 150 Kadel Preservice TeachersAo Perceptions of a Auincluding ICC content at school level curriculum, the learners can develop the 21st century life skills to survive the this digitalized global village.
ICC
help the learners to develop critical thinking skills, creativity, conflict management skills and self-awareness skills in this diverse society.
Ay Due to the practices of addressing the issues of diverse society through ICC, learners can develop the individual leadership skills regarding the management of different types of conflicts, and riots in the society.
They can develop the creative and critical thinking skills through intercultural communicative competence since they learn how to adapt, and accommodate in diverse cultures using their critical and creative thinking skills.
In this context.
Sita also asserted that Auintercultural communicative competence helps the teachers and learner develop emotional intelligence, and resilience skills.
Emotional intelligence is very useful for teachers to teach the learners about how to develop self-control, empathy and self-awareness (Safina et al.
, 2.
They can develop social skills, self-control skills if they are taught intercultural communicative competence from school to university levelsAy.
There is symbiotic relationship between ICC and 21st century skills.
Discussion One of the findings of this study was Intercultural communicative competence is a means of mitigating violence, war, and conflict in the heterogenous society to maintain peace in the This world has been converted into global village due to the miraculous development in the field of information communicative technology, public media, science and technology so, the awareness of intercultural communicative competence is one of 21st century skills to survive in this diverse world happily.
In this regard, intercultural communicative competence has been regarded as a critical life skill to be success in the 21st century (Griffith et al.
, 2.
Sarwari et al.
argue that intercultural communicative competence helps to develop cultural awareness and cultural sensitivity.
Intercultural communicative competence has to be prescribed in the secondary level curricula of Nepal to implant the sense of brotherhood, friendship and global citizenship in the young mind of plus 2/SLC graduates who can be good citizens in this globalized world.
Intercultural communicative competence is a blessing in the heterogenous society because the teaching of intercultural communicative phenomena in the classroom to alter a behavior to persuade, or make change in peopleAos perceptions, beliefs or assumptions (Delante, 2.
Introduction of intercultural communicative competence in the language classroom could improve learnersAo knowledge and equip them with required real-life skills (Awada, 2.
Furthermore.
English is a means of dissemination of the awareness of intercultural communicative competence in the society so preservice teachers are to be equipped with linguistic and cultural competence in order to develop the understanding and respect of other cultures, languages, behaviors and attitudes of the people through intercultural communicative competence (Alptekin, 2.
Integrating intercultural communicative competence in the school level curriculum helps the teachers and students develop their language proficiency in English since they have to communicate with the people from diverse language community through English language (Sarwari et al.
, 2.
They have to develop the English language proficiency mandatorily.
CONCLUSION
Perceptions of preservice teachers on the importance of intercultural communicative competence were mitigating violence, war and misunderstanding, promoting global citizenship, prescribing intercultural communicative competence in school curriculum.
ICC as blessing for heterogenous society, and promoting awareness of intercultural communicative competence through English and Nepali languages and enhancing 21st century skills through ICC.
The 21st century skills such as critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, information Jo-ELT (Journal of English Language Teachin.
Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris IKIP.
December 2024.
Vol.
11 No.
2 | Page 151 Kadel Preservice TeachersAo Perceptions of a communication technology (ICT) and problem-solving skills were developed through ICC.
Intercultural communicative competence is very essential to maintain peace in the society.
ICC
reduces misunderstanding and misinterpretation due to diverse cultures, languages, behaviors and artifacts of the other culture in the diverse society.
Furthermore, it is inevitable component to be prescribed in school curriculum in the country like Nepal where multilingual, multicultural and multiethnic people have been residing.
The 21st century world has been converted into global village so there is respect and understandings of every culture, language, and behavior in the world through the philosophy and ideology of intercultural communicative It is regarded as one of the 21st century skills without which it is impossible to maintain harmony, friendliness, peace, and security in the society.
Intercultural communicative competence can be disseminated to every people through different types of workshops, and conferences by the help of governmental agencies.
NGOS and INGOS at home and abroad.
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