Volume 4, Issue 2 August 2021, pp. 137–154 
Regular Articles
The development and validation of an intercultural competence evaluation instrument for upper secondary foreign language teaching
Esther Schat1, Ewout van der Knaap 
2, & Rick de Graaff 3
1 Utrecht University, NETHERLANDS 
2 Utrecht University, NETHERLANDS
3 Utrecht University, NETHERLANDS
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29140/ice.v4n2.432
Abstract
Intercultural competence is a crucial element of foreign language education. It is argued that the multi-faceted nature of intercultural competence implies that assessment of its construct is a complex process; as a consequence, its progress is difficult to measure. Although several tools for evaluating intercultural competence currently exist, research on their use in secondary school settings is scarce. This study reports on the development and validation of an instrument intended specifically for use in foreign language literature education. To this end, tangible learning objectives for intercultural literary competence were developed based on five dimensions of intercultural communicative competence (Byram, 1997) and six categories of literary competence (Witte, 2008). These objectives were re-formulated for implementation in a student questionnaire. Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, the construct validity of the instrument was investigated among a sample of 164 secondary school students in the upper forms of pre-university education in the Netherlands. Although the results supported the hypothesized wo second-order factor structure, the model fit indices were less favourable compared to the fit indices of an alternative five first-order factor model. Subsequently, correlation and summability analyses were performed to test the reliability of the instrument. Future research and implications are discussed.
Copyright
© Esther Schat, Ewout van der Knaap, Rick de Graaff
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Suggested citation
Schat, E., van der Knaap, E., & de Graaff, R. (2021). The development and validation of an intercultural competence evaluation instrument for upper secondary foreign language teaching. Intercultural Communication Education, 4(2), 137–154. https://doi.org/10.29140/ice.v4n2.432
Related Articles:
Promoting acts of kindness on campus: Views of Chinese international students in the UK
Ming Cheng, Olalekan Adekola
Intercultural Communication Education Published: 30 April, 2022, Volume 5(1), 17–32. 
Tasks, self-efficacy, and L2 motivational self system in an online emergency EFL speaking class: A mixed-methods study
Nguyễn Nhật Quang, Phạm Nhật Linh, Nguyễn Thị Thu Hiền
The JALT CALL Journal Published: 2 April, 2022, Volume 18(1), 1–33.
Implementing backward design to foster intercultural communicative competence in textbook-based curricula: A proposed framework for English language practitioners
Hiba B. Ibrahim
Intercultural Communication Education Published: 30 April, 2022, Volume 5(1), 1–16.
Challenges and responses: A Complex Dynamic Systems approach to exploring language teacher agency in a blended classroom
Grace Yue Qi, Yuping Wang
The JALT CALL Journal Published: 9 April, 2022, Volume 18(1), 54–82.
The effects of corpus use on learning L2 collocations
Yoshiho Satake
The JALT CALL Journal Published: 9 April, 2022, Volume 18(1), 34–53.
Captions and learnability factors in learning grammar from audio-visual input
Anastasia Pattemore, Carmen Muñoz
The JALT CALL Journal Published: 9 April, 2022, Volume 18(1), 83–109.
Chinese language learners evaluating machine translation accuracy
Li-Ching Chang
The JALT CALL Journal Published: 9 April, 2022, Volume 18(1), 110–136.
Statistical analysis of the impact of the e-learning platform Furago on French learners’ listening skills
Albéric Derible, Éric Wiel
The JALT CALL Journal Published: 9 April, 2022, Volume 18(1), 137–161.
Work integrated language learning: Boundary crossing, connectivity, and L2 affordances
Linda Febring, Alastair Henry
Migration and Language Education Published: 29 April, 2022, Volume 3(1), 1–22.
YouTube for second language learning: What does the research tell us?
Gilbert Dizon
Australian Journal of Applied Linguistics Published: 30 April, 2022, Volume 5(1), 19–26.