Relationship between Perceived Intercultural Competence and IELTS Speaking Performance among Iranian EFL Learners

Rezvan Atashpanjeh, Mohsen Shahrokhi

Abstract


The present study is an attempt to investigate if there is a relationship between intercultural competence and IELTS speaking performance among Iranian EFL learners and to investigate if IELTS training courses improve Iranian's EFL learners' intercultural competence. To do so, 40 Iranian male and female EFL learners who were studying pre-IELTS and IELTS courses were chosen through the Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT). The participants’ ages ranged from twenty-one to fifty-three. They were all given a questionnaire adopted from Matveev (2002) including 23 items with 7 options ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree in order to assess their intercultural competence before and after attending the IELTS speaking course. The participants were also checked through the IELTS speaking mock test before sitting for the real IELTS speaking interview in order to compare their speaking performance after passing the course. To do so, a quantitative design based on a correlational method was employed to analyze the data and find possible answers to the research questions of the study. The findings revealed that IELTS training courses improve Iranian EFL IELTS learners' intercultural competence and there is a mild correlation between perceived intercultural competence and IELTS speaking performance of Iranian EFL learners. The study revealed implications fruitful for both the teachers and the EFL learners attending IELTS training courses.


Keywords


Intercultural competence, Speaking skill, IELTS

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References


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