Abstract:
Intercultural communicative competence (ICC), the ability to communicate across linguistic and
cultural boundaries (Byram, 1997), has become the ultimate goal of language teaching as a response to
the demands of internationalisation and globalisation in the last few decades. This research was
undertaken in Vietnam where far too little attention has been paid to the beliefs and practices of
Vietnamese university English teachers (VUETs), especially those teaching non-English majors,
regarding ICC. To address this gap, the research in this thesis examined what VUETs believed about
ICC, how they enhanced students’ ICC in their general English (GE) classrooms, and what factors
affected their beliefs and practices regarding ICC in the context of Vietnamese higher education
(VHE).
This two-phase research was situated within an interpretivist paradigm with a qualitative
research design using a case study approach. Phase 1 aimed to uncover the general understanding of
VUETs’ beliefs about ICC. Phase 2 attempted to understand how VUETs enhanced their students’ ICC
in their GE classrooms, the relationship between their beliefs and practices regarding ICC, and the
influential factors underlying that relationship.
Using Byram’s (1997) model of ICC and Vygotsky’s (1978, 1987) sociocultural theory as the
theoretical frameworks, findings of this research show that VUETs held positive beliefs about ICC and
its role to Vietnamese students’ future. However, their beliefs about ICC were filled with ambivalences
and uncertainties about the feasibility of the enhancement of students’ ICC in GE classrooms in the
context of VHE. With regard to their practices of ICC, VUETs were inclined to adopt the role of
transmitters of cultural knowledge, instead of intercultural mediators to develop students’ cultural
attitudes, skills, or awareness. Data from VUETs’ beliefs and practices of ICC indicate that VUETs
have not yet regarded ICC as a goal to be achieved in their GE lessons. Disparities were also unravelled
between VUETs’ ICC beliefs and practices due to multiple factors from different layers of contexts.
The research provides significant contributions to the understanding of VUETs’ ICC beliefs and
practices in the context of VHE. It also offers a sociocultural model that assists in exploring teachers’
beliefs and practices of ICC in other contexts.