Developing and assessing the relationship between intercultural communication competence and intercultural sensitivity in the EFL classroom

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his study aimed to develop and assess the relationship between intercultural communication competence and intercultural sensitivity in EFL college students in a southern Saudi Arabian university. The researcher followed an experimental design involving pretesting and posttesting on one experimental group. Participants were 123 EFL college students who were voluntarily selected for this study by convenience. A supplementary advanced reading addendum was used to develop intercultural communication competence (ICC) and intercultural sensitivity (IS) in the participants for one semester. Two scales for assessing ICC and IS were used for collecting data. Findings of bivariate correlation analysis indicated that the attributes of both scales were significantly positively correlated. This indicated that the constructs of ICC and IS were significant factors that enabled participants in the study to raise their intercultural sensitivity and enhance their intercultural communicative competence. Conclusions indicated that the concepts of intercultural communication competence and intercultural sensitivity suggest important constructs that enable language learners to engage in proper intercultural interactions.