Intercultural Communicative Competence in Hybrid Classrooms: Identity Negotiation among Indonesian EFL Students

Anugerah Febrian Syam

doi:10.47134/jpbi.v3i2.2470

Authors

Anugerah Febrian Syam Universitas Negeri Makassar https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2608-0761

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47134/jpbi.v3i2.2470

Keywords:

Intercultural Communicative Competence, hybrid classroom, identity negotiation, classroom ethnography, sociomateriality

Abstract

This study aims to reposition ICC as a relational practice negotiated situationally through the lens of classroom ethnography. The research was conducted over one semester in a Public Speaking course at a private university, involving 16 sixth-semester students. Data were collected through audio-visual recordings of classes, chat transcripts, presentation slides, reflective notes, and in-depth semi-structured interviews. Analysis was conducted iteratively through open coding, thematic clustering, and identity-positioning-based reading. The results show that ICC manifests as fluctuating positioning, shaped by fluency performance, code-switching strategies, camera visibility management, and cross-channel participation. The hybrid classroom functions as a sociomaterial intercultural contact zone that mediates legitimacy, vulnerability, and identity negotiation. This study concludes that ICC is more appropriately understood as situated accomplishment (relational, embodied, and technologized) rather than as a stable competence.

References

Anas, I., Rahayu, De Vega, N., & Samsudin. (2025). Situating English language teaching in culturally specific contexts: a narrative case study into teachers’ intercultural experiences. Language and Intercultural Communication, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2025.2584150 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2025.2584150

Aririguzoh, S. (2022). Communication competencies, culture and SDGs: effective processes to cross-cultural communication. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 9(1), 96. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01109-4 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01109-4

Bancou, L. (2024). Towards a ‘vulnerable co-presence’ for hybrid ways of working: Recasting the nexus of co-presence and vulnerability with Merleau-Ponty and Butler. Management Learning, 55(3), 451–473. https://doi.org/10.1177/13505076241241287 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/13505076241241287

Cancino, M., & Nuñez, I. (2023). EFL Teachers’ Perceptions Towards Multicultural Classrooms: The Role of Intercultural Sensitivity in Developing Intercultural Communicative Competence. REFLections, 30(3), 620–646. https://doi.org/10.61508/refl.v30i3.267833 DOI: https://doi.org/10.61508/refl.v30i3.267833

Chen, F., & Wang, D. (2025). Construction and application of an embodied-cognitive intercultural communicative competence model: An empirical investigation of critical thinking mediating mechanisms in the Insights into Chinese Culture course. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 109, 102306. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2025.102306 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2025.102306

Eren, Ö. (2024). Towards multilingual turn in language classes: plurilingual awareness as an indicator of intercultural communicative competence. International Journal of Multilingualism, 21(2), 783–801. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2022.2090568 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2022.2090568

Ganesan, U., & Morales, A. R. (2024). A science teacher’s experiences when fostering intercultural competence among students in multilingual classrooms: a narrative study. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 19(1), 189–208. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-023-10206-y DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-023-10206-y

Giustini, D. (2025). A Practice-Based Approach for Intercultural Communication: Towards an Epistemological Integration. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 54(5), 368–384. https://doi.org/10.1080/17475759.2025.2549324 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17475759.2025.2549324

Hua, W., & Soh, S. B. (2026). Internationalisation-at-Home and intercultural communication: Malaysian local students’ experiences in internationalised higher education. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 111, 102352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2025.102352 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2025.102352

Hwang, J., Sato, E., & He, A. W. (2024). From intercultural engagement to intercultural communicative competence: The case of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Foreign Language Annals, 57(1), 67–92. https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12738 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12738

Kundu, O., Rigby, J., & James, A. D. (2025). Talking past each other: Institutional complexity in public projects. International Public Management Journal, 28(1), 107–132. https://doi.org/10.1080/10967494.2024.2382739 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10967494.2024.2382739

Lyons, A., & Tagg, C. (2024). Post-Digital Connectivities: Framing Offline Encounters in a Digital Prospection Space. Applied Linguistics, 45(5), 829–848. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amae008 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amae008

MacDonald, M. N. (2022). Issues, controversies and difficult questions: languages and intercultural communication, twenty years on. Language and Intercultural Communication, 22(3), 253–265. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2022.2076978 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2022.2076978

Mootoosamy, K., & Aryadoust, V. (2024). Transitioning from Communicative Competence to Multimodal and Intercultural Competencies: A Systematic Review. Societies, 14(7), 115. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc14070115 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/soc14070115

Nigar, N., Kostogriz, A., & Hossain, I. (2025). Hybrid professional identities: exploring non-native English-speaking teachers’ lived experiences through the Cyborg Manifesto. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 33(5), 1745–1767. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2024.2409731 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2024.2409731

Nikolai, H., Kisiel, M., & Peng, Y. (2023). Vocal education in the context of intercultural communication: Experience of teaching chinese students. International Journal of Chinese Education, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/2212585X231169741 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/2212585X231169741

Nurhikmah, A., Syam, A. F., & AP, S. (2023). Lecturer Attitudes on Cross-Cultural Practices in EFL Online Teaching. Elsya : Journal of English Language Studies, 5(1), 27–44. https://doi.org/10.31849/elsya.v5i1.11588 DOI: https://doi.org/10.31849/elsya.v5i1.11588

Senkbeil, K. (2025). Virtual spaces, real interactions - Analyzing communication in virtual reality. Language & Communication, 100, 212–223. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2024.12.004 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2024.12.004

Syam, A. F., & Nurhikmah, A. (2025). Mindfulness, Humility, and Reflexivity: Tracing Intercultural Growth in Family-Based EFL Interaction. IJOLEH : International Journal of Education and Humanities, 4(2), 203–220. https://doi.org/10.56314/ijoleh.v4i2.425 DOI: https://doi.org/10.56314/ijoleh.v4i2.425

Syam, A. F., Nurhikmah, A., Abrar, A. E. Y., Masita, M., Sumrah, & Fitri, N. (2023). EFL Online Teaching and Learning: The Impact of Environmental Factors. Pegem Journal of Education and Instruction, 13(02). https://doi.org/10.47750/pegegog.13.02.27 DOI: https://doi.org/10.47750/pegegog.13.02.27

Syam, A. F., Nurhikmah, A., Ali, S., Basri, M., Abrar, A. E. Y., Masita, M., Ilmiah, I., & Rossydi, A. (2025). Lecturer Attitudes on the Integrated Intercultural Literary Pedagogy for Teaching Public Speaking/Stavovi predavača o integraciji međukulturne metodike nastave književnosti i poučavanja javnoga govorništva. Croatian Journal of Education - Hrvatski Časopis Za Odgoj i Obrazovanje, 27(2). https://doi.org/10.15516/cje.v27i2.6120 DOI: https://doi.org/10.15516/cje.v27i2.6120

Syam, A. F., Nurhikmah, A., & AP, S. (2023). Exploring Intercultural Communicative Competence of EFL Higher Education Students: A Communal Perspective. Tamaddun, 22(1), 52–64. https://doi.org/10.33096/tamaddun.v22i1.327 DOI: https://doi.org/10.33096/tamaddun.v22i1.327

Taglialatela, A. (2024). ELF- or NES-oriented pedagogy: enhancing learners’ intercultural communicative competence using a dual teaching model. Applied Linguistics Review, 15(2), 377–401. https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2020-0154 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2020-0154

Trang, T. T. T., & Phuong, V. T. (2023). Needs Analysis About Intercultural Communicative Competence Among Undergraduate Tourism Students. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 52(6), 2599–2620. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-023-10012-1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-023-10012-1

Tsintsadze, I. (2025). Dimensions of Media Literacy from the Intercultural Perspective of Digital Transformation. Review of Communication Research, 13, 209–228. https://doi.org/10.52152/RCR.V13.14 DOI: https://doi.org/10.52152/RCR.V13.14

Vänttinen, M. (2025). Constructing interactional space across distant locations in a hybrid classroom. Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, 54, 100940. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lcsi.2025.100940 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lcsi.2025.100940

Xu, H., Wang, Y., & Ma, J. (2025). A comprehensive review of intercultural communicative competence in EFL education and global business. Cogent Education, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2025.2557608 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2025.2557608

Yu, C. (2024). An autoethnography of an international English language teaching assistant’s identity paradoxes in an EFL context. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 37(2), 498–511. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2022.2061624 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2022.2061624

Zheng, Y., Ortega, L., Pekarek Doehler, S., Sasaki, M., Eskildsen, S. W., & Gao, X. (Andy). (2025). Praxeology, humanism, equity, and mixed methods: Four pillars for advancing second language acquisition and teaching. The Modern Language Journal, 109(S1), 64–89. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12977 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12977