Multi-Agent—Empowered Intercultural Communicative Competence in EFL Learners: Framework Construction and Hybrid Measurement Development

Ni Zhang

doi:10.70088/jeh02s23

Authors

Ni Zhang College of ASEAN Studies, Nanning University, Nanning, China Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.70088/jeh02s23

Keywords:

intercultural communicative competence (ICC), hybrid measurement, multi-agent system, self-report scale, ICC profile

Abstract

This thesis develops and validates a hybrid measurement package for the intercultural communicative competence (ICC) of Chinese university EFL learners and specifies a textbook-anchored multi-agent system for cultivating that competence. Grounded in Byram's model of ICC, the Knowledge--Learning--Instruction (KLI) framework, and Kramsch's symbolic competence, the package measures five savoirs through a hybrid logic: Intercultural Attitudes (DV2) via a validated self-report scale, and Cultural Knowledge (DV1), Interaction Skills (DV3), Interpreting & Relating (DV4), and Critical Cultural Awareness (DV5) via performance tasks with analytic rubrics. It is validated in a single cross-sectional administration to 160 learners across four intact classes, reporting content validity, internal-consistency and inter-rater reliability, reliability-corrected discriminant evidence for the Task-A dimensions, the factor structure of the attitudes scale, and a baseline ICC profile. The multi-agent system is presented as an application design that the validated instruments are built to evaluate; its experimental testing is reserved for a companion study.

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