Perceptions towards intercultural communication: military students in a higher education context

In a scenario of growing internationalization the Spanish Armed Forces face the challenges of participating in multinational and multicultural coalitions. When deployed or operating in other countries, the capacity to work across cultures, to understand the complexity of cultural identity, ethnicity, religion or social organization and to adapt to a diversity of values, beliefs and worldviews has become a high priority. In a context in which both language and culture barriers have been frequently recognized as sources of communication failure, there is no denying that gaining communicative skills, that is, linguistic, sociolinguistic, discourse and intercultural skills, has become a crucial academic and professional competence. Drawing on the large body of literature on English as an International Language (EIL) and English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) in academic and professional communication, this chapter presents the results of a questionnaire-based survey of intercultural communication awareness carried among military students in a higher-education institution. From the data collected on the respondents' background information, on their language and culture learning experiences and on their intercultural sensitivity awareness, the study examines the perceptions of the surveyed students about their experiences on the acquisition of intercultural communication competence in the language classroom. In the light of the results, this paper discusses the pedagogical implications for the training of future professionals able to operate in foreign cultures and act in culturally appropriate ways.