Intercultural communicative competence in English language teaching in Kazakhstan

In recent years, the significance of intercultural communicative competence (ICC) development has been widely recognised in foreign language education, with language teachers expected to encourage the development of ICC in their learners. The current study aims to investigate how Kazakhstani EFL (English as a foreign language) teachers from English-medium schools perceive ICC and to what extent their beliefs are integrated and reflected in their reported teaching practices. Employing a questionnaire, qualitative and quantitative data were collected from 103 EFL teachers. The findings reveal that the teachers are aware of the concept of ICC and the role of teaching interculturally oriented objectives. However, the implementation of these has not yet been integrated on a regular basis in their actual teaching and thus requires greater support and promotion.