Abstract:

It is hard to argue that the ability to understand cultures plays one of the key roles in an increasingly globalized environment. International journalists work at the forefront in promoting understanding between people of different cultures, as their job is to report news from every corner of the world and provide analyses of current events to a large audience. Thus, it is highly necessary to develop intercultural communicative competence among international journalism students, as it will improve their professional skills and facilitate their future career success.

The main goal of the research was to investigate various means of developing intercultural competence in teaching English for specific purposes to journalism students and to identify the benefits of raising cultural awareness among journalism students. A total of 43 students participated in the study.

The methods of the research combined quasi-experimental and reflective approaches. The study provides a detailed description, advantages and disadvantages of various tools aimed at developing intercultural communicative competence such as videos, documentaries, news reports, podcasts, author blogs as well as language teaching materials.

After the course of English for specific purposes enhanced with culture-based materials a survey designed to evaluate student satisfaction was carried out. The survey consisted of 2 questions: "Do you consider intercultural communication competence necessary to develop for your professional career?" and "Were the materials used during the course useful and informative?" The questions received 86 affirmative answers which demonstrates a high estimation of the course.

After analyzing the results obtained it can be concluded that integrating intercultural communicative competence is necessary in teaching English for specific purposes to journalism students, as a significant increase in student performance and satisfaction is observed.

Keywords:

Intercultural communicative competence, journalism, english for specific purposes, teaching english.