Living in the 21st century means living in an era that is increasingly
globalising where cross-cultural communication is essential; thus, students
should be given opportunities to cultivate their Intercultural Communicative
Competences (ICC). This paper reports on Phase 3 of ClerKing, a
Franco-Jamaican telecollaborative project, which involved Applied Foreign
Languages (AFL) students of English from Clermont Auvergne University (UCA),
France, and students of French from the University of the West Indies (UWI),
Mona, Jamaica. WhatsApp and videoconferencing were used to facilitate the
interactions. Using the exploratory approach, we seek to identify different
parameters of ICC, relying on Byram’s (1997) and Deardorff’s (2006) models.
Preliminary findings show that students demonstrated and developed ICC such
as openness and curiosity, culture-specific knowledge, an understanding of
worldviews, sociolinguistic awareness, flexibility and adaptability, and
negotiation of meaning. However, time difference, personal and academic
schedules, connectivity issues, and misjudged/misinterpreted communication
can lead to intercultural conflict.