Enhancing Intercultural Competence in AI-enabled Classrooms: Investigating Effectiveness of AI-assisted Instruction in EFL Cultural Syllabi Intercultural competence, the dynamic capability to effectively identify, recognize, tolerate, understand, adapt to and enjoy cultural characteristics, differences and diversity in communicative contexts and interactions and fulfillment of communicative goals, is a strategically critical objective in EFL pedagogy. Like most other areas in education and pedagogy, instruction aimed at facilitation of developing intercultural competence can potentially benefit from the ample learning opportunities created and provided by revolutionary new technological advancements such as AI and NLP in the current era which has left behind the experiences of transformation in education through digital, multimedia and online evolvements and developments. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of application of AI-assisted instruction in improving intercultural competence among BA students in a general English course at Ilam University, Iran. To this end, 44 students were asked to take a general proficiency test and respond to the items of Cultural Intelligence Scale (CQS) and Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI). Based on the results, two homogenous classes of 20 were formed. In one class, the students were trained and guided to use ChatGPT and Google Gemini to obtain information, advice and facts on cultural aspects and characteristics of communication and cultural diversity and differences. In the other class, traditional instruction was used. Upon completion of the course, the students responded to Intercultural Readiness Check (IRC), Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory (CCAI), Intercultural Adjustment Potential Scale (ICAPS) and The Intercultural Language Learning Profiler (ILL-P) in separate sessions. The average score of each student was calculated and the data were analyzed using SPSS software. The analysis results showed that students in the AI-enabled class achieved a higher level of intercultural competence, hence confirming the effectiveness of AI-assisted instruction in enhancing intercultural competence. Further studies in different contexts and with higher numbers of learners of diverse backgrounds and levels are recommended.
