EFL students' development of intercultural competence in the instructed context: Case studies of Vietnamese undergraduate students

This thesis provides three case studies of EFL undergraduate students who developed their intercultural competence in the instructed context at a Vietnamese university. It explored what intercultural competence components the students developed and what influential factors contributed to shaping their intercultural competence development. The findings offer nuanced insights into the EFL students’ intercultural competence developmental processes under the intertwining influences of various factors within and outside the formal intercultural instruction as well as the interplay between them. Based on the findings, the thesis had made certain theoretical, methodological and pedagogical contributions to the field of intercultural competence and intercultural competence education.