a comparative study of intercultural competence (ic) and willingness to communicate (wtc) among male and female english language learners

Due to limited exposure to authentic intercultural exchanges with native speakers, efl learners often hesitate to communicate in english. given the scarcity of research on intercultural competence (ic) in efl environments, this study investigated whether a relationship exists between learners’ unwillingness to communicate and their ic. to explore this, 100 male and female efl learners from the university of arak and local language institutes completed two measures: the intercultural competence questionnaire and the willingness to communicate scale. pearson correlation analysis indicated a significant positive relationship between willingness to communicate (wtc) and ic. additionally, an independent-samples t-test revealed that while male and female learners differed significantly in wtc, their ic levels showed no notable gender-based variation. further analysis demonstrated that this correlation was primarily driven by the strong link between female learners’ wtc and ic, with males showing a weaker association. as a key pedagogical takeaway, the study suggests that language instructors can enhance learners’ motivation to communicate by tailoring support to their ic levels, thereby fostering a reinforcing cycle of improved wtc and further ic development. these findings also hold relevance for curriculum designers, syllabus developers, and language assessment specialists in creating more effective efl learning frameworks