Glocal Intercultural Communicative Competence among Young EFL Learners from English Native-teacher’s Perspective within Saudi Vision 2030

This qualitative research aims, first, to address key issues in the language classroom with regards to fostering the development of Intercultural Communicative Competence among Saudi EFL foreign language young learners under the influence of VAS 2030, and second, to provide practical ideas for EFL teachers to promote Intercultural Communicative Competence at the GLOCAL level in a more integral way. It intends to investigate glocal intercultural communicative competence among young EFL learners from English native-teachers’ perspective within Saudi vision 2030. The sample of the study included 4 English native teachers from America, England, South Africa and Canada. This qualitative-quantitative research used questionnaire survey and texts as data collection instruments. The data was analyzed textually and numerically. The findings of the study showed that the participants showed their consciousness about the significance of glocal intercultural communicative competence in developing young EFL learners’ language skills within Saudi Vision 2030. Also, the results showed the significance of the glocal intercultural communicative competence in developing Saudi EFL learners’ language skills (competence). Also, it is concluded that raising young Saudi EFL learners’ awareness about the importance of the glocal intercultural communicative competence should be incorporated in EFL textbooks, course material and teaching curriculum in Saudi Arabia. This study recommends that further future research be conducted in this regard.


Introduction
During the past few decades, the term intercultural competence was reviewed as intercultural communicative competence (ICC) due to its significance and contribution to the process of English as a foreign language teaching (Hennebry, 2014). The difference between the two terms should be clearly reintroduced when making decisions on the Glocal cultural level in designing the curriculum.
Concerning this point, one of the basic issues to be addressed by EFL teachers and specialists in this regard is whether or not they are preparing EFL young learners for such kind of challenging Glocal demands.
That is, are EFL teachers in Saudi Arabia providing general information expecting their EFL young learners will develop their language and interpersonal skills that they require to communicate more professionally and understand Glocal cultural tendencies? Or, conversely, are Saudi EFL teachers creating the conditions for young EFL learners to develop skills preparing them for the Glocal intercultural challenge within VAS 2030? This project aims, first, to address key issues in the language classroom with regards to fostering the development of Intercultural Communicative Competence among Saudi EFL foreign language young learners under the influence of VAS 2030, and second, to provide practical ideas for EFL teachers to promote Intercultural Communicative Competence at the GLOCAL level in a more integral way. The main point is that Saudi EFL young learners need to be Glocally further challenged and guided so that they can develop critical communicative language and interpersonal skills. According to Hennebry (2014, p. 135) "culture is the marginalized sister of language". Therefore, it "would be nice if we are studying the language to know a bit more about the country and what people are like there" (Jones, 2000, p. 158). Having viewed this, the key point continues to remain the same, which requires Saudi EFL teachers and learners' attention, is how can they help their EFL young learners learn about Glocal culture and develop intercultural awareness and Intercultural Communicative Competence? Although it is true that they are Glocal EFL teachers and learners endeavor to provide a cultural foundation for language learners, this often presents significant shortcomings. One of the most significant problems is that Saudi EFL teachers, perhaps unintentionally, may indeed reinforce stereotypes under the influence of 2030 because, instead of fostering Intercultural Communicative Competence, they frequently emphasize utterly on the language as communication, while the context in which that communication takes place, and which provides meaning to the messages, is repeatedly referred to second place.
It is thus essential to be aware of what is meant by the culture that should be promoted in the language classroom. One way to picture it is by viewing the Iceberg Theory advanced by Edward T. Hall (1976), contrasting the surface/conscious (food, language, festivals) and deep/unconscious (beliefs, values, perceptions) elements of culture. These constructs affect our actions, behaviours and the method EFL teachers and learners interact with each other.

It is essential to differentiate between Intercultural Competence and Intercultural Communicative
Competence. The former refers to people's "ability to interact in their own language with the people from another country and culture", whilst Intercultural Communicative Competence considers language teaching and emphasize on "the ability to interact with people from another country and culture in a foreign language" (Byram, 1997, p. 71). Byram (1997) demonstrates that a person who has developed Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) is able to build relationships while speaking in the foreign language; communicates effectively, taking into account his own and the other person's viewpoint and needs; mediates interactions between people of different backgrounds, and strives to continue developing communicative skills.
Glocalization has become a very popular term that refers to connection between global and local culture. It urges the necessity for incorporating interculturality in language learning in varied settings. This is claimed in order to develop teaching and learning of the basic language skills (Council of Europe, 2001). Thus, understanding the glocal cultural variation helps in designing authentic curriculum that focuses on teaching language skills in real world situations. It means that a language learner should explore the authentic image of the Glocal culture as contrasting to apparent components.
Therefore, the development of Saudi Vision 2030 implies that glocal language learners are encouraged to value the cultural differences and similarities and understand identity in which the responsibility of preparing capable glocal citizens is highly demanded (Al Zahrani, 2017). This is because the objectives of teaching and learning language skills is viewed in terms of glocal communities, connectivity, interaction, cultures and comparisons so that language learners can develop language essential to intercultural and linguistics' competence (Schulz, 2007).

Statement of the Problem
Glocal intercultural communicative competence has become a very necessary cultural aspect and considered to be worldwide (Furstenberg, 2010). In Saudi Arabia, most EFL learners complain that they face difficulty understanding some linguistic component to English language culture diversity.
They state that it is difficult for them communicate effectively glocally and they lack communicative competence in both the receptive and productive skills. Their teachers state that they find it problematic to handle linguistic issues and cultural competence due to the lack of glocal intercultural competence understanding. Also, they add that EFL learners in Saudi Arabia are incompetent in glocal cultural aspects that affect their language skills' development. Despite the efforts provided by EFL teachers in Saudi Arabia to accomplish the objectives of 2030 Vision, language learners still face many obstacles that slow the development of students' language skills such as glocal intercultural communicative competence.

Research Objectives
This study aims at achieving the following objectives: i.
To investigate the effect of glocal intercultural communicative competence on the development of Saudi young EFL learners' receptive skills (listening and reading) within Vision 2030. ii.
To examine how attaching intercultural communicative competence to teaching EFL in Saudi Arabia can impact students learning of the productive skills (speaking and writing).

Research Questions
In order to achieve the research objectives, this study addresses the following questions: 1.
What is the effect of glocal intercultural communicative competence on the development of Saudi young EFL learners' receptive skills (listening and reading) within Vision 2030?

2.
To what extent can attaching intercultural communicative competence to teaching EFL in Saudi Arabia can impact students learning of the productive skills (speaking and writing)?

Literature Review
Much research has acknowledged the significance of the development of glocalization as a new trend in the international business (Apple, Kenway, & Singh, 2005).
The Glocalization Manifesto (2004)  Similarly, Brooks and Normore (2010, p. 74) demonstrate that the active, interconnected nature of glocalization "demands that educational leaders develop new skills, and broaden their understanding of the way local and global forces are enmeshed in an increasingly sophisticated manner". It is significant for learners and teachers to understand that publics in a glocalized world live in multiple cultures concurrently, and the specific cultures of which everyone has a thoughtful influence on teaching.
Likewise, Javidan (2008) argues that those learning cross-culturally ensure two main responsibilities.
First, these learners should appreciate their own social lens. Secondly, centered upon the first responsibility, if they need to continue and impact cross-culturally, they should realize the significance of the other's culture and respect their traditions and customs.
This research applies the innovative language of glocalization to stress that global effect is nowadays an indigenous authenticity (Robertson, 1995). With this developing "glocal" certainty as the setting, this research states how glocal intercultural communicative competence helps in developing EFL learners' language skills in a Saudi context. This research also stresses the practices of glocalization in teaching EFL within 2030 Vision in Saudi Arabia.

Research Methods
This qualitative research adopts and adapts the interpretive analysis design. It uses interview techniques as research instruments which includes 5 items for examining the elicited data in order to see the attitudes and views of the participants concerning the development of young Saudi EFL learners' language skills and glocal intercultural communicative competence within the realm of Saudi Vision 2030. The use of textual analysis urges participants to give their illustration of their own attitudes and behaviors. Thus, the written text elicited in the process provides necessary data and information for interpretation and analysis (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2011).
Qualitative study proposes that in social research an adequately selected and investigated sample can give a great contribution to the interpretation and analysis of the problem investigated. But when using questionnaire and interview research, the language used by the participants comprises a filter in which their setting is viewed. In connection, this research study uses written text and questionnaire surveys to formulate the answers without using technical terms but rather implying ordinary language. This is because providing responses in informal and colloquial language is somewhat interacted with formal setting which was considered the time of the analysis.

Discussions and Findings
This section provides a detailed discussion on the findings of the present research. In most cases, the intercultural communication training and education question was not well understood by the involved teachers and sometimes left blank without responses. But, three participants admitted that they were never taught intercultural communication / competence explicitly through compulsory and optional courses at university level. As viewed in Table 1       Teacher (Native) Response

American
"Everything that brings the best of our learners is important, Intercultural communication competence is an essential necessity that is taken as educational requirements nowadays.
It should be given special attention when teaching languages, I guess".

2.
South African "EFL learners are required to possess the necessary knowledge and information as they will be experiencing multicultural education setting".

3.
British "Teaching intercultural communication competence is something great that provides a rich cultural context for better understanding of linguistic and cultural diversity".

4.
Canadian "Intercultural and multicultural competence is very significant for building up vocabulary, grammar and effective communicative skills". ICC requires more attention to be included in classroom activities so that learners can build on their communication competence. Teacher (Native) Response

1.
American "Learners' interaction and attempts to discuss specific related-cultural issues that they believe an acceptable or strange".

2.
South African "I Request them to write their experiences in form of assignments and projects and present them as real materials to the rest of the class".

3.
British "He supports his students to be tolerant and progressive and not to be partial so that their communication will be flexible and easy going".

"English native speakers should be invited for classroom visits and observations in
order to conduct workshops so that students will find them useful for learning English in real situation using authentic materials".
As stated in Table 4 in the previous section, most of the teachers attempted to find a chance or room for their students to live other cultures so that they can be involved in real life situations and effective learning environments and experience others' cultures. The teachers provided enough attention and information on the variation amongst different cultures and how people from other cultures understand things.
An American teacher demonstrated that I consider "learners' interaction and attempts to discuss specific related-cultural issues that they believe acceptable or strange". Some teachers said that they react actively with their students when it comes to accepting cultural issues. For example, they encourage learners who have experienced English-speaking cultures or any other cultures to speak about their experience to their peers and classmates, and a South African teacher stated that "request them to write their experiences in form of assignments and projects and present them as real materials to the rest of the class".
Another teacher from England pointed out that "he supports his students to be tolerant and progressive and not to be partial so that their communication will be flexible and easy going". Further, to course materials, which most language learners and students feel very useful and happy about in relation to cultural openness that involves knowledge, many participants take advantage of other real resources.
These comprise recordings, websites programmes and TV shows.
The Canadian teacher stated that "English native speakers should be invited for classroom visits and observations in order to conduct workshops so that students will find them useful for learning English in real situation using authentic materials". This helps students formulate interaction and natural language communication with native speakers of English.
Based on the discussion of the native-speakers teachers concerning the possibility of providing the students with the chance to communicate and interact in real situations, it was felt obvious that most of the teachers did their best to provide effective means of learning English language such as websites, internet technologies and media channels. It is viewed in the teachers' attempts to provide students with the opportunities to be open to other cultures for being consequential and significant in the teaching process. So, many of the participants / teachers stated that they took use of personal experiences and their students' as well to provide authentic educational settings. They believed in the philosophy of achieving all the necessary knowledge so that their students can survive when experiencing others' culture.  Mostly, the responses to this item show the teachers' perception that glocal intercultural communication competence should be provided enough attention in EFL context. This is because Glocal intercultural communication competence is pragmatic enough to be incorporated in an ideal teaching setting, particularly in English as a foreign language. Such strategy will establish a glocal knowledgeable and understanding society that would provide peaceful coexistence amongst nations and create unbiased community of young learners around the world in general and Saudi Arabia in particular.
To conclude, the participants showed their consciousness about the significance of glocal intercultural communicative competence in developing young EFL learners' language skills within Saudi Vision 2030. This is because introducing Glocal intercultural communication competence to Saudi EFL learners will help them improve their mental, linguistic and communicative competence. The fact that teaching EFL bridges the gap between cultures since it connects people of different cultures with each other. Consequently, showing attention towards the incorporation of intercultural communication competence and English as a foreign language teaching in a Saudi context is a very essential issue for decision makers, curriculum designers, language teachers and learners.
The findings of this research proposes that there is a number of practical issues behind the focus on Intercultural communicative competence such as developing young Saudi EFL learners' language skills for the sake of better and attractive touristic industry, industrial professionalism, travelling, motivated community and glocal openness.

Conclusion
The analysis of the findings showed the significant of the glocal intercultural communicative competence in developing Saudi EFL learners' language skills (competence). Also, it is concluded that raising young Saudi EFL learners' awareness about the importance of the glocal intercultural communicative competence should be incorporated in EFL textbooks, course material and teaching curriculum in Saudi Arabia. In addition, the point of views of EFL teachers in varied based on educational and cultural background. This is posed by native speaker teachers who taught in a multicultural setting indicating the need for teachers-training with regard to glocal intercultural competence and EFL teaching. Believing in the significance of glocal intercultural communicative competence, it is necessary to realise the important connection between language teaching and culture.
That is, this research finding emphasizes the necessity for teachers' training and contact with international cultures.