Cultural Content-Based Creative Tasks as a Bridge to Intercultural Communicative Competence: Evidence From Chinese EFL Learners

In the era of globalization and technological advancement, developing intercultural communicative competence (ICC) and creative skills has become a central goal of English education. Yet relatively few studies have explored the integration of cultural content and creative thinking within task-based language teaching (TBLT), particularly in constrained contexts such as Chinese EFL classrooms. This study investigated the effects of cultural content-based creative tasks on students’ ICC development and examined how their ICC improved during classroom activities. A quasi-experimental, single-group interrupted time-series design was conducted with 111 third-year Chinese EFL learners enrolled in three intact classes at a provincial university in China, all taught by the same instructor-researcher. Over two months, these students engaged in creative tasks incorporating Chinese, British, and American cultural content. ICC was assessed through a self-report inventory administered before and after the intervention, and through observed classroom performance evaluated with the RAICC Rubrics by three independent raters at three stages. Significant differences between students’ self-reported ICC scores before and after the intervention demonstrated the effectiveness of cultural content-based creative tasks in enhancing learners’ perceived ICC. The upward trend in observed ICC performance scores across lessons also indicated growth in cultural knowledge, competence in managing intercultural interactions, and openness to cultural diversity. These findings underscore the potential of cultural content-based creative tasks within TBLT to foster ICC in EFL contexts comparable to the Chinese setting and provide evidence-based strategies for integrating cultural learning into language pedagogy.