Correlation Between Social Media Using Experience and the Users’ Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC)

Abstract

Social media has embedded people's daily lives in the digital era, and its convenient nature for breaking geographical barriers has created an intercultural virtual environment. Tandem, a social media platform that emerged in 2015, enables users to find language partners online to improve their foreign language skills. Previous studies have rarely explored Tandem as a popular language learning tool worldwide. To investigate whether Tandem, as a social media platform, enhances users’ intercultural communication competence (ICC), this study adopted a sequential Qual-quan mixed methodology, revealed that Tandem users who exhibit higher levels of English proficiency also demonstrate higher ICC scores. Additionally, there was a positive correlation between the affective, cognitive, and behavioral domains and users’ ICC. The study participants expressed strong motivation in utilizing Tandem, as evidenced by their feedback. Therefore, future educators and multinational institutions can consider incorporating Tandem as a valuable tool to enhance learners' ICC.