ICT tools in intercultural communication pedagogy: their impact on speaking competence and students’ strategies in negotiating meaning

This study examines the role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in intercultural communication pedagogy, focusing on its impact on students’ speaking competence and their strategies for negotiating meaning in higher education. Situated in the under-researched context of Southwest Papua, Indonesia, the study addresses a critical gap in existing literature, which has predominantly framed ICT as a technical enhancer of speaking skills while giving limited attention to its mediating role in intercultural interaction, meaning negotiation, and identity expression. Adopting a qualitative case study design, data were collected through classroom observations, semi-structured interviews with 25 English Education students and 3 lecturers, and document analysis within an ICT-mediated Speaking for Intercultural Communication course. The data were analyzed thematically to investigate (1) how ICT-based instruction influences students’ intercultural speaking competence and (2) how ICT tools support learners’ strategies for negotiating meaning, adapting to cultural norms, and expressing identity during intercultural speaking activities. The findings indicate that ICT-based instruction enhances students’ speaking competence by improving linguistic proficiency, reducing speaking anxiety, and increasing confidence and willingness to communicate in intercultural contexts. Furthermore, ICT tools function as mediational resources that enable learners to negotiate meaning through multimodal strategies, manage pragmatic differences across cultures, and articulate local cultural identities through digital storytelling and content creation. These practices reposition speaking activities as sites of cultural mediation rather than merely linguistic performance.

Introduction

The rapid expansion of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has fundamentally reshaped pedagogical practices in higher education, particularly in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts where communicative competence increasingly entails intercultural sensitivity and adaptability. Digital platforms, multimedia resources, and online interaction tools have enabled learners to access authentic linguistic input, engage in collaborative communication, and participate in cross-cultural exchanges beyond the physical classroom (Cabrera, 2022; Kumar and Priyanka, 2023). As English continues to function as a global lingua franca, the ability to communicate effectively across cultural boundaries has become a core learning outcome in higher education, positioning intercultural speaking competence as a critical pedagogical objective.

Within this global landscape, Indonesia presents a particularly compelling context due to its linguistic plurality, cultural diversity, and uneven technological infrastructure. Higher education institutions are increasingly tasked with preparing students not only to speak English fluently, but also to navigate intercultural encounters shaped by differing communicative norms, values, and identities (Kusumaningputri and Widodo, 2018; Susilowati, 2023). In response, ICT-mediated pedagogy has been widely promoted as a means to enhance speaking proficiency, learner motivation, and exposure to diverse cultural perspectives (Nathania, 2024; Nurzhanova and Issimova, 2022). Numerous studies have documented the positive effects of ICT on students’ oral performance, including improvements in vocabulary development, pronunciation accuracy, and confidence in spoken interaction (Muragijimana, 2023; Nguyen and Pham, 2022).

Despite this growing body of research, existing studies predominantly conceptualize ICT as a technical or instructional enhancer of speaking skills, often focusing on measurable linguistic outcomes such as fluency or accuracy. Far less attention has been paid to how ICT mediates students’ intercultural speaking strategies, particularly their ability to negotiate meaning, adapt to culturally diverse communicative norms, and express cultural identity during spoken interaction. Moreover, many investigations are situated in technologically well-resourced or urban academic settings, offering limited insight into how ICT functions in peripheral, under-resourced, and indigenous contexts, where digital access is uneven and local languages and cultural identities play a central role in communication practices (Song, 2023; Zhu, 2024). As a result, there remains a critical gap in understanding the strategic, sociocultural, and identity-related dimensions of ICT-mediated intercultural speaking, particularly from learners’ lived experiences.

This gap is especially evident in regions such as Southwest Papua, Indonesia, where higher education operates at the intersection of rich indigenous cultural traditions, multilingual realities, and persistent infrastructural challenges. Students in this context often engage with English not only as an academic subject, but as a medium through which local identities, cultural narratives, and communicative norms are negotiated in relation to global audiences. While ICT has the potential to facilitate intercultural dialogue and broaden communicative horizons, its pedagogical impact in such settings cannot be assumed to mirror outcomes reported in more centralized or digitally advanced regions. Understanding how learners in Southwest Papua utilize ICT tools to manage intercultural interaction, resolve meaning-making challenges, and articulate cultural identity is therefore essential for developing context-sensitive and equitable pedagogical models.

Addressing this gap, the present study investigates the role of ICT tools in intercultural communication pedagogy, with a specific focus on their impact on students’ speaking competence and strategies for negotiating meaning in higher education. Rather than treating speaking competence solely as a linguistic construct, this study adopts an intercultural perspective that foregrounds communication as a socially mediated practice involving cultural interpretation, adaptation, and identity expression. Drawing on qualitative data from students and lecturers engaged in ICT-mediated Speaking for Intercultural Communication courses, the study explores how digital tools shape learners’ speaking practices, intercultural awareness, and strategic engagement in culturally diverse interactions (Balamoti, 2024).

The novel contribution of this study lies in three key areas. First, it moves beyond outcome-based evaluations of ICT by examining students’ intercultural speaking strategies, particularly negotiation of meaning and identity expression, as central analytical units. Second, it foregrounds the voices and experiences of learners from an under-represented, indigenous, and infrastructurally constrained context, contributing empirical insight from the Global South to the international literature on ICT and intercultural communication. Third, it positions ICT not merely as a pedagogical aid, but as a mediational space through which learners navigate cultural boundaries, affirm local identities, and participate in global communicative practices. By doing so, this study seeks to enrich theoretical and pedagogical discussions on ICT-enhanced intercultural communication and offer contextually grounded implications for EFL instruction in diverse higher education settings (Setyono and Widodo, 2019). Despite these advantages, studies have rarely focused on how ICT supports key intercultural speaking components such as negotiating meaning, adapting to cultural norms, and expressing identity (Song, 2023). Thus, three research questions guiding this study are:

Research questions

RQ.1: How does ICT-based instruction impact students' speaking competence in the context of intercultural communication in higher education?

RQ.2: In what ways do ICT tools support students in negotiating meaning, adapting to cultural norms, and expressing identity during intercultural speaking activities?

Literature review

ICT in EFL speaking pedagogy

The integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into English as a Foreign Language (EFL) pedagogy has been widely acknowledged as a transformative force in enhancing speaking instruction in higher education. ICT tools such as video-sharing platforms, language learning applications, learning management systems, and synchronous communication technologies provide learners with access to authentic linguistic input, interactive practice opportunities, and flexible learning environments (Cabrera, 2022; Hasyim et al., 2024; Kumar and Priyanka, 2023). These affordances are particularly significant for speaking pedagogy, as oral communication development requires repeated exposure, practice, feedback, and confidence-building opportunities that are often constrained in traditional classroom settings.

Empirical studies consistently report that ICT-mediated instruction contributes positively to learners’ speaking competence by improving vocabulary range, pronunciation accuracy, fluency, and overall communicative confidence. For example, Nguyen and Pham (2022) found that technology-supported speaking tasks enabled students to engage in self-paced rehearsal and reflective practice, resulting in measurable gains in oral performance. Similarly, Muragijimana (2023) demonstrated that ICT integration facilitated more frequent speaking opportunities and reduced learner anxiety, especially in contexts where face-to-face interaction was perceived as intimidating. These findings suggest that ICT not only supports linguistic development but also addresses affective barriers that commonly hinder oral participation.

Beyond linguistic outcomes, ICT has been shown to foster learner autonomy and motivation in speaking activities. Asynchronous tools such as audio or video recordings allow students to rehearse, revise, and self-assess their spoken production, encouraging metacognitive awareness and self-regulated learning (Nathania, 2024). Synchronous platforms, including video conferencing and breakout rooms, create interactive spaces where learners can collaborate, negotiate turns, and experiment with spoken language in relatively low-risk environments. Such environments have been linked to reduced speaking anxiety and increased willingness to communicate, both of which are critical for sustained oral development in EFL contexts.

However, much of the existing literature conceptualizes ICT in speaking pedagogy primarily as a technical facilitator of language skills, with emphasis placed on performance-related outcomes such as fluency, accuracy, or pronunciation. While these studies provide valuable insights into the instructional benefits of ICT, they often overlook the sociocultural dimensions of speaking, particularly in contexts where communication is shaped by diverse cultural norms, identities, and interactional expectations. As a result, ICT’s role in mediating intercultural aspects of speaking remains underexplored, especially in multilingual and culturally complex educational settings.

ICT and intercultural communication in higher education

Intercultural communication in higher education extends beyond linguistic proficiency to encompass the ability to interpret, negotiate, and respond appropriately to culturally diverse communicative practices (AlTaher, 2020). Intercultural communicative competence (ICC) is commonly understood as a multidimensional construct involving knowledge, skills, attitudes, and awareness that enable individuals to interact effectively and ethically across cultural boundaries (Deardorff et al., 2012). In EFL contexts, speaking interculturally requires learners not only to produce grammatically accurate utterances but also to manage pragmatic differences, negotiate meaning, and express identity in culturally sensitive ways (Kusumaningputri and Widodo, 2018; Rahmawaty et al., 2024).

Information and communication technology has increasingly been positioned as a key enabler of intercultural communication by providing platforms for virtual exchanges, online collaboration, and exposure to diverse cultural perspectives. Studies on virtual exchange and technology-mediated intercultural learning highlight ICT’s capacity to connect learners across geographical and cultural boundaries, fostering intercultural awareness and empathy through authentic interaction (Haerazi, 2024; Heymans et al., 2024; Shadiev et al., 2024). Through such engagements, learners encounter differing communication styles, values, and discourse conventions, prompting reflection and adaptation in their communicative practices.

From a theoretical perspective, sociocultural theory emphasizes the mediating role of tools and social interaction in language development (Vygotsky, as cited in Zhang and Noels, 2024). ICT functions as a mediational artifact that shapes how learners construct meaning, collaborate with others, and internalize intercultural knowledge. In this sense, digital platforms do not merely transmit language input but actively structure opportunities for meaning-making, negotiation, and identity positioning. This aligns with intercultural communication models that foreground interaction, empathy, and adaptability as central components of communicative competence (Kealey, 2015).

Despite these theoretical advancements, empirical research examining ICT and intercultural communication often remains limited to broad measures of intercultural awareness or attitudinal change. Fewer studies investigate how learners strategically use ICT tools during spoken interaction to negotiate meaning, resolve misunderstandings, or navigate culturally sensitive topics in real time (Song, 2023). Even more limited is research that considers identity expression as an integral component of intercultural speaking, particularly in contexts where learners come from indigenous or marginalized cultural backgrounds. As Oberste-Berghaus (2024) notes, intercultural competence development is closely tied to learners’ ability to position themselves as legitimate cultural subjects, rather than passive recipients of dominant cultural norms.

In under-researched regions such as Southwest Papua, these issues are further complicated by infrastructural constraints, indigenous language dynamics, and rural–urban digital divides. ICT-mediated intercultural pedagogy in such contexts involves not only technological adoption but also cultural mediation, where learners use digital tools to represent local identities, negotiate cultural meanings, and engage with global interlocutors on their own terms. However, existing literature provides limited empirical insight into how these processes unfold in practice, particularly from students’ perspectives.

Conceptual orientation and research focus

Synthesizing the literature on ICT in EFL speaking pedagogy and intercultural communication reveals a critical intersection that remains insufficiently explored: the role of ICT in mediating intercultural speaking strategies, specifically negotiation of meaning and identity expression. While prior studies confirm that ICT enhances speaking performance and intercultural exposure, fewer investigations examine how learners actively employ digital tools to manage intercultural interactional challenges during spoken communication.

Guided by sociocultural perspectives and intercultural communicative competence models, the present study conceptualizes ICT as a mediational space connecting four key elements: (1) ICT tools and platforms, (2) intercultural interaction, (3) speaking competence, and (4) students’ strategies for negotiating meaning and expressing identity. This conceptual orientation informs the study’s qualitative design and analytical focus, enabling an in-depth exploration of learners’ lived experiences in ICT-mediated intercultural speaking contexts. By foregrounding negotiation of meaning and identity within an under-represented educational setting, the study seeks to extend existing scholarship and contribute a contextually grounded perspective to the global discourse on ICT and intercultural communication pedagogy.

Conceptual framework

This study is grounded in the intersection of ICT-mediated pedagogy, intercultural communication theory, and speaking competence development in EFL contexts. Drawing on sociocultural theory and intercultural communicative competence models, the framework conceptualizes ICT not merely as an instructional tool, but as a mediational space that shapes how learners engage in intercultural speaking, negotiate meaning, and express cultural identity.

From a sociocultural perspective, learning is understood as a socially mediated process in which cognitive development occurs through interaction with others and with cultural tools (Vygotskian mediation). In this context, ICT functions as a cultural and semiotic artifact that mediates students’ access to linguistic input, intercultural interaction, and opportunities for reflective practice. Digital platforms such as video conferencing tools, multimedia resources, and content-creation applications structure the conditions under which learners participate in spoken interaction, collaborate with peers, and co-construct meaning across cultural boundaries.

At the level of intercultural communication, the framework is informed by intercultural communicative competence (ICC) models, particularly those emphasizing empathy, adaptability, and interactional skills (Deardorff et al., 2012). Speaking interculturally is conceptualized as a dynamic process that involves not only linguistic accuracy and fluency, but also the ability to interpret cultural cues, manage pragmatic differences, and respond appropriately in culturally diverse encounters. Within ICT-mediated environments, learners are exposed to varied accents, discourse conventions, and communicative norms, requiring them to actively negotiate meaning and adjust their speaking strategies.

Central to the framework is the notion of speaking competence as an intercultural practice, rather than a purely linguistic outcome. ICT-based speaking activities provide learners with repeated opportunities to practice oral production, receive feedback, and regulate affective factors such as anxiety and confidence. These experiences contribute to the development of speaking competence, understood here as the integration of linguistic proficiency, communicative confidence, and intercultural sensitivity.

The framework further foregrounds students’ strategies for negotiating meaning and expressing identity as key analytical dimensions. Negotiation of meaning refers to learners’ use of verbal and non-verbal strategies—such as clarification requests, paraphrasing, multimodal support, and digital resources—to resolve misunderstandings and maintain communicative flow during intercultural interaction. Identity expression, meanwhile, reflects learners’ ability to position themselves as cultural subjects who can represent local values, narratives, and perspectives through spoken English. In contexts such as Southwest Papua, where indigenous languages and cultural identities are salient, ICT enables learners to mediate between local and global communicative spaces, transforming speaking activities into sites of cultural affirmation rather than assimilation.

Within this framework, contextual factors play a critical moderating role. Infrastructure availability, digital literacy, indigenous language dynamics, and rural–urban digital divides influence how ICT is accessed and utilized in higher education. These contextual conditions shape both the affordances and constraints of ICT-mediated intercultural speaking pedagogy, underscoring the need for localized and context-sensitive analysis.

Overall, the conceptual framework positions ICT as a mediational nexus linking intercultural interaction, speaking competence, and students’ strategic engagement in negotiating meaning and identity expression. This framework guides the study’s qualitative design, data collection, and thematic analysis, ensuring theoretical coherence between the research questions, methodology, and interpretation of findings (Figure 1).

Figure 1

Figure 1. Conceptual framework diagram.

Contextual factors (Southwest Papua context: infrastructure, indigenous language dynamics, digital divide) surround and influence all components of the framework.

Methods

Research design

This study employed a qualitative case study design to explore how Information and Communication Technology (ICT) mediates intercultural speaking competence and students’ strategies for negotiating meaning in higher education. A qualitative approach was selected to capture participants’ lived experiences, perceptions, and interactional practices in depth, particularly within an under-researched and contextually complex setting. Case study research is appropriate when the aim is to develop a rich, contextualized understanding of a bounded phenomenon within its real-life context rather than to produce statistically generalizable findings (Creswell and Poth, 2018; Merriam and Tisdell, 2016).

The case was bounded by a specific institutional context—an English Education Department at a university in Southwest Papua, Indonesia—and a specific pedagogical setting, namely an ICT-mediated Speaking for Intercultural Communication course. This design allowed for an in-depth examination of how ICT-based pedagogy operates within a multilingual, indigenous, and infrastructurally constrained environment.

Participants and sampling strategy

The participants comprised 25 undergraduate students (8 male and 17 female, aged approximately 18–20 years) enrolled in the second semester of the English Education Department, as well as three lecturers (two male and one female) who taught speaking courses and had extensive experience integrating ICT into EFL instruction. The students represented diverse ethnic backgrounds, including Papuan and non-Papuan groups (e.g., Javanese, Buginese, Sundanese), reflecting the intercultural composition of the classroom. The lecturers each had over 10 years of teaching experience and held professional teaching certification issued by the Indonesian Ministry of Education.

Participants were selected using purposive sampling, which is widely recommended in qualitative research when the objective is to obtain information-rich cases that can illuminate the phenomenon under investigation (Patton, 2015). The inclusion criteria were direct involvement in ICT-mediated intercultural speaking instruction and sustained participation in the course activities being studied. This ensured that all participants had sufficient experiential knowledge to meaningfully contribute to the research.

Justification of sample size

Although the number of participants may appear limited from a quantitative perspective, it is methodologically appropriate and sufficient for a qualitative case study. Qualitative inquiry prioritizes depth, contextual richness, and analytical insight over numerical representation (Guest et al., 2012). Research on qualitative sampling indicates that data saturation—the point at which no substantially new themes emerge—can often be achieved with relatively small samples, particularly in focused case studies (Guest et al., 2006; Saunders et al., 2018).

In the present study, thematic saturation was observed during the interview process, as recurring patterns related to ICT use, intercultural interaction, and meaning negotiation emerged consistently across student and lecturer accounts. The inclusion of both students and lecturers further enhanced analytical depth by enabling perspective triangulation, a key strategy for strengthening trustworthiness in qualitative research (Lincoln and Guba, 1985).

Trustworthiness and rigor

To ensure methodological rigor, the study adhered to established criteria for trustworthiness, including credibility, dependability, and confirmability. Data triangulation was achieved through the integration of classroom observations, semi-structured interviews, and document analysis. Member checking was conducted by inviting selected participants to review preliminary interpretations of the findings, thereby reducing the risk of misrepresentation. Additionally, a second researcher independently coded a subset of the data, resulting in a high level of inter-coder agreement, which enhanced the reliability of the thematic analysis.

By grounding participant selection and sample size in qualitative methodological principles, this study emphasizes analytical rigor and contextual insight rather than statistical generalization. Such an approach is particularly appropriate for exploring ICT-mediated intercultural speaking practices in an under-researched educational context, where nuanced understanding is essential for advancing theory and practice.

Results

This section presents the findings of the study derived from thematic analysis of interview data, classroom observations, and supporting documents. The results are organized around two major themes aligned with the research questions: (1) the impact of ICT-based instruction on students’ intercultural speaking competence, and (2) the role of ICT tools in supporting students’ strategies for negotiating meaning, adapting to cultural norms, and expressing identity. To enhance analytical transparency and credibility, each theme and sub-theme is supported by representative quotations from students and lecturers (Table 1).

Table 1

Table 1. Themes and its key findings.

By organizing the findings around three key themes, this study offers a nuanced understanding of how ICT-based instruction impacts speaking skills for intercultural communication which highlights the dual role of ICT integration in enhancing language learning outcomes while navigating the sociolinguistic and infrastructural challenges unique to Southwest Papua’s linguistically diverse context. The findings reveal critical insights into:

Theme 1: impact of ICT-based instruction on intercultural speaking competence

Enhanced linguistic proficiency

Participants consistently reported that ICT tools facilitated improvements in vocabulary development, pronunciation accuracy, and speaking fluency. Exposure to authentic multimedia resources enabled learners to engage in repeated, self-paced practice, which supported linguistic refinement in intercultural speaking contexts.

One student explained:

Before using TED Talks and YouTube videos, I often felt unsure about which words were appropriate in intercultural discussions. Now I pause the videos, repeat difficult expressions, and note how speakers explain cultural issues. It helps me speak more accurately and confidently.

(Student 1)

Lecturers similarly observed noticeable improvements in students’ spoken output:

Language applications and video-based materials expose students to native and international speakers. I can see clear progress in their pronunciation and use of intercultural vocabulary compared to previous semesters.

(Lecturer 1)

These accounts indicate that ICT-supported exposure to authentic language use strengthens learners’ linguistic resources necessary for intercultural communication.

Increased confidence and willingness to communicate

Beyond linguistic gains, ICT-based instruction significantly reduced students’ speaking anxiety and increased their willingness to participate in intercultural speaking activities. Asynchronous tools and small-group online interactions created psychologically safe spaces for oral practice.

A student reflected:

Recording my speaking tasks helped me a lot. I could re-record until I felt satisfied. This reduced my fear of making mistakes, and now I am more confident to speak in front of others.

(Student 3)

Lecturers confirmed this shift in learner behavior:

Some students who were silent in face-to-face classes became more active in Zoom breakout rooms. They were less afraid and even started leading discussions.

(Lecturer 2)

These findings suggest that ICT-mediated environments lower affective barriers and foster communicative confidence, which is crucial for intercultural speaking competence.

Exposure to multicultural communication contexts

ICT tools also broadened students’ exposure to diverse accents, discourse styles, and cultural norms, enabling them to better interpret variation in intercultural communication.

One student noted:

Through virtual exchanges and watching international content, I learned that English sounds different depending on the speaker. I can now understand different accents and informal expressions more easily.

(Student 4)

From the lecturers’ perspective:

Using documentaries and global media helps students compare communication styles, such as directness and indirectness. This exposure prepares them for real intercultural interactions.

(Lecturer 3)

Such exposure enhanced students’ metalinguistic and intercultural awareness, contributing to more adaptive speaking practices.

Theme 2: ICT tools in negotiating meaning, cultural adaptation, and identity expression

Negotiating meaning through multimodal ICT resources

Participants frequently described using ICT tools to negotiate meaning during intercultural speaking interactions. Digital resources such as online dictionaries, visual aids, and translation tools enabled learners to clarify misunderstandings and maintain interactional flow.

A student recounted:

During an online discussion, I did not understand a slang word used by my partner. I quickly searched it online and then used it correctly. This made the conversation smoother.

(Student 3)

Lecturers emphasized the value of multimodal strategies:

Students often combine spoken explanations with images or short texts. This helps them explain cultural concepts that are difficult to translate directly.

(Lecturer 1)

These findings demonstrate that negotiation of meaning in ICT-mediated contexts is frequently multimodal and strategically supported by digital tools.

Adapting to cultural norms in intercultural interaction

ICT-mediated activities also supported learners’ ability to adapt their speaking behavior to culturally diverse norms. Students demonstrated increased sensitivity to topic selection, levels of directness, and interactional etiquette.

One participant explained:

In my culture, some topics are sensitive. During virtual exchange, I chose neutral topics because I did not want to offend my partner. Later, my partner said I was respectful.

(Student 6)

Lecturers observed similar developments:

Through simulations and discussions, students become more aware of cultural differences, such as eye contact or politeness strategies, and adjust their communication accordingly.

(Lecturer 1)

These accounts indicate growing intercultural sensitivity and pragmatic awareness facilitated by ICT-mediated learning.

Identity expression through digital storytelling

A distinctive finding of this study is the role of ICT in enabling students to express and affirm local cultural identities in intercultural speaking contexts. Digital storytelling and content creation platforms provided learners with opportunities to represent indigenous narratives and cultural practices.

A student shared:

Creating a video about Papuan traditional dance allowed me to explain the meaning behind the movements. When my classmates asked questions, I felt proud of my culture.

(Student 5)

Lecturers highlighted the empowering nature of such activities:

When students present their local culture using digital media, they realize that their background is valuable and interesting to others. This increases their confidence and participation.

(Lecturer 2)

These findings underscore ICT’s role not only in language development but also in cultural mediation and identity validation.

Overall, the results reveal that ICT-based instruction enhances intercultural speaking competence by strengthening linguistic proficiency, reducing anxiety, and expanding multicultural exposure. More critically, ICT tools support students’ strategic engagement in negotiating meaning, adapting to cultural norms, and expressing identity. The integration of direct participant quotations provides empirical depth and illustrates how ICT-mediated pedagogy operates within the lived experiences of learners and lecturers in Southwest Papua.

Discussion

This study set out to examine how ICT-based instruction influences students’ speaking competence in intercultural communication and how ICT tools support learners’ strategies for negotiating meaning, adapting to cultural norms, and expressing identity in a higher education context in Southwest Papua. The discussion interprets the findings by situating them within established theoretical frameworks and international scholarship, while highlighting the study’s novel contributions from an under-represented, indigenous, and infrastructurally constrained setting.

ICT-based instruction and intercultural speaking competence

Addressing the first research question, the findings demonstrate that ICT-based instruction substantially enhances students’ speaking competence, not only in linguistic terms but also in affective and intercultural dimensions. Improvements in vocabulary, pronunciation, and fluency reported by participants align with a robust body of international research affirming the effectiveness of technology-enhanced speaking pedagogy (Nguyen and Pham, 2022; Muragijimana, 2023; Fitriani and Pratiwi, 2024). Platforms such as YouTube, TED Talks, and language learning applications provided learners with sustained exposure to authentic input, enabling repeated practice and self-regulation—conditions widely recognized as conducive to oral language development.

However, the present findings extend prior research by demonstrating that ICT’s contribution to speaking competence is inseparable from its impact on learners’ confidence and willingness to communicate. Participants’ accounts of reduced anxiety through asynchronous recording tools and small-group online interactions resonate with affective filter theory, which posits that emotional barriers can significantly impede language acquisition. Similar outcomes have been reported in digitally mediated speaking environments in Europe and East Asia (Nathania, 2024; Jamilah et al., 2024), yet the current study underscores how these affective benefits are particularly salient in contexts where students have limited prior exposure to intercultural speaking situations.

Importantly, exposure to diverse accents, discourse styles, and communicative norms through ICT-mediated resources prepared learners for English as a global lingua franca rather than a monolithic native-speaker model. This finding echoes global scholarship advocating a shift toward intelligibility and adaptability in intercultural communication pedagogy (King and Bailey, 2021). In the Southwest Papuan context, such exposure enabled students to engage more confidently with linguistic variation, fostering metalinguistic awareness that is essential for navigating real-world intercultural encounters.

ICT as a mediational tool for negotiating meaning

In response to the second research question, the findings reveal that ICT plays a critical mediational role in supporting students’ strategies for negotiating meaning during intercultural speaking interactions. Learners actively employed digital tools—such as search engines, translation features, and visual design platforms—to resolve misunderstandings, clarify unfamiliar expressions, and maintain communicative flow. This strategic use of ICT aligns with sociocultural theory, which conceptualizes learning as mediated by tools and social interaction.

While prior studies acknowledge ICT’s role in facilitating intercultural exposure, fewer investigations have examined how learners use technology in situ to negotiate meaning during spoken interaction (Song, 2023). The present study contributes new empirical insight by showing that negotiation of meaning is not limited to verbal clarification strategies but is often multimodal and digitally supported. For example, the use of visuals, infographics, and contextual explanations enabled learners to convey culturally embedded concepts that might otherwise resist direct translation. This finding extends intercultural communication research by illustrating how digital multimodality enhances learners’ communicative repertoire in culturally diverse interactions.

From an international perspective, these findings resonate with studies on virtual exchange and technology-mediated collaboration, which emphasize the importance of interactional competence and adaptive communication strategies (Heymans et al., 2024; Shadiev et al., 2024). However, the present study adds nuance by demonstrating how such strategies are enacted in a peripheral context where learners must navigate both global communicative norms and local cultural meanings simultaneously.

Cultural adaptation and intercultural sensitivity through ICT

The findings further indicate that ICT-mediated learning environments support students’ ability to adapt to cultural norms and develop intercultural sensitivity. Participants demonstrated increased awareness of pragmatic differences, such as levels of directness, topic sensitivity, and nonverbal conventions, and adjusted their speaking behavior accordingly. This adaptive capacity reflects core components of intercultural communicative competence models, particularly empathy, respect, and behavioral flexibility (Deardorff et al., 2012).

Digital simulations, virtual discussions, and exposure to authentic intercultural interactions enabled learners to transform implicit cultural knowledge into explicit communicative practice (Díaz, 2013). This process mirrors experiential learning approaches advocated in intercultural education, whereby learners develop competence through reflection on concrete interactional experiences (Chiper, 2013). Compared with studies conducted in more technologically advanced settings, the present findings highlight that even limited ICT infrastructure can facilitate meaningful intercultural learning when pedagogically scaffolded and contextually grounded.

Identity expression and cultural mediation: a key novel contribution

One of the most significant and novel contributions of this study lies in its examination of identity expression as an integral dimension of ICT-mediated intercultural speaking. Unlike much of the existing literature, which implicitly positions learners as recipients of global communicative norms, this study demonstrates how students actively use ICT to represent and affirm local cultural identities. Through digital storytelling, social media content creation, and collaborative platforms, learners positioned themselves as cultural mediators who could articulate indigenous narratives and values in English.

This finding aligns with principles of culturally sustaining pedagogy, which advocate for educational practices that support the maintenance and development of learners’ cultural identities rather than their assimilation into dominant norms. In the Southwest Papuan context, ICT-enabled identity expression served not only communicative purposes but also epistemic ones, validating indigenous knowledge systems within academic discourse. Such outcomes are rarely foregrounded in international studies on ICT and EFL, particularly those conducted in Global North contexts, and thus represent a meaningful extension of intercultural communication scholarship.

Contextual constraints and global implications

While the findings underscore the pedagogical potential of ICT, they also highlight persistent structural challenges related to infrastructure, digital access, and institutional support. These constraints mirror issues reported in other under-resourced regions of the Global South (Kampermann et al., 2021), suggesting that the benefits of ICT-mediated intercultural pedagogy are contingent upon broader systemic conditions. However, the adaptive strategies observed in this study indicate that learners and educators can creatively leverage available technologies to foster intercultural speaking competence even in constrained environments.

From a global perspective, the study contributes to ongoing debates about equity and inclusion in digital education. It demonstrates that meaningful intercultural learning does not require advanced technologies per se, but rather pedagogical designs that foreground interaction, cultural mediation, and learner agency. By foregrounding an indigenous and peripheral context, this study challenges universalistic assumptions in ICT pedagogy and calls for more context-sensitive models of intercultural communication education.

Conclusion

This study examined the role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in intercultural communication pedagogy, with a particular focus on its impact on students’ speaking competence and their strategies for negotiating meaning in higher education. Drawing on qualitative evidence from an under-researched, indigenous, and infrastructurally constrained context in Southwest Papua, Indonesia, the findings demonstrate that ICT-based instruction substantially enhances students’ intercultural speaking competence by integrating linguistic development, affective support, and intercultural awareness.

The study confirms that ICT tools contribute to improvements in vocabulary use, pronunciation accuracy, fluency, and communicative confidence, while simultaneously reducing speaking anxiety through flexible and supportive learning environments. More importantly, the findings extend existing scholarship by showing that ICT functions as a mediational space in which learners actively negotiate meaning, adapt to culturally diverse communicative norms, and express local cultural identities in spoken English. Speaking competence, therefore, emerges not merely as a linguistic outcome but as an intercultural practice shaped by interaction, reflection, and identity positioning.

A key theoretical contribution of this study lies in foregrounding negotiation of meaning and identity expression as central dimensions of ICT-mediated intercultural speaking. By situating these processes within sociocultural and intercultural communicative competence frameworks, the study challenges dominant outcome-oriented approaches to ICT in EFL pedagogy and offers a more nuanced understanding of how digital tools mediate intercultural interaction. The findings further demonstrate that meaningful intercultural learning can occur even in contexts marked by digital inequality, provided that ICT integration is pedagogically intentional and culturally responsive.

Implication

Pedagogical implications

For EFL educators, the findings suggest that ICT should be purposefully integrated into speaking instruction not only to enhance linguistic performance but also to support students’ intercultural engagement and identity expression. Pedagogical designs should incorporate ICT-mediated tasks that encourage negotiation of meaning, such as multimodal presentations, virtual discussions, and digital storytelling projects grounded in students’ local cultures. Such practices can foster learner confidence, intercultural sensitivity, and agency, particularly among students from marginalized or indigenous backgrounds.

Curriculum and institutional implications

At the curriculum level, intercultural speaking competence should be explicitly articulated as a core learning outcome, with ICT positioned as a central pedagogical resource rather than an auxiliary tool. Higher education institutions, especially those in peripheral regions, should invest in context-sensitive ICT integration by aligning technological resources with intercultural learning objectives. Professional development programs for lecturers should emphasize not only technical skills but also intercultural pedagogy and culturally sustaining teaching approaches.

Policy and global implications

From a policy perspective, the study underscores the need for equitable digital infrastructure and sustained institutional support to ensure inclusive access to ICT-mediated learning. Policymakers should recognize that digital transformation in education is inseparable from cultural and social dimensions of learning. At a global level, the findings contribute to ongoing discussions on decolonizing knowledge production in EFL and intercultural communication research by amplifying perspectives from the Global South. By foregrounding learners’ strategies, identities, and local knowledge systems, this study calls for more contextually grounded and culturally responsive models of ICT-enhanced intercultural education.

Data availability statement

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author/s.

Ethics statement

The studies involving humans were approved by Hasanudin Universitas Muhammadiyah Sorong. The studies were conducted in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. The participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study. Written informed consent was obtained from the individual(s) for the publication of any potentially identifiable images or data included in this article.

Author contributions

RH: Investigation, Resources, Writing – original draft. NN: Formal analysis, Supervision, Writing – review & editing. SN: Methodology, Validation, Writing – review & editing.

Funding

The author(s) declared that financial support was not received for this work and/or its publication.

Acknowledgments

This research is part of my doctoral dissertation and was supported by the University of Muhammadiyah Sorong and the Government of South Sorong, Southwest Papua, Indonesia. I am sincerely grateful to the English Department and to all the participants who generously volunteered their time and insights.

Conflict of interest

The author(s) declared that this work was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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The author(s) declared that Generative AI was not used in the creation of this manuscript.

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