Language teaching materials as mediators for ICC development: A challenge for materials developers

Language materials, in particular coursebooks, are a source of exposure for learners to language and culture. In multicultural contexts, they become helpful tools that promote encounters between people of different cultural backgrounds. However, the reality shows that most language coursebooks are still designed from traditional perspectives that do not allow learners to develop their abilities to deal with intercultural encounters. On the contrary, they reinforce stereotypes and strengthen the belief that one nationality is superior to the others. This article presents some theoretical constructs and results taken from one stage of a qualitative research that sought to determine how a set of principled language materials could develop the students' Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC).