Communicative Competence among Faculty of Education Students, Al-Azhar University in a Multicultural World

This research aimed at identifying the level of communicative competence among students of Faculty of Education for Boys in Cairo, Al-Azhar University in a multicultural world. It also aimed at indicating whether this communicative competence differed according to the academic specialization (scientific – literary- generic). Assuming that intercultural communication competence refers to individuals’ possession of the qualities that contribute to effective communication between cultures from different countries. This has made effective communication between different cultures a priority today for many researchers because of the importance it has gained in understanding cultural diversity in the world due to migration, urbanization, international employment, knowledge and academic exchange, and ease of travel abroad. Learning about other cultures and developing intercultural communication competencies and skills may help facilitate multicultural meetings in some countries and lead to greater openness and tolerance towards others. The research sample consisted of (447) students enrolled in the fourth year at Faculty of Education for Boys in Cairo, who were divided as follows:  (134 scientific - 213 Literary - 100 generic). For instruments, the researcher designed and used a scale of communicative competence.
Results indicated that:
The sample's intercultural communication competencies were in the following order: (personal competence - social competence - linguistic competence). Also, there were differences in personal competence as one of the communication competencies due to the specialization variable, and these differences were in favor of literary specialization. In addition, there were no statistically significant differences in social competence, linguistic competence, and the total score in light of the specialization variable. This indicates that there was no difference in the communication competencies among students depending on the variable of academic specialization (scientific - literary - qualitative).