International Journal of Intercultural Relations 41 (2014) 181–191 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect International Journal of Intercultural Relations journal h om epa ge: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijintrel Measuring instructed language learners’ IC development: Discrepancies between assessment models by Byram and Bennett Paula Garrett-Rucks * Georgia State University, Department of Modern & Classical Languages, P.O. Box 3970, Atlanta, GA 3970, USA a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 24 April 2013 Received in revised form 10 December 2013 Accepted 30 December 2013 Keywords: Byram Bennett Assessment Intercultural competence Foreign language education Standards a b s t r a c t Researchers and foreign language (FL) educators alike have investigated changes in learners’ intercultural competence (IC) in response to pedagogical interventions aimed at preparing learners for cross-cultural encounters. Byram’s (1997) multimodal IC model and Bennett’s (1993) developmental model of intercultural sensitivity (DMIS) are predominant IC assess- ment models in the field of FL education. This paper reports empirical evidence that reveals discrepancies between these two models drawing from the findings of a larger study that employed both theoretical lenses to investigate culture learning in a computer-mediated environment. Specifically, the study investigated changes in the way 13 U.S. French lan- guage learners talked about French people and culture in online classroom discussions in response to virtual instruction about French cultural practices at two levels: (1) at the indi- vidual level—with Byram’s IC model in three case studies and (2) at the group level—with Bennett’s DMIS. A post hoc comparison of the findings revealed assessment discrepan- cies between the models—empirical evidence revealing contradictions both between and within the models. These discrepancies are reported and the merits of each model within the research design are discussed. The aim of this paper is to empower readers with an understanding of IC research instruments and assessment tools commonly used to mea- sure IC development in FL education and to inform methodological decisions of future research. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The need to understand languages and cultures other than one’s own has become of paramount importance in the increasingly multicultural nature of industrialized societies. The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) responded to the need to prepare learners to understand languages, cultures and worldviews other than their own as an outcome of their FL learning experience as evidenced in the addition of the culture standards (Standards 2.1, 2.2, & 4.3) to the National Standards in Foreign Language Education (1996, 1999, 2006). In the same vein, Byram (1997) also underscored the importance in European FL education to move beyond an understanding of communication as an exchange of information but rather to “understand and relate to people from other countries” (p. 5). There exists today a multitude of terms and models intended to describe and assess the learner’s ability to understand diverse worldviews and cultural perspectives. Abbreviations: FL, Foreign language; IC, intercultural competence; DMIS, developmental model of intercultural sensitivity. * Correspondence to: Georgia State University, Department of Modern & Classical Languages, 862 Langdale, Atlanta, GA. 30303, USA. Tel.: +1 404 413 5980; mobile: +1 608 395 5189. E-mail address: prucks@gsu.edu 0147-1767/$ – see front matter © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2013.12.009