A Pragmatist Perspective on Building Intercultural Communicative Competency: From Theory to Classroom Practice

Abstract: This article analyzes and synthesizes the major theoretical frameworks for-building intercultural communicative competency (ICC) within the domain of the foreign language classroom. Researchers used a pragmatist orientation as a venue for the translation of theoretical models into usable, accessible guidelines for classroom teachers in order to provide a deeper understanding and clarity of ICC and its implementation in the language classroom.Key words: best practices, cultural comparisons, high-leverage teaching practices, intercultural awareness and competence, teacher developmentLanguage teaching should prepare learners as world citizens instead of global human capital.-Byram, 2011, p. 29IntroductionThe importance of intercultural competence has found considerable resonance in the last several decades (Witte & Harden, 2011). Globalization, migration, and immigration have contributed to its growing importance, particularly as the necessity to communicate among and between varied cultures and languages has become pivotal for communities and societies to thrive both economically and socially. Such changes have great impact on local communities and their members, often requiring that "traditional perceptions of self and other must be redefined" (Chen & Starosta, 2008, available in Jackson, 2014, p. 312; emphasis in original) . The impact is especially felt in education and business within the local communities where the power of language and communication shapes an individual's identity, success, and opportunities. How can individuals from such diverse backgrounds and languages learn to live harmoniously in ways that build bridges of communication and understanding? What role does schooling play in creating such a community, and how can education prepare its citizens to become interculturally competent? What role can the foreign language (FL) teacher and overall language program play in preparing citizens who demonstrate intercultural communicative competence (ICC)?This article analyzes and synthesizes the major theoretical frameworks for building ICC using the FL education domain to illustrate how ICC can be promoted within and beyond the language classroom. In the context of FL education, the construct of intercultural competence has evolved into intercultural communicative competence, which underscores successful interactions with others while communicating in the target language (TL). Thus, a speaker of an FL who is interculturally competent possesses both communicative competence in that language as well as particular skills, attitudes, values, and knowledge about a culture. Such a speaker thereby gains an insider's view of another's culture while also deepening the understanding of his or her own culture.Review of LiteratureThe World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages (NSFLEP, 2014) define culturally appropriate interaction as "knowing how, when, and why to say what to whom" (p. 11), underscoring that language and culture are inextricably linked. Gabrovec (2007) stated, "It is a truth universally acknowledged that all texts are culturally loaded, and are influenced by the social context ... [and] language and non-verbal communication are charged with the social and cultural values of a society" (p. 19). Similarly, language assumes a central role in establishing and maintaining social norms and in mediating cultural patterns (Witte, 2011). According to Kramsch (1998), members of a shared culture do not only use language to express cultural reality but also use language to create experiences: "When [language] is used in contexts of communication, it is bound up with culture in multiple and complex ways ... language embodies cultural reality" (p. 3). Therefore, as students move toward increasingly higher levels of proficiency in a second language, the FL classroom offers a natural-and necessary- opportunity for the exploration of cultures and the development of students into successful global communicators. …