Developing (Inter)cultural Competence through Foreign Language Learning: Turning Promises into Practices

Abstract

I intend to explore the link between language and culture and how that transfers to developing (inter)cultural competence in the foreign language classroom with special attention to French at various learner levels but particularly within higher education in the United States. (Inter)cultural competence provides an overarching and balanced perspective for interacting appropriately in culturally diverse settings; however, research on its relationship with second language acquisition has been minimal to date despite its acceptance within the U.S. foreign language teaching curriculum. As international mobility (i.e. travel, study abroad, immigration etc.) is becoming progressively accessible, (inter)cultural competence is essential to building peaceful relationships among diverse groups of people locally, nationally, and internationally. While this skill set is essential in today’s global context, the wide-ranging claim that learning a second language provides a framework towards developing (inter)cultural competence in the classroom is problematic without further research to comprehensively integrate and assess it as a foreign language learner goal