This chapter discusses a language component that has not received sufficient research attention, that is, pragmatics. The chapter answers socially oriented questions such as How can I make this request politely? and What’s the best way to address this person? The chapter explains how pragmatics knowledge helps learners be aware of the requirements of the larger social context surrounding the language, and understand which grammatical and lexical forms are appropriate and helpful in different social contexts. Different pragmatic knowledge is discussed, that is, sociopragmatics (i.e., knowledge about the context) and pragmalinguistics (i.e., knowledge about specific linguistic forms). In addition, the chapter discusses speech acts, such as requests and compliments, which are used to achieve goals in our daily life by using language appropriately and effectively. The chapter then explains how pragmatics is embedded in our society by discussing illocutionary force and intercultural communicative competence. Finally, the chapter explores different ways of teaching pragmatics.

This chapter explores the relationships between grammar and intercultural communicative competence. It discusses what we mean by ‘grammar,’ the nature of L2 grammatical development, and key concepts in teaching L2 grammar. This discussion is followed by a re-evaluation of the native-speaker ideal, morphosyntactic language variation, the local situatedness of grammar, and deploying grammar for creating social meaning. The chapter concludes with practical suggestions for teaching L2/Lx grammar with an intercultural communication orientation, as well as sample language teaching tasks and activities.

The term paralinguistics (from ‘alongside language’ in ancient Greek) describes sounds that carry meaning, but that are not part of the language system. Such sounds convey information to other speakers, but they are not always clear, leaving one with a sense of ‘it wasn’t what they said, but how they said it.’ To interpret the speaker’s tone, participants often rely on the context of the interaction. This chapter explores research on paralinguistic features in four categories: voice quality, prosody, conversational management, and accent. The discussion includes how affect is expressed in electronic communication. Afterwards, these concepts are connected to an intercultural communication-oriented pedagogy, with sample language teaching activities.

Pragmatics refers to the way we understand and use language in social situations. For example, language choices we make express social roles and distance, power status, age, gender, and identity. These language choices have an effect on our interlocutors as we communicate. They can also lead to pragmatic mishaps, which are actually responsible for the majority of L2/Lx miscommunication (Bardovi-Harlig & Dörnyei, 1998). In order to set the stage for an interculturally oriented curriculum that emphasizes pragmatics, this chapter reviews research on L2 pragmatics, what it is, and how to teach it in the L2/Lx classroom. Speech acts, conventional expressions, Gricean maxims, politeness and impoliteness, as well as humor are included in the discussion. The chapter concludes with practical suggestions for teaching L2/Lx pragmatics with an intercultural communication orientation and sample language teaching activities.

Cultural knowledge is a fundamental part of participating in intercultural communication. Our knowledge of the world – such as history, current issues, belief systems, and values – helps us navigate both the surface-level meaning of language and its cultural significance. Cultural knowledge allows us to participate in practices in social/cultural groups (e.g., knowing how to participate in the educational system or attending prayers). Without adequate or appropriate knowledge of the context, the message of our interlocutors remains incomplete, even if we comprehend the lexicon, grammar, or pragmatics accurately. This chapter explores different ways to organize knowledge that we need to learn for successful intercultural communication and how we develop this knowledge (i.e., sources of knowledge). At the end of the chapter, key concepts pertaining to cultural knowledge are connected to an intercultural communication-oriented pedagogy, with sample language-teaching activities.

Language teaching changed significantly over the past century, shifting from the grammar translation method to the communicative approach and beyond. These changes reflected our evolving understanding of how languages are learned, influenced by behavioral, cognitive, sociocutural, and sociocognitive theories. Following this review, the chapter discusses in detail the role of communicative competence and intercultural communicative competence in language pedagogy, presenting research by Byram (1997), Kramsch (2009), Liddicoat and Scarino (2013), and Hua (2014). These discussions outline key components of intercultural communicative competence – such as knowledge, skills, attitudes, and linguistic knowledge - that lay the foundation for the pedagogical chapters in this volume.

Assessing intercultural communicative competence can be challenging for a number of reasons. First, there is little consensus regarding the precise definitions of subcomponents of intercultural competence, making it difficult to identify specific constructs to assess. Second, intercultural competence is locally situated, so the “same behavior or skill may be perceived as competent in one context but not another or one perceiver but not another, and thus no particular skill or ability is likely to ever be universally ‘competent’” (Spitzberg & Changnon, 2009, p. 6). Third, in a related vein, some aspects of intercultural communicative competence might not be suitable for classroom assessment, an issue that is addressed at the end of this chapter. In spite of these challenges, for personal and institutional purposes, assessing learners’ progress in intercultural communicative competence remains an important educational objective. Thus, in this chapter, I review several relevant concepts in L2/Lx assessment, then explore how they relate to understanding intercultural communicative competence, illustrating the theory with three case studies.

Intercultural communicative competence (ICC) is an essential skill-set in the twenty-first century, but what constitutes this skill-set is not familiar to most people. In order to change this, the introduction examines reasons why developing ICC is so important in today’s interconnected world, identifying peace, economic, technological, demographic, ethical, and self-awareness imperatives. It also makes the case for utilizing second/foreign language classrooms to foster ICC development, since learning another language presents a unique opportunity for this process; it can teach learners about other cultures, while also helping them reflect on their own.

One of the most important contributors to understanding and speaking a second or foreign language is the lexicon, which is the focus of the first pedagogical chapter. After briefly reviewing relevant research regarding how vocabulary is learned in a second or foreign language, the discussion turns to issues in language variation and communication strategies that language learners and users might draw on, when they lack the necessary vocabulary to convey their intended meaning. Since research into L2/Lx lexical acquisition is vast, a full review is not possible, therefore this chapter focuses specifically on findings that are most relevant for promoting intercultural communicative competence: what it means to know words and how to teach vocabulary effectively. The chapter concludes with a proposal of connecting this research to concepts in intercultural communicative competence, sample language teaching tasks, and activities.