appendix

Curricular Plans for Teaching with an Intercultural

Communication Orientation

The following proposed four-year curricular plan for teaching an L2/Lx

with an intercultural communicative competence-orientation is based on
benchmarks set forth in the Common European Framework of Reference
for Languages and the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign
Languages (where information is available). It is useful to remember that
it takes approximately 600 to 900+ contact hours to reach intermediate-
high or B2 levels of proficiency, at which point students can interpret and
create lexically sophisticated and accurate language (cf. Goertler, Kraemer,
& Schenker, 2016).

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Year Vocabulary
1 • Focus intensively on lexical develop-
ment, using sociolinguistically and
culturally contextualized vocabulary.
• Prioritize high-frequency, everyday
vocabulary, developing a repertoire
of synonyms, antonyms, and com-
mon collocations.
• Introduce learners to formal and
casual styles (incl. slang) in ‘stan-
dard’ varieties of languages.
• Introduce skills for conducting mini-
ethnographies on authentic resources
to identify different language vari-
eties and styles, and multimodal
analyses to recognize the interaction
of multiple semiotic systems of
meaning-making in the L2/Lx per-
taining to the lexicon.
• Help learners reflect on their L1,
comparing it to the L2/Lx lexicon.
• Foster language play and engagement
with vocabulary of interest for
learners.
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Pedagogical focus
Grammar
• Foster grammar development by using
sociolinguistically contextualized models
as input and scaffolding for output in
various modalities.
• Prioritize structures that are used most
often in everyday communication;
include words and phrases that frequently
co-occur with these structures (e.g.,
adverbs of time with narrating the past).
• Introduce learners to the most common
genres they are likely to encounter (e.g.,
newspapers, Instagram posts for personal
use) or specialized texts (e.g., for students
of tourism or other professions).
Recognize different grammatical expec-
tations (e.g., computer-mediated com-
munication is less prescriptive than an
academic essay).
• Introduce learners to morphosyntactic pat-
terns in ‘standard’ varieties of languages,
including different standards of pluricentric
languages, and some formal and casual
styles in these varieties.
• Help students develop skills for conducting
mini-ethnographies with authentic
resources to identify L2/Lx practices, and
multimodal analyses to recognize how
multiple semiotic systems interact to create
grammatical meaning in the L2/Lx.
Pragmatics
• Make pragmatics an explicit, emphasized
component of language learning and use.
• Focus on chunked, formulaic expres-
sions, basic speech acts (e.g., greeting,
thanking, inviting, asking for help, leave-
taking).
• Recognize broader and narrower cultural
trends (e.g., typical politeness formulae in
‘standard’ varieties), while noting the
importance of individual preferences in
pragmatics; raise learners’ awareness of
situational variables that affect
interaction.
• Recognize how multiturn, multiparticipant
interactions are structured, using richly
contextualized models as scaffolding for
written and spoken output.
• Identify learners’ communicative and prag-
matic needs in the L2/Lx, and help them
explore genres of texts they are likely to
encounter outside the classroom (e.g.,
emailing professors and peers or interacting
with clients at a health clinic).
• Include humorous authentic sources to
explore the L2/Lx.
• Help students develop skills for conduct-
ing mini-ethnographies on authentic
resources to identify who uses the L2/Lx,
how, and when, and multimodal analysis
to recognize how multiple semiotic sys-
tems create pragmatic meaning.
 2 • Develop lexicon further, introducing
academic or professional vocabulary,
depending on learners’ objectives.
• Continue introducing richly contex-
tualized vocabulary, multiword and
idiomatic expressions, in a manner;
introduce word meanings farther
from the core, including abstract
concepts (primarily receptively).
• Help learners make connections
between language varieties and
social identity, expanding receptive
knowledge of lexical variation and
contexts of use.
• Increase leaners’ ability to reflect on
their L1 lexicon, exploring similarities
and differences, including intracul-
tural variation.
• Encourage learners to research voca-
bulary in-depth that they find inter-
esting and/or useful.
3 • Emphasize productive knowledge of
vocabulary, in diverse casual and
formal contexts, including multi-
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word and idiomatic expressions.
• Push fluency and accuracy, breadth
a well as depth of lexical knowledge.
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• Expand learners’ knowledge of grammar
structures, including more nuanced past,
present, and/or future tenses, a wider
range of cases if applicable in the language
(teach most common first, rarer later), or
common moods and aspects.
• Help learners recognize connections
between varieties of the L2/Lx and the
social identities they represent.
• Build receptive knowledge of stylistic var-
iation (casual v. formal language) and
learn about appropriate contexts of use.
Discuss explicitly involuntary (e.g., L2/
Lx use of the language) and voluntary
flouting of grammar forms, such as rap
music or poetry.
• Deepen learners’ ability to conduct eth-
nographies and multimodal analyses,
using authentic sources, examining how
grammar contributes to meaning in dif-
ferent types of texts (e.g., advertisements,
poetry, lyrics, journal articles).
• Emphasize productive knowledge of
grammar in diverse casual and formal
contexts, including an increasingly wider
range of grammatical structures.
• Emphasize fluency and accuracy, breadth
and depth of grammatical knowledge
(including metalanguage).
• Introduce learners to pragmatic features
(e.g., hedging, politeness formulae,
speech acts) in ‘standard’ varieties of lan-
guages, with some stylistic and regional
variation.
• Expand learners’ understanding and use
of internal and external modifiers (e.g.,
downgraders, intensifiers, subjunctive
forms if they are used in politeness).
• Introduce learners to common themes
and types of humor in the L2/Lx-
speaking cultures (e.g., common frames,
scripts, and sources of humor in the host
society). Discuss the importance of
humor as a part of one’s identity, build
awareness of the role of humor in helping
people get through challenging times,
such as studying abroad.
• Continue enhancing learners’ skills to
conduct mini-ethnographies and multi-
modal analyses to analyze L2/Lx
pragmatics.
• Increase learners’ knowledge of and use of
broader and narrower cultural trends
(e.g., politeness formulae and adjacency
pairs in regional varieties of language, in
different standards of pluricentric lan-
guages, both formal and casual styles).
 (cont.)
Year Vocabulary
• Expand learners’ knowledge of low-
frequency, professional and academic
vocabulary, especially targeted to
their personal interests and language
use needs.
• Increase learners’ knowledge of vari-
eties of language (in terms of the
lexicon), which is appropriate in
what contexts (e.g., spoken by
whom, when, for what communica-
tive purposes) using extended data,
such as television serials or a novel,
expanding the repertoire of genres.
• Deepen learners’ ability to analyze
the relationship between the lexicon
and cultural values (e.g., language
and power).
• Build leaners’ lexicon to be able to
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understand and discuss current
social, political and economic issues.
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Pedagogical focus
Grammar
• Introduce learners to lower-frequency,
professional, and academic structures
(e.g., embedded clauses), especially tar-
geted to their personal interests and lan-
guage needs.
• Increase learners’ knowledge of varieties
of grammar use in diverse contexts (e.g.,
spoken by whom, when, where, under
what circumstances, with which interlo-
cutors, for what communicative pur-
poses) using ethnographic analyses of
extended data, such as television serials or
a novel, expanding the repertoire of
genres.
Pragmatics
• Expand learners’ awareness of situational
variables that affect interaction at the
local level (e.g., intentional impoliteness).
• Help learners recognize a broader range
of pragmatic functions in particular con-
texts: e.g., What linguistic forms are used
in interaction at a party with friends, at
the doctor’s office, or in an interview with
an immigration officer? How does our
audience influence what language we use?
• Expand learners’ understanding of
humor in different media – introduce
learners to a broader range of humor (e.g.,
taboo topics, ‘appropriateness,’ and
flouting social norms to shape sociopoli-
tical practices).
• Develop learners’ skills to conduct mini-
ethnographies, including with native
speakers of the L2/Lx, and more in-depth
multimodal analyses to understand how
to communicate pragmatic intent in the
L2/Lx.
 4 • Continue building lexical knowledge
in diverse casual and formal contexts,
expanding creative language use and
metaphorical expression (analyze the
cultural values they reflect).
• Continue to build lexical fluency,
expanding depth of knowledge to
include historical perspectives on
culturally significant words and
phrases (e.g., democracy or
nationalism).
• Expand learners’ knowledge of rele-
vant academic or professional voca-
bularies (e.g., natural or social
sciences, diplomacy).
• Increase learners’ knowledge of lan-
guage varieties, including historical
developments of social, political, and
economic cultural patterns and their
effect on the lexicon, using critical
and ethnographic analyses of multi-
ple data sources. Explore similarities
and differences among the cultures
they are increasingly familiar with.
• Foster critical awareness of how lin-
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guistic codes disguise bias and power
structures.
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• Continue refining learners’ grammatical
knowledge in diverse casual and formal
contexts.
• Study model texts and speeches and have
learners edit their own writing and speech
based on those models, focusing on
grammatical accuracy, to prepare for
academic and professional
communication.
• Expand learners’ breadth and depth of
grammatical knowledge to include his-
torical developments and change, so that
they can access older texts.
• Expand knowledge of grammatical struc-
tures that are relevant for their own aca-
demic or professional purposes (e.g.,
structures that might be unique in law,
medicine, diplomacy).
• Improve learners’ knowledge of varieties
of language (in terms of grammar),
including historical and sociopolitically
divergent contexts, using ethnographic
analyses of multiple data sources.
• Expand learners’ knowledge of pragmatic
functions to debate, disagree, suggest,
offer advice, etc., which can be face-
threatening, so the nuance between dis-
agreeing with humor versus strongly
assertive language, just to name one
example, should be examined.
• Explore in depth the pragmatic skills par-
ticular to professions that learners might
undertake: What skills do musicians
need? Mathematicians? School teachers,
when interacting with children, their
parents, or school administrators?
• Expand learners’ understanding of
humor as a sociopolitical tool, used in
‘appropriate’ and ‘inappropriate’ ways,
both reflecting and shaping cultural and
sociopolitical practices. What – if any –
are the consequences for flouting
expectations?
• Enhance learners’ skills to analyze
authentic resources to identify who uses
the L2/Lx, how, and when via multiple
semiotic systems of meaning-making in
the L2/Lx as it pertains to pragmatics.

Year Paralinguistic features
1 • Address paralinguistic features expli-
citly in course materials (e.g., how
intonation differs in questions,
answers).
• Use authentic materials to familiarize
learners with the rate and volume of
speech used by other L2/Lx speakers;
include extensive pre-viewing and
viewing tasks to support authentic
materials instead of adapting or sim-
plifying them.
• Explore the use of affective devices in
computer-mediated communication.
• Introduce basic conversation man-
agement devices, especially ones
used to hold the floor while thinking,
and the most common backchannel-
ing devices to signal continued
interest in conversation.
• Help students develop skills for ana-
lyzing authentic resources for para-
linguistic features of the L2/Lx.
2 • Introduce learners to paralinguistic
features in more diverse interac-
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tional situations (e.g., where to speak
quietly/loudly, what the implications
of fast or slow speech might be).
• Explore how personality and emotions
might influence intonation patterns.
• Include opportunities for students to
express affect in computer-mediated
communication.
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Pedagogical focus
Nonverbal communication
• Address nonverbal communication expli-
citly in course materials.
• Expose learners to authentic materials, so
that they can familiarize themselves with
nonverbal communication used by other
speakers of the L2/Lx.
• Introduce common symbols, icons, and
indexes that are meaningful in L2/Lx-
speaking communities, focusing on cur-
rent practices, as well as the cognitive and
affective responses members of the cul-
ture have to these signs (e.g., the sche-
mata they activate and emotional
reactions to the signs).
• Help students develop skills to analyze
authentic resources as they pertain to
L2/Lx nonverbal communication.
• Help learners recognize more nonverbal
communication in sociolinguistic contexts,
emphasizing the need to understand them
in particular interactional situations.
• Explore how personal presentation, kine-
sics, haptics, and proxemics are enacted
in various L2/Lx cultural situations,
expected behaviors and potential conse-
quences for flouting those expectations.
Cultural background knowledge
• Address cultural knowledge explicitly in
course materials.
• Expose learners to authentic materials, so
that they can familiarize themselves with
potential sources of information used by
other speakers of the L2/Lx.
• Introduce commonly known informa-
tion about both everyday and unique
events (e.g., important historical events
and geographical facts; famous authors,
writers, members of popular culture;
everyday needs, such as names of grocery
stores, electronics websites).
• Help students develop the skills for ana-
lyzing authentic resources and interacting
with members of the community to gain
cultural knowledge.
• Introduce learners to further resources
that help build cultural knowledge (e.g.,
differing perspectives, with the sociocul-
tural context explained, such as journals
or websites with different political
biases).
• Explore how everyday and unique events
(e.g., historical events and geography)
impact the perspectives, practices, and
products of the culture, how members of
 • Expand the range of conversation
management devices used in differ-
ent social contexts and how their use
might be perceived.
• Continue enhancing learners’ skills
to conduct mini-ethnographies and
multimodal analyses on authentic
resources to identify how paralin-
guistic features impact the emotional
tone of speakers’ or online users’
utterances in the L2/Lx.
3 • Expand learners’ knowledge of con-
versation-management devices: how
to interject effectively, express nega-
tive responses to a speaker’s utter-
ances, or convey personal interest.
• Explore how paralinguistic features
can be used to express positive
(affiliative) and negative (e.g., sar-
casm, social distance) affect, includ-
ing how these features are expressed
across interactional situations (i.e.,
when, how, and with whom).
• Introduce learners to diverse dialect
and register variation as well as non-
native accents. Examine critically
how accents are perceived and what
social connotations they carry among
L2/Lx speakers as well as in learners’
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L1 contexts.
• Enhance learners’ skills to analyze
authentic resources to increase their
knowledge of various contexts-of-use
of paralinguistic features.
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• Analyze practices related to proxemics
and orientation to time.
• Continue enhancing learners’ skills to
conduct mini-ethnographies and multi-
modal analyses on authentic resources to
identify how nonverbal communication
is realized among members of different
L2/Lx-speaking communities.
• Refine learners’ knowledge and use of
nonverbal communication among differ-
ent participants and in various social
contexts
• Expand learners’ knowledge of how per-
sonal presentation, kinesics, haptics and
proxemics can be used to convey specific
social meaning, including polite and
impolite behaviors and their
consequences.
• Continue to explore subcultural variation
in the use of nonverbal communication
(regional and other cultural groups) and
what social connotations different enact-
ments of nonverbal communication
carry.
• Continue to improve learners’ ability to
conduct mini-ethnographies and multi-
modal analyses on authentic resources to
increase their knowledge of who uses
nonverbal communication in what ways
and which social situations.
a culture view themselves or their culture,
and their interactions with other cultures.
• Examine how the culture has viewed
famous authors, writers, members of
popular culture and how these views have
changed over time.
• Help students develop further skills to
analyze authentic resources for gaining
cultural background and contextual
knowledge; improve skills of discovery.
• Refine learners’ knowledge of potential
resources that help build background
and contextual information.
• Explore in depth current and historical
cultural forces that have shaped and con-
tinue to shape the culture’s perspectives,
practices, and products.
• Enhance learners’ skills to conduct mini-
ethnographies and multimodal analyses
on authentic resources to increase their
cultural knowledge, both at the societal
and individual levels (i.e., analyze broader
social forces, as well as how knowledge of
local factors impacts intercultural
communication).
• Guide learners to reflect on current social,
political, and economic issues, exploring
similarities and differences among the
practices of their own and other cultures.
• Foster critical digital literacy (e.g., aware-
ness of sources of online materials, bias
represented in these sources).
 (cont.)
Year Paralinguistic features
4 • Continue to expand learners’ knowl-
edge of nuanced paralinguistic fea-
tures (e.g., interviews, celebrations),
including increasingly wider ranges
of emotions they encounter in diverse
interactional contexts.
• Explore in depth the paralinguistic
features that might be characteristic
of professions learners might under-
take: Are there particular ways nurses
speak? Business people?
• Expand learners’ critical understand-
ing of how paralinguistic features are
evaluated by society, both positively
and negatively, and explore social
movements that try to change discri-
minatory practices. (A positive recent
development has been the addition of
multilingual speakers, representing
a richer tapestry of accents in some
television series, such as the British-
French crime drama series Death in
Paradise.)
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• Enhance learners’ ability to conduct
mini-ethnographies, interactional
sociolinguistic and multimodal ana-
lyses of paralinguistic features inde-
pendently in the L2/Lx in
increasingly diverse interactional
situations.
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Pedagogical focus
Nonverbal communication
• Continue to expand learners’ knowledge
of nonverbal communication, including
a historical overview of the origins of
various features of nonverbal communi-
cation: signs, personal presentation,
kinesics, haptics, proxemics, and chrone-
mics (e.g., from literary or historical
documents).
• Explore nonverbal communication that
might be characteristic of various profes-
sions or in diverse interpersonal commu-
nicative settings.
• Continue to improve learners’ ability to
conduct mini-ethnographies and multi-
modal analysis of nonverbal communi-
cation in the L2/Lx in increasingly diverse
interactional situations.
Cultural background knowledge
• Explore the impact of popular culture
(including changes over time) on every-
day perspectives, practices, and products.
• Learn in-depth about current events,
their historical origins, and possible
future trajectories.
• Explore subcultural variation in how
members of the culture might view the
same events (current and historical) dif-
ferently and why.
• Continue enhancing learners’ ability to
conduct research, mini-ethnographies,
and multimodal analyses in order to
increase their cultural knowledge, using
reliable sources.
• Increase learners’ ability to reflect –
increasingly independently – on current
social, political, and economic issues,
exploring similarities and differences
among the practices of their own and
other cultural groups (including intra-
cultural variation).
• Continue to increase learners’ critical
digital literacy (e.g., by examining bias).