Introduction

Intercultural language learning represents an orientation to languages education that places intercultural learning and the development of intercultural competencies at the core of learning, using and teaching the target language (Byram, 1997; Corbett, 2003; Crozet & Liddicoat, 1999; Kohler, 2015; Kramsch, 1993; Liddicoat & Scarino, 2013; Risager, 2007). This involves seeing the language learning process as characterized by ongoing exploration of the ways that cultural and individual assumptions influence the ways in which aspects of language use are understood and evaluated within and across linguistic and cultural boundaries (Liddicoat & Scarino, 2013). As represented by Byram's (1997) notion of the intercultural speaker, it is not assumed that learners will necessarily wish to wholeheartedly adopt all of the norms of the target language in all cases, but rather that learners will develop the knowledge, awareness, skills and attitudes necessary for understanding linguistic and non-linguistic phenomena from a variety of perspectives and develop an interactional repertoire that enables them to communicate comfortably and effectively. As an important part of this development, learners (and teachers) decentre from their taken-for-granted perceptions on language and culture to engage with multiple ways of representing and interpreting reality through language (Byram et al., 2001; Liddicoat & Scarino, 2013). Interculturality, therefore, is not understood in terms of a process of comparing essentialized cultural differences but as a process of interpretation in which learners interpret and critique a range of perspectives on cultural phenomena while reflexively engaging with their own assumptions and cultural positioning. In this chapter, I draw on concepts and theories from fields including meta-pragmatics, intercultural communication, social psychology and intercultural learning to reconceptualize the notion of meta-pragmatic awareness and suggest its role in the development of an intercultural perspective on language use throughout the process of language learning.

Language Teaching within an Intercultural Orientation

Situating language teaching within an intercultural orientation does not represent an attempt to negate the importance of grammar, vocabulary or communication within the language classroom.