Includes bibliographical references (pages 194-200) and index.

Machine generated contents note: 1. The Challenges of Addressing Culture in Modern Language Education -- The Ideological Landscape of Modern Language Education in the United States -- The Global Challenge -- Conceptions of Culture and Approaches to Culture in Modern Language Education in the United States -- Rethinking Meaning-Making in Modern Language Classrooms -- Overview of Chapters in this Book -- 2. The Culture Learning Target: Engagement with Meaning Potentials -- Models of Intercultural and Symbolic Competence Informing Culture Pedagogy -- Empirical Studies of the Development of Intercultural and Symbolic Competences in Modern Language Education -- An Ecological, Social Semiotic View of Modern Language Learning -- 3. Creating and Investigating Intercultural Worlds in a Modern Language Classroom -- Establishing the Global Simulation in Emilie's Class -- Methods for Investigating Meaning-Making in a Modern Language Classroom -- Everyday Narrative Sense-Making and Storying to Make Meaning at Grander Scale -- 4. Understanding Signification and Interpretive Acts Through Engagement with Cultural Representations -- Identifying Cultural Reference Points and Symbolic Forms -- Hypothesizing about the Meanings of Culturally Symbolic Forms -- Repositioning Classroom Actors and Animating Cultural Texts through Voicing and Embodiment -- Developing a Metalanguage for Engaging in Interpretation -- 5. Realizing Meaning Potentials Through Narrative Writing -- Writing Through a Culturally Different Voice and Exploiting Affordances of Semiotic Resources -- Two Memoires Projects -- The References, Stories and Stances in Brina's Project -- The References, Stories and Stances in Katie's Project -- Students' Take on Perspective-Taking -- 6. Sense-Making in a Web of Meanings: Implications for Theory, Research and Practice -- A Web of Meanings -- Renegotiating `Negotiation of Meaning' -- Translating a Social Semiotic Model of Intercultural Learning into Practice -- Future Directions.

Many educators aim to engage students in deeply meaningful learning in the language classroom, often facing challenges to connect the students with the culture of the language they are learning. This book aims to demonstrate that substantial intercultural learning can and does occur in the modern language classroom, and explores the features of the classroom that support meaningful culture-in-language-learning. The author argues that transformative modern language education is intimately tied to a view of language learning as an engagement in meaning-making activity, or semiotic practice. The empirical evidence presented is analyzed and then linked to both the theorizing of culture-in-language-teaching and to practical concerns of teaching. -- Provided by publisher.