As the student population in today's world language classrooms becomes more diverse, the importance of interculturality has increased (NCES, 2022). Beyond this need for interculturality lies the development and teaching of critical intercultural competency (CIC) among world language students as a means of addressing systemic social injustices and learning to respect and better understand cultural differences within the United States and those countries where the target language is spoken. Despite numerous studies conducted about intercultural competence and interculturality, there remains a dearth of research on practical strategies teachers can use to implement CIC in their classrooms. Without opportunities to explore more about CIC, teachers remain left out of the cultural conversation and how to effectively create an inclusive classroom environment, which lends itself to exploring difficult cultural, social, and linguistic topics. This case study will use a qualitative constructivist approach via a culturally relevant teaching and culturally sustaining pedagogies lens. Teacher-participant surveys and textbook analysis will be explored and coded for patterns and themes using in vivo, descriptive, and values coding. This study will look at three influences (textbooks and other materials used in class, individual dispositions, and teacher training experiences) on teachers when teaching culture and providing them with a better understanding and set of strategies to implement CIC in their second language acquisition practice.
