Enacting interpretation in intercultural language teaching and learning: The interplay of interpretive vehicles and resources

Abstract

This qualitative case study examines how interpretation emerges in the enactment of intercultural language teaching and learning (ILTL) within literature-based English courses at an Indonesian university. Drawing on ILTL as an interpretive framework, the study conceptualises interpretation as a dynamic process arising through the interaction between ILTL principles, interpretive vehicles, and interpretive resources. Focusing on two English language courses delivered through an imported American curriculum, the research investigates how interpretive vehicles, including literary texts, teacher questioning, classroom dialogue, comparative activities, reflective writing, and classroom tasks, created opportunities for teachers and students to engage their interpretive resources, including linguistic, cultural, experiential, affective, ideological, and semiotic understandings. The analysis draws on collaborative lesson planning, classroom observations, teacher interviews, student artefacts, and classroom interaction. The findings show that the ILTL principles of active construction, making connections, reflection, and social interaction were enacted through diverse interpretive vehicles that supported learners in constructing literary and intercultural meanings. The study further demonstrates how teachers’ pedagogical judgements shaped the enactment of these vehicles within existing curricular contexts. Building on these findings, the study proposes an integrated analytical framework that demonstrates how ILTL principles, interpretive vehicles, and interpretive resources interact to support the development of intercultural meaning in classroom practice.