This domain emphasises the importance of understanding language and culture at a meta-level and instilling such knowledge in students. Language educators need not only to be highly proficient in the target language and have experience of the target language culture, but also need sophisticated knowledge of the linguistic and cultural phenomena and to be able to articulate these to support student learning. The domain of metalinguistic and (inter)cultural competence emphasises the language educator’s ability to reflect consciously upon the nature of the target language and culture in order to facilitate student learning.
Key skills for language educators in this domain include the ability to manipulate the structural features of language and to communicate and compare cultural conceptualisations within and between home and target-language cultures.