I believe the intention behind these two modules is to convey that during intercultural communication many cultural or pragmatic variables may emerge that may hinder communication in the target language. Both Professor Thomas Garza and Professor Dale Koike argue that there are cases where you cannot use cultural or pragmatic aspects associated with your native culture when attempting to engage in a conversation in the target language. The meaning is not always what is literally spoken, but rather the product of layers of cultural norms and pragmatic/situational nuances that alter the meaning of what is spoken about. Both of these aspects, cultural norms (e.g., missteps) and implicit pragmatics often make communication difficult if these aspects of the target language and culture are not components of the language acquisition process. This shows that within the language classroom there are more subtleties in the target language and culture that a teacher needs to illustrate to facilitate intercultural communication. These modules have really helped me understand the importance of clarifying these cross-cultural differences of languages ​​so that students are able to avoid the pitfalls of these common missteps. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In my language class, there have already been numerous occasions where my students have attempted to express a statement in German as one would in English, but the pragmatics of the statements do not quite translate into German due to the cultural norms of German-speaking countries and German pragmatic conventions. For example, American German-speaking students have a tendency to express that they “love” objects (e.g. “ich liebe Bücher!”). The verb “love” exists in German, but is generally considered too extreme an emotion to be used with objects and should only be used with family. Even in situations where most Americans would express their love for another person, Germans would instead say “ich habe dich lieb,” which translates to “I hold you dear.” American cultural and pragmatic norms about using extreme emotions to describe situations generally do not express the same meaning in German, which is why it is important to express the implicit meanings behind certain sentences in German and how they differ from English. I wholeheartedly agree with Drs. Garza and Koike when they use Dr. Garza's phrase "the fifth skill" to express my belief that cultural and pragmatic education about how these factors hinder fluent communication implies different pragmatic meanings than those of similar expressions in their primary school language. In my classroom, by talking about my past missteps, I try to help my students develop the cultural competence that would allow them to become proficient speakers of the target language without the embarrassing moments that accompany a sense of ignorance towards the norms of the world. cultures of the target language. This is a component of a language teacher's responsibility to their students to transform them into expert speakers with developed competence in intercultural communication.