Fostering Symbolic Competence by Integrating Linguistic Landscapes into the Chinese L2 Curriculum

To help language learners navigate the complexities of communication in today’s multilingual world, Kramsch (2009) calls for the development of symbolic competence, a capacity that extends beyond linguistic accuracy and fluency. Symbolic competence enables learners to critically examine how language reflects and reinforces social hierarchies, ideologies, and cultural norms. It also empowers them to negotiate meaning across languages and cultures, while reflecting on how language shapes both their own identities and those of others. Linguistic Landscapes (LL), the visual and textual representations of language in public spaces, offer a practical and powerful means of fostering symbolic competence. Building on this theoretical foundation, this report presents a classroom project that integrates LL into the Chinese L2 curriculum. It outlines the project’s design and implementation, showcases examples of student analyses, and evaluates learning outcomes. The report demonstrates how incorporating LL into language instruction can bridge classroom learning with real-world contexts, equipping students to engage critically and meaningfully with linguistic and cultural diversity.