Gaze and time perception as two key elements of intercultural competence. Their use and interpretation in the Italian L2 classroom

Non-verbal language is strongly influenced by the speaker's culture of origin. In intercultural communication, when non-verbal codes are not correctly interpreted communication breakdowns and misunderstandings might arise. In the foreign language classroom L2 teachers are exposed to their students' different interpretation and use of non-verbal codes on a daily basis. Drawing from interviews and focus groups with Italian L2 teachers, this paper aims to investigate how migrant students' non-verbal codes, and particularly gaze and time perception, may not always be understood correctly by Italian L2 teachers, and this may create discomfort and misunderstanding in daily interactions. This study calls for greater attention and training on less-investigated elements of non-verbal intercultural communication, such as gaze and time, for teachers of Italian L2.