Cultural competence (Puren, 2013) has been considered a critical aspect for foreign language (FL) teaching and learning due to the wide range of cultural elements associated with the learning of FLs. Hence, this case study aims to describe and understand how encounters with peripheral individuals and rural communities contribute to developing learners’ cultural competence in a Spanish as a foreign language course. The participants were three learners who got involved with peripheral individuals and rural communities as part of a voluntary program included in the syllabi of their course. The current study provides an emic perspective following the research participants’ views and was guided by the principles of qualitative research. Data were gathered from a variety of sources: an online questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, classroom observation field notes, and audiotaped social interactions. Content and interpretive analyses were carried out on the data. The findings support the importance of social action and experiential learning for cultural competence development. In addition, the outcomes suggest that the studied encounters not only provided learners with opportunities to enhance knowledge about cultures, but also helped them to encounter otherness and to expand understandings of professional cultures.

中文翻译：

---

与周边个人和农村社区的交流，以提高他们的文化能力：以哥伦比亚西班牙语学习者为例

文化能力（Puren，2013年）被认为是外语教学的一个重要方面，因为与外语学习相关的文化因素广泛。因此，本案例研究旨在描述和理解与外围个人和农村社区的相遇如何有助于提高西班牙语作为外语课程的学习者的文化能力。参加者是三名学习者，他们参加了课程大纲中的一项自愿计划，与外围个人和农村社区进行了接触。本研究遵循研究参与者的观点，并以定性研究的原则为指导，提供了积极的观点。数据来自各种来源：在线问卷调查，半结构化访谈，课堂观察现场笔记和录音的社交互动。对数据进行了内容和解释性分析。这些发现支持了社会行动和体验式学习对文化能力发展的重要性。此外，结果表明，所研究的相遇不仅为学习者提供了增强对文化知识的机会，而且还帮助他们相遇并扩大了对专业文化的理解。