Interaction with others is fundamental to any institution and social life. The competencies to interact precede language competence. They enable novices to become participants in new settings and learn new languages. Also, with the increasing trend toward a global institution and business environment, international firms have come to realize the importance of intercultural communication competence. In the course we will examine what constitutes intercultural competence and institutions from a social perspective and how they can be systematically investigated and developed by reading and critically discussing relevant literature. Selection from the research literature will address institutionality and/or intercultural competence in various institutional contexts including but not limited to service encounters, language learning contexts, multi-party meetings, and so on. A guiding question will be how people use socially and culturally available practices to interact in diverse institutional contexts. Also, this course aims to apply interaction analysis to help students to develop knowledge of interaction, culture, and institutions. Developing the analytical lens on how people carry off their work in various institutions will increase students' knowledge and sensitivities on how people organize their conduct in institutional and culturally specific ways. Apart from readings, an in-class quiz, and classroom activities, students will generate a research review and an interaction analysis report on topics related to institutional practices. In all, the course helps students develop a systematic approach to examine how institutions are 'talked into being'.