The purpose of this study was to explore and describe foreign language professors’ reports of the teaching practices they deliberately use to develop students’ cultural intelligence (Earley & Ang, 2003). The conceptual framework guiding this study was Earley and Ang’s (2003) model of cultural intelligence (CQ). CQ is a construct that encompasses and measures a person’s capability for successful adaptation to new and unfamiliar cultural settings. Four dimensions comprise the concept of CQ: motivational, cognitive, metacognitive, and behavioral. Current demographic changes and economic imperatives have made institutions increasingly aware of the importance of advancing students’ CQ or cultural competence to prepare them to live in a pluralistic global society. Foreign language professors are uniquely positioned to provide both language proficiency and cultural competence.

One-hundred and fifty foreign language professors from colleges and universities in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York completed the Cultural Intelligence Instructional Practices [CIIP], an Internet-based survey. The CIIP (Mesiti, 2010) survey was designed to collect demographic data, measure frequency of respondents’ CQ teaching practices, and gather opinions about developing students’ CQ through foreign language instruction.

Data analysis revealed that 50% of participants reported occasionally using the teaching practices described in the CIIP to develop students’ CQ. Additionally, 96% of participants agreed that teaching practices that advance students’ CQ can enhance learning the target language. Importantly, a large majority of participants agreed that CQ teaching practices can create a conscious awareness of one’s self in relation to others. Over all, a majority of participants strongly agreed in their confidence to provide to their students cultural intelligence.