11The developmental model of linguaculture learninglonger are they constructing utterances piece-by-piece. Rather, language forms have become internal-ized and have coalesced into systematic knowledge (a functioning interlanguage) that goes beyond the sum total of its parts. Language use becomes less focused on form and more focused on meaning. The system itself becomes a medium for creativity and self-expression, rather than something that must be practiced piece by piece. At this point, learners may lose themselves in the act of communicating. In a similar way, there is a quantum leap when someone learning tennis gets good enough to forget their practice strokes, and starts focusing on simply play-ing the game. At the level of integration, language learners nally get a sense for using language to communicate, as opposed to simply practicing its forms. At the i-3 level, learners nally begin to feel more uent and that they can be themselves and use the foreign language in a creative way. This is true of any complex skill—as it is integrated into our cog-nitive systems, it is experienced more as a natural extension of the self. Even the way we talk about it changes. For example, someone learning tennis may begin by saying that she is “learning tennis,’’ but then refer to “practicing tennis’’ as skills improve. Finally, skills start to coalesce such that she is sim-ply “playing tennis’’—she is one with the game. With further progress and reection, this player may learn to help others and start “coaching tennis.’’ In these shifting statements, we can catch a glimpse of increasing levels of cognitive complexity. Similarly, as language learning progresses, the experience of the language evolves. Rather than “studying Eng-lish’’ or “learning English,’’ learners may feel like “an English speaker.’’ For language learners, reaching the integration stage is associated with gaining uency, an in-creased level of condence, and the ability to ex-press themselves more freely. This does not happen all at once, of course. Learners may reach i-3 when discussing simpler topics but struggle with more challenging content. Some learners manage to oper-ate at i-3 even with relatively limited vocabulary, while others may have lots of knowledge of words and forms, but not reach the critical mass of func-tioning needed for i-3 processing to emerge. These learners may feel stuck, since learning more words, or studying language structures, may not help them make the quantum leap to this higher communica-tive level. In Japan in particular, where grammar translation and rote learning are often emphasized, it can be hard for English learners to reach the point of cognitive critical mass required for uency to emerge. Cultural learning too, can reach the level of sys-tematic understanding associated with i-3. Perceiv-ing foreign cultural patterns in terms of a system, as opposed to a collection of rules or facts, represents a paradigm shift in cultural understanding. At i-3, learners see that other worldviews have an internal logic that is all their own. They represent a different standard of what is normal. Going from i-2 to i-3 permits learners to make a shift to a more ethnorela-tive view—the ability to suspend judgment and un-derstand foreign cultural communities in more rela-tive terms. They may also adapt their behavior to better match these new ways of looking at things. At the i-3 level, it is understood that there is no contra-diction between sharing a culture and being a unique individual. Learners do not expect everyone from a particular cultural community to act in the same way. At the same time, they recognize that everyone is inuenced in important ways by her cultural background. The i-3 level of cultural understanding tends to be marked by cultural relativism. One sees that culture affects our view of social reality, and that multiple perspectives—all of which are normal to those who are habituated to them—are possible. This helps