<![CDATA[Abstract. Indonesian is learned as a foreign language (IFL) by the majority of Australian students enrolled in the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) program at the Victorian School of Languages (VSL), yet enrolments have declined sharply over the past two decades and continued to contract through 2025-2026. Field observation suggests that many Australian learners choose Indonesian not out of genuine cultural interest, but due to the accessibility of its Latin script, limited LOTE (Languages Other than English) options, or compulsory curricular requirements. This motivational context poses a critical pedagogical challenge for curricula aimed at developing Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC), particularly its most demanding dimension, savoir s'engager (critical cultural awareness). Drawing on Byram's ICC framework and Dörnyei's L2 Motivational Self System, this article presents a qualitative document analysis of the VCE Indonesian Second Language Study Design (VCAA, 2019), triangulated with the authors' practitioner experience as IFL teaching assistants at VSL and at a regional Victorian secondary school in 2018. The document was analyzed through holistic reading, systematic coding against Byram's five ICC dimensions, and critical interpretation of curricular silences. Findings indicate that while the curriculum adequately represents knowledge-based and interpretive ICC dimensions, savoir s'engager is largely absent from explicit objectives; the fortnightly 15 minute oral session carries structural limitations in simultaneously developing speaking fluency and intercultural awareness; and no curricular differentiation exists for IFL learners with varying motivational profiles. The study concludes that sound curricular architecture alone cannot guarantee ICC development, and offers recommendations for VSL curriculum revision and Indonesia's BIPA program.Keywords: Indonesian as a Foreign Language (IFL), intercultural communicative competence, distance oral session, VCE Indonesian, VSL, LOTE motivation]]>
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