Beyond Grammar and Grades: Rethinking English Language Teaching as Intercultural Capital in Japanese Higher Education

English-medium instruction (EMI) and English for Specific/Academic Purposes (ESP/EAP) in Japanese higher education are commonly framed in terms of correctness, intelligibility, or intercultural appropriateness. Yet such constructs do not explain why multilingual students may be understood but still struggle to have their contributions taken up as credible. This article advances English as Intercultural Capital (EIC), a framework that redefines the pedagogical outcome of EMI/ESP as recognition—the credible uptake of ideas in evaluative encounters such as peer review, conference discussion, and doctoral defense. Synthesizing Bourdieu’s theory of symbolic capital with raciolinguistic scholarship, English as a Lingua Franca/pronunciation research, and Academic Literacies, the article specifies how recognition depends on genre-specific cues, audience positioning, and interactional repair under asymmetry. EIC is operationalized through five design principles for power-attuned teaching and six dimensions—symbolic literacy, positional reflexivity, plurilingual agility, negotiation strategies, affective resilience, and ethical stance—each linked to independent, observable indicators. Illustrative vignettes demonstrate how recognition can be fostered in classroom, supervisory, and institutional contexts. By shifting evaluation from surface correctness to uptake-oriented practices, EIC offers a design framework for curriculum, assessment, and teacher education that aligns equity with rigor.