This article presents an international telecollaboration programme called UniLingua, which was carried out between eight universities and university language centres during the 2020/2021 academic year. By promoting language exchanges, UniLingua aims to satisfy one of the most immediate academic needs of university students, which is to improve…

It is generally accepted that culture is inseparable from language. However, the provision of culture in FL courses takes different forms. At Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), minor route/30 credit language students in the Uniwide Language Programme are allocated 1 h for cultural studies (known as the project hour) in addition to a weekly…

In the context of learning a second language, the passing on of cultural information as a means to further the development of intercultural competences is primarily viewed as being unidirectional--the "native-speaking culture" passing on information to the language learning student. However, in EFL (English as a foreign language)…

While the disruptive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold around the world, one of its most immediate effects -- beyond significant loss of life and livelihood -- has been the exposure of existing weaknesses in various sectors and systems. This is especially evident in higher education, with its growing overreliance on the…

Communication centers often focus on supporting students' communicative competencies in public speaking but some centers have expanded this focus to include support for English language learners (ELLs). Armed with research on the value of conversation in language acquisition, the University Speaking Center has incorporated peer consulting of ELLs,…

Drawing from activity theory and its notion of contradictions of various levels, the present study analyzes tensions that emerged during a six-week telecollaborative project between American learners of Japanese (AMU students) and Japanese learners of English (JPU students) regarding expectations and manners of interaction. Transpacific groups of…

International fieldschools to developing countries have become an important component of the university curriculum because they provide experiential learning and research skills, while also contributing a range of soft skills such as resilience, empathy, resourcefulness, critical thinking, and cross-cultural communication. Yet, with the increasing…

An increasingly interconnected world requires people to become versatile communicators in a variety of different settings. Language centers have a critical role to play in this process by offering language and culture training in multiple languages to students, professionals and the wider community alike. They may do so from the perspective of…

The globally mobile reality of today's world has made the field of intercultural communication increasingly relevant as people more often find themselves in intercultural situations. As a result, language teachers must be more prepared to work in intercultural contexts, and to teach their own students how to communicate across differences in…

Since 2000, I have been coordinating a web based virtual exchange project, Project Ibunka. Ibunka means different cultures in Japanese. It aims to provide opportunities of authentic interaction among EFL/ESL learners all over the world. The project has been giving English language learners from various countries opportunities to use English for…

There are more choices of overseas internship program with the increasing international communication. As an international language, English plays an important role in overseas internship program. The influence of short-term overseas internship is worthy of deep study. This study was designed to explore the possible influence of short-term Disney…

This essay explores the potential value of short-term study abroad experiences within the unique framework of a new global service-learning program at Providence College which connects international with local engagement as a way to "do more with less." The authors first introduce a typology for global service-learning, illustrating how…

The Intercultural Competency (ICC) Program is a structured program that has been developed at the University of Adelaide's English Language Centre (ELC) to create opportunities for students to connect in a global context. This stand-alone and easily transferable program aims to create meaningful opportunities for mixed-language-ability learners to…

Language learning in tandem exchanges offers students a wealth of learning opportunities that are characterised by reciprocal and autonomous learning and foster authentic communication (Brammerts, 2001). Increasingly, these encounters take place online and, in this context, the EU-funded European University Tandem (EUniTa) project developed an…

This study evaluated an on-campus leadership and culture program that helps newly arrived international students with their cross-cultural adjustment. The international student participants completed an acculturation survey at both the beginning and the end of the program. We found that factors causing these international students to have…