Visualizing oneself joining imagined communities of target language (TL) use represents a potent motivation for language study. Given that rationales for the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme include fostering internationalization, a student-centered classroom, and communicative skills, teaching to promote learners envisioning themselves…

Virtual Exchange (VE) has grown out of telecollaboration, which originated in the language-teaching field and has now expanded to all areas of knowledge as a collaborative methodology to enhance learning and fostering soft skills and intercultural competences. VE has recently received growing interest from higher education institutions due to the…

The manner in which language is utilized in reporting Islam is disheartening. This is because sensationalized language, especially in the news media, could reinforce negative stereotypes. As such, those who rely on the media to understand Islam are likely to develop negative preconceptions about the religion. This study aims to investigate how the…

Purpose: This study aims to examine how teacher candidates (TCs) in Türkiye and the USA navigate their intercultural communication skills in a telecollaboration project. Design/methodology/approach: Forty-eight TCs participated (26 in Türkiye and 22 in the USA) in the study. TCs discussed critical issues in multicultural education on an online…

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)…

This ethnographic case study has focused on language use in texting out of institutional contexts between voluntary language partners. Within the translanguaging and digital literacies framework, we explored how two pairs of Korean-English language partners practice translanguaging in texting in order to construct their multilingual identities.…

This paper concerns a virtual exchange project between the University of Virginia (UVa), United States, and an upper-secondary school in Pavia, Italy. Centred on the question of gender equality, the project has been designed to take place over three years (2018-2021) with a direct reference to Robert O'Dowd's transnational model of virtual…

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…

This paper reports on crossing borders virtually via an e-Tandem scheme and presents the findings of a study, in which students of English from an Austrian university were paired with students of German from the UK and the USA. Drawing on data from 19 in-depth interviews, the study aims to identify links between e-Tandem language learning and…

This chapter examines practical issues regarding Virtual Exchanges (VEs) for educational purposes in the university context and covers language use, cultural differences, time management, teacher collaboration, technology-related issues, assessment, and context specific factors. It charts the establishment of three academic collaborations between…

This case study describes two iterations of a cross-disciplinary Virtual Exchange (VE) project developed between the Universities of Bordeaux (France) and León (Spain), involving students of Applied Physics and Measurement Engineering (APME), and Electrical Engineering. The students worked together on designing a real garden in Bordeaux within…

This paper outlines a case study of four Vietnamese students who have just completed their exchange semester at RMIT University, Melbourne. Results indicate that the students appreciate multiple benefits brought by this experience, including a developing sense of language use, responsibility, dependence, self-awareness, integration, and…

This article presents the long-term impacts of brief bilingual (English/French) exchanges as identified by past exchange participants through questionnaire and interview responses. The findings indicate that former exchange participants (a) have confidence in their language abilities, (b) continue to use their second language, (c) choose leisure…

The collection of essays on second language learning during study abroad includes: "Language Learning and Study Abroad" (Barbara F. Freed); "Predictors of Foreign Language Gain During Study Abroad" (Richard D. Brecht, Dan E. Davidson, Ralph B. Ginsberg); "A Canadian Interprovincial Exchange: Evaluating the Linguistic…