Few studies on higher education focus on how English as a Foreign Language (EFL) college students may enhance their global literacy through cross-cultural communication. This mixed methods research reports on a blended learning program with cross-cultural communication to foster EFL college students' global literacy. A sample of 97 EFL college…

As intercultural learning has been increasingly regarded as essential in higher education, researchers have promoted it through integration of digital storytelling into cultural exchange activities. However, most studies have focused on the utilization of only one language whereas the effects of multilingual digital storytelling on students'…

Local tour guides' English speaking competence determines inbound international tourists' travel experiences. This study investigated student tour guides' English learning by adopting role-play tasks. The communicative tasks were designed to explore how real interactions prepared English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners to become cultural…

This study explores the factors of study abroad programs that contribute to cultivating intercultural competence. Through an empirically based quantitative examination of 303 Japanese study abroad students, it attempts to gain an understanding of the factors that enhance the development of intercultural competence. Considering that many previous…

Conventional folk wisdom insists study abroad is an inherently valuable educational experience for young people. While traditional study abroad programs were typically a semester or a full year in duration, short-term study abroad programs of only a couple weeks are now the most common type of sojourn abroad. Problematically, evidence is mounting…

In this study we examined the extent to which "TOEIC"® Speaking test scores relate to evaluations by professionals in the international workplace, the target language use domain of TOEIC tests. Linguistic laypersons in 10 countries were invited to participate in an online research survey. The survey incorporated a stratified sample of…

Study abroad destinations for Japanese students, particularly those aiming to improve their English language skills, tend to focus on the "Inner Circle" (Kachru, 1992) of English-speaking countries. However, over the last two decades, Korean and Japanese-owned English language schools in the Philippines started to appear, leading to over…

In this internationalised world, graduate employability in terms of intercultural communication skills needs to be taken into account in higher education. The present study aims to explore the effects of critical incident task instruction on English non-majored undergraduates' intercultural competence. One group of students received ten weeks of…

This study examined whether direct communication with people from other countries using Skype or Line would affect students' English test scores in listening and reading as well as the development of their curiosity concerning foreign cultures by comparing the data of an experimental group with that of a control group. The former group conducted…

Recently, the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) has produced several internationalisation policies to develop their notion of "guroubaru-jinzai" (global human resources). However, a lack of clear direction regarding theories and approaches about how to achieve these initiatives has created a…

Student motivation is a multifaceted topic that English Language Teachers continually discuss and investigate. Differences of the learning environment and whether the student is in the ESL or EFL context are of special interest in the present paper. This paper presents the findings of a survey related to the topic of motivation that was given to…

The study proposed an optimal cooperative learning grouping technique to facilitate medical university students' English learning process, considering their complementary competencies. A quasi-experimental design was adopted to evaluate the feasibility of using the grouping technique. TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication) pretest…

In 2014, the University of Aizu was accepted for participation in Japan's national TOP Global University (TGU) initiative. In this paper, we describe our use of video interviewing to prepare Japanese students for our Global Experience Gateway study abroad TGU project. Our university specializes in computer science education at undergraduate and…

This article explores the cerebral mechanism of reading aloud activities in L2 learners. These activities have been widely used in L2 learning and teaching, and its effect has been reported in various Asian L2 learning contexts. However, the reasons for its effectiveness have not been examined. In order to fill in this gap, two studies using a…

The TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication) test is an English-language proficiency test for people whose native language is not English. It measures the everyday English skills of people working in an international environment. The scores indicate how well people can communicate in English with others in business, commerce, and…