The student exchange programs are venues for learning opportunities by offering multicultural contexts. This study reports on the experiences of ten prospective English language teachers in a virtual student exchange program to investigate likely skill development in a multicultural and open and distance learning setting. This descriptive study…

Situated within the context of EFL learning, which aims to foster the development of Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) among language learners, this research constitutes a segment of a doctoral dissertation exploring the advantages of utilizing the Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters through the Visual Media (AIEVM) to assess the…

Extensive research has been done to identify the conceptual components of intercultural competence (IC), which resulted in a plethora of models and a wide array of differently defined constructs that are in use today to develop and assess IC. However, the majority of IC research comes from relatively similar contexts that are westernised, high on…

According to the functional model proposed by Sampasivam and Clément in 2014, the two determinants that build towards second language confidence (L2C) are "richness and self-involvement" of the contact experience. This study adds to previous research by investigating, for the first time, the role of interlocutor type in the context of…

Social networks are dynamic, accessible virtual planes of communication, through which users carry out the cross-border and transient exchange of information and emotions, meeting their communication needs. The article outlines the main aspects of written communication, its communicative needs, and the ambiguity of interpretations. The constant…

The purpose of this article is to identify the factors leading to intercultural conflicts and failures as well as reveal their nature and develop a strategy to reduce misunderstandings in academic environments. The research took place in an internationally-oriented university in Russia. The authors analysed several cultural types, associated with…

Anchored on Labov's notion that some linguistic features may exhibit variants among speakers of the same language within the same community as well as on Parker and Riley's language variation theory, this inquiry which employs a qualitative-content [manifest] analysis assumes that "Surigaonon" exhibits some linguistic variations hence…

Despite the rapid development of telecollaboration in foreign language education, telecollaborative exchanges involving Chinese as the target language have not received sufficient attention. Adopting an action research approach, this study focuses on examining the student perceptions as well as the challenges of a carefully designed…

Foreign language documentary films offer limitless possibilities for language teaching and are an ideal medium for the integration of the target culture and for the promotion of serious and committed discussions about human rights, diversity, global issues, and sustainability. Language learning is based on current cultural contexts so that…

With consideration of the increasing diversity, globalization, and digitalization that is so significantly impacting human relations and communication, this study, through the dual lenses of figured worlds (Holland, Skinner, Lachicotte, & Cain, 1998) and transmodalities (Hawkins, 2018), investigates transnational communications among youth.…

This was a transcendental phenomenological study of cross-cultural organizational leaders, the members therein, and the role of language acquisition, particularly as an agent of influence toward cross-cultural leader acculturation and success. Meaning is not universal from culture to culture; therefore, examining cultures through the lens of…

Emerging from a worldwide study of 29 U.S.-trained student affairs professionals with higher education work experience abroad, this study explored the perspectives and skills developed through working abroad. The findings of this study provide useful advocacy for this group of professionals to demonstrate their unique perspectives and critical…

This article concerns knowledge negotiations as an aspect of interactional power in three-way interaction between Arabic-speaking women, Swedish-speaking midwives and interpreters in Swedish antenatal care. The notion of epistemic stance is used to investigate how all three participants negotiate knowledge, and how this affects the ongoing…

This forum examines issues of intercultural competence and language education, discussing the extent to which language courses provide students with intercultural competence and the extent to which intercultural competence and language skills are, or should be, linked. With language education in the West in inarguable decline, the authors face the…

There is a paucity of opportunities for Vietnamese EFL students to use and practise English speaking skills both inside and outside the classroom, attributing to students' lack of interest and motivation in improving their speaking skills. Given that learning can be distributed across a multitude of formal and informal settings, the social and…