The International Virtual Exchange Project (IVEProject) has been connecting students across multiple countries through asynchronous forums on a large scale since 2015. However, considering the variety of virtual exchange methods and the advantages they bring to the field of foreign language learning, there is an increased need to explore the…

This paper reports on a qualitative study which is part of a larger project on the affordances of an international campus for intercultural (IC) learning. The research examined two MA programs at a US postgraduate institution, TESOL and International Education Management, and two groups of participants, nine students and eight faculty members. The…

The process of developing intercultural competence requires students to decenter from their existing frames of interpretation. Dissonance creates opportunities to question assumptions by challenging the primacy of perspectives, fostering skills to grapple with new knowledge and the ability to think more dialectically about the world. The present…

Although virtual exchange has been widely discussed during the (post-)pandemic era, how students do reflexivity in this context has yet to be fully explored. This study invites students from Chinese and Finnish universities to think aloud and reflect on their virtual exchanges by presenting them with video clips of their online intercultural…

This article provides a theoretical exploration of the connections between critical literacy and symbolic competence with some pedagogical examples from an empirical study. More specifically, we argue that critical literacy can be utilised as an approach to develop symbolic competence, and, by extension, encourage intercultural learning. Our…

This paper investigates the author's classroom practice of implementing an interpretive perspective on intercultural language teaching and learning in two online intercultural workshops on the topic of face masks designed and delivered during the COVID-19 pandemic. It reflexively examines two critical incidents in classroom practice in terms of…

The present article explores the affordances of a dual language Northern Sámi-Norwegian picturebook in addressing multilingualism and interculturality in the primary English language classroom. Both notions of interculturality and multilingualism have received increased attention as fundamental components in English language teaching (ELT), yet…

This article addresses key theoretical and practical concerns related to the intercultural encounter with multimodal literature. Previous efforts to incorporate an intercultural dimension into conceptualisations of literary literacy have primarily focused on competences associated with the reading of traditional, script-based texts. However, as…

The construct of critical cultural awareness (CCA) is often regarded as an element pertaining to intercultural communicative competence (Byram, 1997, 2021). In this model, CCA is defined as the ability to "evaluate, critically, and on the basis of a systematic process of reasoning, values in one's own culture and other cultures" (Byram,…

In this article we discuss how the design of a higher education language course can challenge the power of sentimentality in the classroom. In particular, the paper analyses the role of literature in intercultural language education through the lens of affect theory, while focusing on minimizing sentimentality in the classroom, especially when the…

Teaching intercultural communicative competence (ICC) is still a challenging goal to achieve in English as a Second/Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) education. ESL/EFL instructors teaching in textbook-based educational contexts require more tangible approaches to designing and implementing purposeful intercultural language teaching that amplifies the…

There is increasing research on the challenges experienced by Chinese international students during their studies in the UK such as language barriers, social interactions, academic achievement, and psychological adjustment. This study proposes to understand these challenges through a kindness approach. It explores how sixty-three Chinese Master's…

University campuses are critical spaces where the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in society are discussed, and debated. However, even as campus communities across the world grow more diverse, higher education institutions are facing an existential crisis--high dropout rates, low enrollments, growing disenchantment with…

As internationalization in the learning environment is still developing in Japan, there is a need for further practical research in foreign language education which embeds international cooperative learning. The study reported in this paper aimed to explore the effectiveness of Intercultural Cooperative Project-Based Learning (IC-PBL) based on the…

Researchers and intercultural educators have put forward various theoretical principles and pedagogical ideas related to the design and implementation of intercultural communication (IC) courses. Recently, researchers have called for curriculum development to include students' voices about their intercultural communication education (ICE). This…