The globalization of business, education, and other sectors has illuminated the need for institutions of higher education to prepare students to adapt, interact, and perform in culturally diverse environments (Arnett, 2002; Brislin & Yoshida, 1994; Elmuti et al., 2005; Williams et al., 2017). Utilizing the conceptual framework of Deardorff's…

How best to teach English as a Foreign Language (EFL) has been a complicated issue that has bedeviled curricula designing. Starting from the argument that today's EFL curricula do need a complete overhaul to reflect the recurrent debate about culture clash and culture cooperation. This study offers an alternative to those who advocate either…

Culturally responsive (CR) leadership permeates all leadership practices and consists of several domains including: developing critical consciousness, supporting cultural knowledge development, and advocating for social justice within and outside of the school walls. This case focuses on the need to ground CR leadership in critical self-reflection…

This paper reports on an exploratory collective case study on three in-service English language teachers in Medellin, Colombia. The study aimed at creating a route for teachers to collaboratively construct their understanding of intercultural communicative competence through their involvement in a study group. Data were collected through…

This study explores how transnational higher education partnerships in China influence Chinese students' intercultural communicative competence (ICC) and their motivation to study abroad. There is a growing trend for Chinese students to experience cultural diversity. However, not much research has been conducted to understand how transnational…

The case studies of three Korean American families examined the directives and honorifics used by families to analyze how family members socialized each other into culturally appropriate ways of directing. Drawing from audio- and visual-recordings of interactions, interviews of parents and children, field notes, and artifacts, this study found…

This paper focuses on self-awareness as an integral component of intercultural competence (IC) in the English as a foreign language (EFL) context. For the purposes of this study, an EPortfolio of Intercultural Competence (EPIC) was developed by the researcher and employed during an intervention as a series of tasks and reflection prompts through…

Within the currently diverse UK higher education environment, one important aspect of learning is the development of intercultural competence. The study that informs this paper investigated the ways intercultural competence was perceived as being enhanced or inhibited through current language and educational practices at a university that…

This qualitative study investigates the lived experiences of interculturality among international students enrolled in a top-rated comprehensive university in Shanghai and a key provincial university in China's hinterland. Based on an analysis of narrative interviews with 20 international students from different sociocultural backgrounds, the…

One of the objectives of examining culture vis-à-vis additional language (L2) writing is to conceptualize an effective L2 writing pedagogy (Matsuda & Atkinson, 2008). Kaplan's (1966) analysis of English as an additional language (EAL) texts was a pioneering endeavour in this regard, although due to ensuing controversy surrounding his claims,…

Background: Emergent bodies of literature have uncovered problematic trends in U.S. study abroad that reproduce hierarchies of power and colonialism, perpetuate views of an exotic cultural "other," and privilege tourism over education. Purpose: This work responded to these problems by exploring ways of teaching and learning in study…

From the current available research, it is evident that further evidence is needed to understand Second Language Acquisition (SLA) processes under planned bilingualism approaches in English as a Second Language (ESL) environments. This study employs an explanatory single case strategy to investigate the oral proficiency and SLA experiences of a…

This ethnographic case study explores intercultural and ethnographic engagement by undergraduate Hong Kong students enrolled in an Intercultural Communication course at a public research university. Ethnographic projects originated from virtual exchanges with undergraduates in a professional writing course at a private research institution on the…

The current study explores utilizing the ACTFL cultural framework to structure synchronous video-based speaking activities and subsequent class discussions. The study includes 39 students in two sections of an intermediate-level college Spanish course who engaged in five 30-minute conversations with native speakers of Spanish via Talk Abroad…

Recent scholarship indicates several benefits of mother tongue education (MTE) in supporting student learning. Within one Mayan community in Guatemala, Ixil is the mother tongue spoken at home and faces extinction due to Indigenous oppression and genocide. This qualitative case study highlights efforts of 13 teachers and administrators at one…