In this digital era, online intercultural exchange has gained increased popularity in language and culture education. However, concerns arise over its productiveness and efficacy in engaging participants cognitively. In addition, there is a paucity of research on out-of-classroom synchronous online exchange projects, let alone those involving…

This chapter reports the challenges that both the students and the teachers experienced in a telecollaborative project between a Japanese university and an American university. In this semester-long project, the students in groups of three to five from both universities worked collectively mainly asynchronously and in occasional synchronous…

Implementation of environmental education programs in nature reserve areas in southwestern China faces challenges because of a highly exam-oriented educational system and financial constraints. We examined a relatively successful case at the Caohai Nature Reserve in Guizhou by analyzing its development from 1993 to 2014. Results suggest that…

This chapter will describe the ways wikis can benefit students, teachers, and administrators as well as provide examples of ways they can be used in the language and culture classroom for Virtual Exchange (VE). It will specifically examine how the tool was used for a collaborative research paper and explore how students can think critically to…

With a shift toward understanding the goals of foreign language learning as development of intercultural communicative competence (ICC; Thorne, 2010), telecollaborative interaction with geographically distant partners has been seen both as a pedagogical tool that can play a significant role in promoting intercultural negotiation abilities and…

The article deals with the features of promoting and organizing professional pedagogical mobility of educators in the European context. Therefore, theoretical framework of the current research includes relevant documents of the Bologna Process (the Sorbonne Declaration, the Bologna Declaration (1999), the Prague Communiqué (2001), The Berlin…

Internationalization of higher education is a major characteristic of China's higher education policy. Accordingly, the Chinese government is fervently encouraging the spread of Chinese language and culture through Confucius Institutes, student exchange programs, recruitment of international students, and international collaborations. South Asia…

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…

Superintendency is regarded as one of the most visible and powerful leadership roles in the world of education today (Sovine, 2000). This research was conducted to identify the challenges faced by assistant superintendents and their perspectives in terms of preparation and support. The study made use of the qualitative research design and was…

This case study reports on an Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange (E+VE) course at the University of Bordeaux. VE enables students to develop communication skills in an English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) environment (Helm, 2016; Kohn & Hoffstaedter, 2017). The present study reports on student language and content learning experiences through E+VE, where…

Virtual Exchange (VE) is of great import to language and culture teachers and researchers but is also gaining popularity in other fields. However, around the world and in the Asia-Pacific region in particular, the number of exchanges is not high and the quality of those that exist needs to continue to improve. It is essential that the latest…

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…

Since 2000, I have been coordinating a web-based Virtual Exchange (VE) project, "Project Ibunka." "Ibunka" means different cultures in Japanese. It aims to provide opportunities for authentic interaction among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and English as a Second Language (ESL) learners all over the world. By the end of…

In this Thinkpiece, the author, who is a Fulbright Teaching Assistant, examines what it really means to have mutual cultural exchange. She reflects on her experience as an American working in a university in Bucharest. In this paper she describes how some of her assumptions about academic life were challenged, and how being open to these…

This study examined students' perceptions of attitudinal learning outcomes and instructional activities within a language and cultural exchange (LACE) course at a midwestern U.S. university and explored whether perceptions differed based on students' prior knowledge, major, and/or demographics. We utilized a mixed-methods approach to gather…