The objective of this paper is to report the preliminary results of a telecollaborative project between a Brazilian university (UTFPR) and a Colombian university (Universidad de Pamplona) that both offer a Licentiate degree in English. The project had two purposes: a pedagogical one to show student-teachers how they can develop their communication…

English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers, as the backbone of language teaching system, are expected to raise the awareness level of students' intercultural communication competence by helping them relate their own culture to foreign cultures, empathise with foreign cultures' perspectives and tolerate the ambiguities or differences. This study…

In language teaching, it has been universally acknowledged that students need not just knowledge and skill in the grammar of a language but also the ability to use the language in socially and culturally appropriate ways. In this article Michael Byram, who has been working on Intercultural Competence for quite some time in a variety of different…

The study explores the opinions and attitudes of International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) English language teachers from Turkey, the USA, the UK, New Zealand and Spain on intercultural language teaching. 16 teachers from Turkey, 15 teachers from the USA, 11 teachers from the UK, 10 teachers from New Zealand and 8 teachers from Spain,…

Intercultural language teaching and learning has increasingly been adopted in state school systems, yet studies have shown that language teachers struggle to include it in their practice. The aim of this study is to use dynamic systems theory to examine how a German as a foreign language teacher in a New Zealand secondary school adopted a project…

The concept of task has become central not only to an understanding of language learning per se, but also to the design and research of Online Intercultural Exchanges (OIEs). While research on the design of tasks in OIEs has been very productive, we still lack insights into how teachers develop competences in task design on the micro-level.…

The TILA project originated from the need to explore whether and how telecollaboration affects language learning processes for communication, intercultural understanding and motivation of youngsters learning foreign languages at secondary schools and to empower teachers to pioneer meaningful pedagogical innovation in the curriculum of foreign…

Telecollaboration for Intercultural Language Acquisition (TILA), is an EU-funded project within the Lifelong Learning Programme that will run between January 2013 and June 2015. TILA's overall objectives are: (1) to innovate, enrich and make foreign language teaching programmes more attractive and effective by encouraging the implementation of…

This article focuses on how to teach intercultural communicative competence to learners of English as a foreign language enrolled in a university exchange program in Europe, and help them become "intercultural speakers." The intercultural speaker can be defined as an intermediary between his or her own culture and the other's culture.…

Refutes earlier ideas that encouraging bilingualism at a young age retards learning and causes behavioral problems, confusion and anxiety. Considers as sources of learning problems, long overlooked factors such as socioeconomic status, minority affiliation, and society's attitude toward the language of instruction or the dominant language.…

Describes a year-long intercultural exchange program between fifth year Spanish students from a suburban high school and English as a second language students from an inner city junior/senior high school in Rhode Island. Results of the exchange show that attitudes and proficiencies improved for both sets of students. (LMO)

A foreign travel program for eighth grade French language students from Shoreham, New York was developed to provide language speaking practice in Quebec, Canada. The program was designed to allow students to spend as much time as possible speaking the language and interacting with the people. The following "survival through speaking"…

A teacher of English in Sweden reports on experiences in organizing international school correspondence and tape exchange in English classes. Goals of the correspondence are the teaching of language, teaching of the culture of other countries, and promoting better international understanding. School correspondence can provide plenty of popular…

Preparation for study abroad is a valid part of the foreign language program. One advantage of study abroad is the motivational focus it gives to home-based foreign languages programs. The possibility of participating in the foreign culture and actually using the language are incentives. Teaching intercultural communication and understanding is a…

This volume contains papers submitted to the 12th Annual International Conference of the Bulgarian Comparative Education Society (BCES), held in Sofia and Nessebar, Bulgaria, in June 2014, and papers submitted to the 2nd International Partner Conference, organized by the International Research Centre 'Scientific Cooperation,' Rostov-on-Don,…