Higher education institutions increasingly seek to promote students' intercultural competence (IC), yet its conceptualization remains a challenge. The first aim of this study was to explore how a purposive sample of n = 77 domestic, undergraduate students at a public university in Germany define IC. The second aim was to assess to what extent such…

In the past decade, the population of international students enrolling in Chinese colleges and universities has been increasing rapidly, with the students in Asia taking the most portions. Chinese higher education institutions are facing great challenges in their course of internationalization. Therefore the studies on the intercultural adaptation…

This paper explores the unique contribution of content modules towards the development of criticality (Barnett, 1997) and intercultural competence (Byram, 1997) in Modern Languages (ML). It draws upon the findings of a PhD study investigating the implications of the division between language and content, as experienced by German Studies students…

While intercultural competence is commonly a goal of university study abroad programmes, debates around criteria for assessing this competence have highlighted the challenges in appropriately identifying students' intercultural learning in relation to specific university programmes. To overcome these issues, this research moves beyond…

The purpose of this study was to determine the intercultural learning outcomes for students in the Interdisciplinary Ghana Study Abroad Program. Data were collected from 28 students using the Intercultural Learning Outcomes (ILO) questionnaire containing 29 statements and 5 content domains (functional knowledge, world geography knowledge,…

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…

The development of e-literacies and e-skills is of primary importance in gaining transferable aptitudes for the job market. Students in higher education need to take part in shared intercultural experiences which allow them to understand and cope with their peers in preparation for their futures. Furthermore, virtual exchange of information,…

The aim of the research described in this article, which is an example of action research, is to contribute to new curricular and professional definitions based on a systematic analysis of the possibilities and limitations that arise when working with the intercultural dimension of foreign language classes for adults. Additional sources for…

This study adapted web-based exploratory tasks using WebQuests as a means of enabling students to understand and reflect on both the target and their own culture. Learners actively used various authentic resources selected to meet their linguistic and cognitive needs to complete the tasks. The aim of this study was to help Japanese university…

Recent research has empirically demonstrated that young adults today are different from prior generations in their decreased empathy, increased narcissism, and decreased civic engagement. The formative years of young adulthood are a critical period for the development of civic values and civil ideologies, a time when college-age adults need to…

Participants were 109 American college students studying Chinese in a study-abroad programme in Beijing. Following Kelley and Meyer, intercultural competence was defined as cross-cultural adaptability involving four dimensions (emotional resilience, flexibility/openness, perceptual acuity and personal autonomy) and was measured with a survey. A…

Technological development offers language teachers a myriad of options for collaborative activities. Learners, in turn, benefit from increased opportunities to interact with people who can speak their target language. Research has previously highlighted the importance of developing learners' intercultural competence through such activities. The…

This article discusses some practical ideas associated with a pilot intercultural telecollaboration project. The aim of the project was to connect students from five countries: Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Poland and Spain, and to make them interact using social media, such as Facebook, Skype, Google Hangouts, etc. There were success stories…

This paper examines how the study-abroad experience enhances intercultural communication competence. This study used Bennett's (1986, 1993) model of ethnorelative typology of acceptance, adaptation, and integration to explore intercultural communication competency. Central to intercultural communication competency is intercultural sensitivity and…

This study builds on research examining the in-school technology practices of adolescent language learners by exploring the patterns of classroom literacy practices that emerge when a telecollaborative project is introduced into a conventional secondary language classroom. We draw on the conceptual frameworks and discourse analytical tools…