Virtual exchange : not only for language learning

Abstract

Technology enables teachers to connect their students online with foreign students in a facilitated educational setting. Such tele-collaborative intercultural projects are called virtual exchange practices (O’Dowd 2018). The students get an opportunity to engage in dialogues and tele-collaboration with peers from other countries. The intercultural encounters may not only enhance the participants’ intercultural and foreign language competencies but can also develop their collaborative skills. In addition, the students can learn how to manage in communicative situations, when the communicators’ language proficiency levels and study fields are different. This article provides an overview of virtual exchange projects that two enthusiastic teachers planned and launched together, moving beyond the subject boundaries. This article gives an overview of the pedagogical design, the research conducted and the ideas for the continuation.