Developing intercultural competence through study abroad, telecollaboration, and on-campus language study

Abstract

Although a number of studies have investigated study abroad or telecollaboration separately, none to date has included both methods with the aim of differentiating their impacts on the development of intercultural communicative competence (ICC). Using mixed methods, the current study compared foreign language learners’ perceived ICC development under three different conditions over 6 weeks: 1) a study-abroad program (n = 52) in Korea, China, Japan, France, and Spain designed for American undergraduates; 2) telecollaboration (n = 54) between Korean students of English and American students of Korean; and 3) on-campus language study (n = 44) among Korean students of English and American students of Chinese who were learning languages at their home institutions. Data from 150 students were collected from pre- and post-study questionnaires measuring cognitive, affective, and behavioral aspects of ICC; reflective writing; exit essays; and interviews. The results indicated that the study abroad and telecollaboration groups exhibited significant improvement in perceived cognitive, affective (engagement and confidence), and behavioral aspects of ICC over time, whereas the on-campus (control) group showed little change in any aspect of ICC. Although the study-abroad group displayed significantly higher levels of intercultural knowledge than the telecollaboration group, both groups showed similar degrees of improvement in the affective and behavioral aspects of ICC. We argue that online interactions with members of the target culture can be as beneficial as studying abroad and that it is at least more beneficial than traditional classroom language learning in the development of L2 learners’ perceived ICC.