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English for young learners (EYL) teachers have practiced some creative activities to maintain their pupils' learning with natural exposure to the target language amidst the pandemic. One activity practiced by Indonesian and Korean teachers was an international collaboration to perform a virtual drama of each country's folktale. This phenomenological research aimed at tapping the teachers' perceptions regarding interculturality and world Englishes (WE) in the virtual dramatic play collaboratively conducted and delving into their commitments in honing interculturality and WE. Two Indonesian and Korean teachers were involved in three sessions of in-depth interviews using pre-prepared interview questions. The trustworthiness of the data was achieved by the group discussions allowing the participants to comment on and revise the transcribed data, as well as triangulation by two international collaborators. Thematic analysis was performed to identify emerging themes and to provide novel insights into EYL teachers' encounters with interculturality and WE. The Indonesian and Korean teachers admitted the compatibility between language and culture, the urgency of introducing varieties of English, and the merits of conducting international collaboration to promote interculturality and WE. The teachers are committed to integrate interculturality and WE in their instructions despite some differences in the stipulated curricula.

The student exchange programs are venues for learning opportunities by offering multicultural contexts. This study reports on the experiences of ten prospective English language teachers in a virtual student exchange program to investigate likely skill development in a multicultural and open and distance learning setting. This descriptive study used the qualitative method. The textual data were elicited through eighty reflective essays written by the participants. Virtual classroom observations and WhatsApp chat data ensured data triangulation. The results revealed the themes as developed learning and life skills and enhanced internal gains. It was found that internal outcomes, such as self-confidence, empathy, and self-reliance, were enhanced rather than external gains. One of the limitations of this study was the brevity of the exchange program, which lasted only eight days. Additionally, the current study is a small-scale study, which limits the generalizability of the results. Last but not least, only two participants placed in the researcher's class were observed. The study poses a few implications for education policymakers, curriculum developers, and teachers. In light of the results, it is posed that adding a multicultural aspect to the teacher training curriculum is imperative for teacher empowerment. Though the literature on student exchange reports findings on the gains and challenges, there is a scarcity of studies delving into what skills students develop and how with vivid examples. In this respect, this study adds to the relevant literature.

In this qualitative study, we analyzed the processes of a collaborative online international learning (COIL) collaboration between two higher education institutions in Japan and the United States from the perspective of the technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK) framework. The research question this study aimed to address was: What is the utility of the TPACK framework, as a lens of analysis, for this online cultural exchange? To address this question, we conducted semi-structured interviews with student participants and examined their written works. From the student participants' learning experiences, we identified evidence of cultural exchange as well as evidence of missed opportunities for cultural exchange arising from the limited knowledge of technology, pedagogy, content, and culture. COIL and TPACK both share a common goal of increasing students' access to multiple knowledge systems using educational technology. As a result, COIL conceptually aligns well with the TPACK framework. This collaboration showed an ongoing need for the centering of cultural knowledge and cultural exchange in both COIL and TPACK. We, accordingly, outline potential for a TPACCK, a modified TPACK framework to center cultural knowledge in both with the hope of taking steps towards a more culturally sustaining framework of international collaboration.

Translators are expected to have expertise and experience in the relevant field. For this reason, the study aimed to examine the professional competence, academic self-efficacy and intercultural communication competence perceptions of translator candidates on a relational basis. In this research, the relational screening model, one of the quantitative research approaches, was used. The sample of the study consists of student translators who are studying or have recently graduated from public universities in Kazakhstan. In this context, 214 translator candidates who studied at 4 different state universities in Kazakhstan and graduated in the 2023 academic year were included in the research. 'Translator Professional Competence Scale', 'Academic Self-Efficacy Scale' and 'Intercultural Communication Scale' were used as research data collection tools. Descriptive analyzes and structural equation modeling analyzes were carried out using SPSS 25.0 and AMOS 24.0 programs. According to the research findings, it was found that the professional competence, academic self-efficacy and intercultural communication competence of translator candidates in Kazakhstan were at medium levels. According to SEM analyses, the academic self-efficacy and intercultural communication competencies of translator candidates significantly affect their professional competencies, both separately and together.

As American universities become increasingly diverse, students often encounter cross-cultural challenges. Chinese students represent a substantial international U.S. student community, with distinctive pragmatic norms and values. This study investigates Chinese international and American graduate students' intercultural pragmatic strategies towards a face-threatening critical incident: expressing disagreement to a professor. Our mixed-methods design revealed quantitative and qualitative differences in participants' strategies and judgments of alternatives, demonstrating distinctive underlying norms and values. Many American participants preferred to express different opinions in class, while Chinese students privileged more indirect options, though each group included participants with alternate preferences. Implications for cross-cultural communication and pedagogy are offered.

This case study was undertaken in a London-based business school and explores the cross-cultural challenges faced by students who have relocated from India to the UK for one-year postgraduate (PG) business master's courses. Primary data were collected in two stages: semi-structured interviews, followed by a survey. The paper draws on the literature related to socio-cultural theory. It then reviews the findings of the research as to the cultural challenges the students have faced in the UK, whether in their studies, or their wider social lives. Finally, it integrates these findings into the extant literature and proposes a set of recommendations for consideration by the business school. Some of these may also have relevance for other Higher Education (HE) institutions working with Indian students.

This research paper delved into the critical issue of applying English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) assessment principles in local English language tests used for non-native English speakers in Iranian language institutes. A qualitative content analysis was made on 60 local tests, dissecting them into domains, dimensions, and rating rubrics to scrutinize their alignment with ELF assessment principles. The study unveiled that despite some alignment with ELF assessment principles, key aspects like local communicative context, intercultural competence, and linguistic diversity are often overlooked. In particular, writing and reading tests failed to fully reflect these principles, and listening and speaking assessments showed biases towards native English varieties. The study provides crucial insights for test developers to foster a more nuanced and accurate assessment of non-native English speakers' abilities. Moreover, it highlights the need to embed ELF principles into test construction, argues for broader assessment scopes and a focus on locally relevant tasks, and contributes to more equitable and contextually relevant English language proficiency tests by emphasizing linguistic diversity in assessment frameworks.

Balancing teaching national, regional, and foreign languages presents a challenge for higher education, illustrated by the use of hypertext for multilingual communication. This study investigates the correlation between proficiency in multilingualism and cultural awareness among higher education students. Embedded mixed methods design explores the relationship between multilingualism and cultural awareness quantitatively and qualitatively in higher education in Indonesia. Participants are from various universities in Indonesia, including the State University of Makassar, the State University of Jakarta, the State University of Surabaya, Palangka Raya State Islamic Institute, Timor University, and the University of Northern Sumatra, and they have diverse ethnic and linguistic backgrounds. The questionnaire distributed via Google Form passed validity and reliability tests. The quantitative research used Pearson's r analysis of the relationship between multilingualism learning and cultural awareness. In the qualitative strand, thematic analysis investigates cultural awareness-based multilingualism learning strategies. The research findings reinforce the positive and significant relationship between multilingual learning and cultural awareness, suggesting multilingual competence not only enhances cultural knowledge and participation in cultural practices but deepens understanding of the socio-cultural context and strengthens capacity and positive attitudes towards cultural learning. The study aids practitioners in developing inclusive learning strategies and provides policymakers with empirical evidence for crafting policies to empower multicultural communities.

This study investigates the effect of integrating different versions of Cinderella in a regular English classroom for Thai grade 10 students to enhance students' intercultural competence (IC), employing Deardorff's (2009) and Byram's (1997, 2021) model as the theoretical frameworks. A mixed-methods research approach was used to analyse quantitative and qualitative data, assessing the impact of implementing Cinderella stories on learners' intercultural competence. Various research instruments, including versions of Cinderella stories, designed lesson plans, an intercultural competence assessment questionnaire, and students' reflective writing, were employed. The findings indicated a significant improvement across all IC dimensions, with the most notable enhancement observed in cultural knowledge. Additionally, students demonstrated increased sensitivity to social discrimination, developed positive attitudes towards cultural differences, and improved intercultural communication skills. Reflective writing was crucial for fostering more profound understanding, self-awareness, and empathy. The study underscores the effectiveness of multicultural narratives and reflective practices in cultivating students' appreciation of cultural diversity and highlights the importance of student-centred activities in developing intercultural competence. Teachers are encouraged to adopt these strategies to create a more culturally aware and empathetic learning environment.

This paper explored students' experiences in an international virtual student mobility (VSM) program at a Japanese national university implemented in collaboration with partner universities in the Asia Pacific region and Europe. Through students' narratives, the study discerned how students perceive "mobility" and the concept of "international students" after participating in a virtual student mobility program. Findings revealed a tension between students' understanding of "mobility," official narratives, and students' actual experiences. While VSM programs facilitate communication and knowledge exchange across borders and develop cross-cultural communications, prevailing binary definitions in student mobility, such as "inbound" vs. "outbound," "domestic" vs. "international," or "study abroad" vs. "internationalization at home," limit VSM potential to be fully realized. This misalignment of the traditional understanding of student mobility that emphasizes place and borders challenges the official narrative of student mobility and urges educators to re-align and re-frame how we understand "international students."

In the twenty-first century, the teaching and learning of foreign languages (FL) has shifted towards providing English as a foreign language (EFL) learner with the necessary skills in a cross-cultural encounter widely known as intercultural competence. Based on the notion that one's intercultural savvy depends on having a clear conception of what intercultural competence involves, this study aimed to explore Thai students!" interpretations of intercultural competence (IC). The study was carried out through interviews with 20 Thai undergraduate students from two Thai universities in Bangkok. All participants took part in both one-on-one and group interviews. The study used Byram's (1997) model of intercultural communicative competence (ICC). The findings show that the participants had little understanding of the concepts underlying IC, and how students perceived IC was essentially influenced by their intercultural learning experiences in their classrooms%" Overall, the findings of this study offered a wide range of recommendations, specifically regarding classroom practices for intercultural learning.

Integrating internationalized songs into English language teaching has emerged as a dynamic strategy to ignite students' interest and enhance their language proficiency. This article comprehensively explores internationalized songs' significance in language education. A central focus lies on a detailed case study that demonstrates how the expertise of a Turkish musician was leveraged to select and that of field experts to translate and refine a local children's song for educational purposes. The study meticulously details the collaborative efforts among educators to tailor the song's content to meet language learning objectives, highlighting the transformative potential of such initiatives in the English language classroom. By immersing themselves in this practical example, educators can gain invaluable insights into the versatility of internationalized songs as effective tools for language instruction, thereby enhancing their teaching practices. Furthermore, the article underscores the importance of incorporating cultural elements into language teaching materials to foster intercultural competence among students. Educators can create immersive learning experiences that promote linguistic proficiency, cultural awareness, and appreciation by integrating internationalised songs.

Achieving higher levels of proficiency in a foreign language depends on more than an extensive knowledge of grammar and vocabulary. Evidence is mounting that true proficiency depends on cultural awareness about how and when language is used. This suggests that teachers in foreign language classrooms must incorporate explicit cultural lessons into their teaching plans. Yet, there remains a stubborn resistance to doing so. This paper outlines the main reasons in teaching culture and how cultural instruction and awareness lead to increased intercultural communicative competence (ICC). It addresses teachers' concerns about teaching culture and outlines their roles. The paper provides a strategy for designing successful activities that will build intercultural communicative competence and critical thinking skills.

Culture is an inseparable part of English Language Teaching (ELT), and ELT textbooks, as one of the main instructional resources are bound to include cultural and linguistic content. However, the kind of cultural content in these books has been a controversial issue for decades. It is recommended that curriculum designers use intercultural content, which represents different countries. However, it is repeatedly observed that the cultural contents in course books are mainly drawn from some specific countries where English is the first language. In this study, the authors investigated an English textbook series named "Touchstone" to determine the representativeness of the cultural content in those books based on Kachru's (1992) three concentric circles of countries in which the English language is spoken, namely the inner circle, the outer circle, and the expanding circle. Although the results were promising and a tendency to include expanding circle countries' cultures was found, the outer circle countries were yet culturally under-represented. The findings of this research can shed light on the intercultural representativeness of this particular series of textbooks and help raise English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers and learners' awareness of the cultural landscape of ELT textbooks. The findings would also benefit ELT materials developers who wish to produce course books with more internationally representative cultural content.

The study aims at addressing the role of teachers in implementing Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (CRP) in a diverse classroom. In response to the increasing demand on multiculturalism and ethnicity in the US classrooms, CRP can work as a bridge between the compartmentalized education system and the needs of the students (Richards, et al. 2007). A number of researchers have discussed the significant role teachers play in fostering cultural-linguistic pedagogical practices in the classroom; nonetheless, limited or no research has focused on how teacher's discourse fosters CRP in diverse contexts. This paper highlights how the teacher's classroom discourse can facilitate CRP practices for diverse learners. For this purpose, the study examines one course taught at a Midwest University of USA and that course instructor's specific discourses used in the classroom to address the goals of CRP. The research method involves Participatory Action Research (PAR) conducted through interviews and questionnaire. At the end, the research focuses on how teachers can foster the goals of CRP to leverage the gaps in the existing education system.

It is possible for an individual to adapt to the society in the different country he lives in by learning the culture of that society and socializing. This study aims to enable Nigerian foreign students studying in Cyprus to learn the culture of a foreign country through cinema. The problem of culture conflict forms the basis of the study. The movie "Eagle's Nest", which tells the story of Christian Merie, who has just joined the Turkish family, learning and adapting to Turkish culture, was used as teaching material in the course. Different scenes from the selected movie were shown and the students were asked to write an evaluation note. Students' grades and reactions were examined using the qualitative content analysis method. After all; It was found that students were able to relate the content of the film to cultural theories and concepts very well and produce solutions to intercultural problems.

This research explores the issues of applying bilingual education in China Panorama Curriculum, with purpose to enhance cross-cultural adaptability of ASEAN students in higher education. Employing questionnaires and interviews with a longitudinal analysis based on factors like age, gender, nationality, and time in China, to investigate the cross-cultural adaptability of ASEAN students in China, focusing on psychological and learning environment adaptation. The research uncovers challenges in adapting to the Chinese cultural landscape and proposes solutions. Cultural disparities between China and ASEAN nations are identified, with the bilingual education approach proving beneficial in fostering classroom participation and cultural exchange. However, psychological challenges persist, impacting mental well-being and academic performance. The research reveals the limited social life of ASEAN students in China, confined to campus interactions, suggesting improvements in English proficiency among teachers and encouraging active student participation in social activities. While bilingual education holds promise, the research emphasizes the need for comprehensive strategies, including teacher training and addressing socioeconomic disparities. The findings offer insights into cross-cultural adaptation complexities, highlighting the potential of bilingual education within the Panorama Curriculum. Caution is advised when generalizing beyond ASEAN students in Guangxi, China, considering potential variations in cultural, social, and educational contexts internationally.

Playmobil pro is an innovative modelling kit for adults that encourages creative thinking in the university/workplace. International multilingual students often disclose that they have little opportunity to develop their intercultural awareness, and cross-cultural and multilingual communicative competencies while engaging in meaningful activities that foster sustainable content and language learning. In the present study, 35 students were involved in two Playmobil pro workshops. They worked individually to present themselves to their peers, referring to their cultural background. They then worked in groups to explore intercultural differences among people working for organizations operating in the UK and another country of their choice and offer recommendations to help organizations avoid cross-cultural conflicts. The aim was to actively engage students to work on their final assignment and develop their intercultural awareness and cross-cultural communicative skills. This case study used a qualitative design and explored students' attitudes by asking them to write a short anonymous report at the end of the implementation and provide anonymous feedback via Mentimeter after each workshop. The lecturer also kept notes in the form of a diary during this implementation. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data which revealed that Playmobil pro facilitated intercultural communication in the post-COVID-19 era as students seemed to be unwilling to work with their peers in face-to-face classes, possibly suffering from trauma. However, learners confessed that they needed more time, support, and artefacts to fully present their ideas and thoughts. Recommendations for the effective implementation of Playmobil pro with multilingual students will be offered.

Global perspectives instruction often focuses on current news events, neglecting deeper human connections between local and global issues. This paper proposes "ecopedagogy" as a solution. Ecopedagogy is a critical approach that emphasizes the interconnectedness of people and the environment. By integrating ecopedagogy into interdisciplinary units, teachers can engage students in meaningful activities that develop critical thinking, cultural competence, and a sense of responsibility for the planet. Examples of ecopedagogical strategies include collaborative projects addressing local environmental challenges, journal prompts reflecting on personal connections to nature, and outdoor learning experiences. By fostering social-environmental awareness, ecopedagogy empowers students to become stewards of the earth and active agents of change who contribute to a more sustainable future. Exploring environmental issues through a global lens exposes students to diverse cultural perspectives and worldviews. This exposure fosters respect for environmental and social values, laying the foundation for meaningful cross-cultural dialogue and collaboration.

In an ever-increasingly diverse workforce, cross-cultural communication skills are essential for success regardless of job title or task. We present an engaging and customizable 30-minute activity designed to develop participants' cross-cultural communication skills by increasing awareness and sensitivity to interpersonal differences in collaborative group settings. Drawing from a multiculturalism approach to diversity, participants learn that acknowledging our differences facilitates more effective and strategic communication. We provide detailed instructions for running this exercise to meet instructors' and students' outlined learning objectives. The debriefing questions and post-lesson reflections support an environment where facilitators and participants grow. This experiential exercise suits any discipline's synchronous undergraduate, graduate, and professional classes.

Innovative classroom-tested approaches to cross-cultural communication--diversity, equity, and inclusion--and personal and professional development are featured. Readers can explore 10 teaching creations debuted at the 2023 "My Favorite Assignment" sessions at the Association for Business Communication Annual International Conference held in Denver, Colorado, USA.

This study combined the use of a simulated group project, self-assessments, and reflective essays and investigated their effectiveness in improving the intercultural communicative competence of Master of Business Administration students. The self-assessment data reveal that the knowledge dimension of cultural intelligence, which serves as an indirect measurement of intercultural communicative competence, exhibited greater improvement compared to the skill and metacognitive dimensions. The interviews and reflective essays not only corroborate with the quantitative findings in terms of the improvement in the knowledge dimension, but also suggest students' perceived value of this course in arousing the awareness and interests and strengthening the motivation for intercultural communication. It also reveals that the lack of work experience causes students' difficulty in relating what they learn in class to business practice. Based on these results, we argue that our approach can be effective in arousing students' awareness of intercultural communication and imparting necessary knowledge, and it can be more effective if teachers can guide students to transfer their learning to the real-world business scenarios.

Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) is a simulated global exchange experience that utilizes technology to bridge the gap between classrooms worldwide. Past research suggests that COIL may be useful in facilitating intercultural communication effectiveness and cultural humility for adult learners. As such, this quantitative study sought to examine the effects of a COIL experience that connected adult learners in the United States and Brazil on their intercultural effectiveness and cultural humility. Two instruments were used to collect data, including the Cultural Humility Scale and Intercultural Effectiveness Scale before and after the COIL experience. Data analyses revealed statistically significant increases in participants' intercultural effectiveness and cultural humility following the COIL experience. These findings provided insights into the effects of COIL on the intercultural effectiveness and cultural humility of adult learners. They also informed andragogical practices for cultivating attitudes, skills, and behaviors for intercultural interactions among adult learners in educational and other professional settings. However, further research on the outcomes of COIL is beneficial.

Functional communication training (FCT) is an evidence-based practice that can be applied across multiple populations of students. Despite extensive research support for FCT, its use can be impractical or ineffective if utilized with students who are from culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse backgrounds. That is because cultural implications are not considered through all intervention stages. In this article, we present culturally responsive strategies across each FCT step with the intent to improve (a) the implementation of FCT in schools and (b) the behavior of students with disabilities who can benefit from this intervention.

International Online Collaboration Competencies (IOCCs) are considered essential for global virtual teams, yet no consensus exists on what experts consider as IOCCs and which competencies are involved. To develop a framework to support higher education in designing learning tasks and evaluation instruments for the acquisition of IOCCs, a three-round consensus study was conducted among a purposive sample of academic and field experts in international online collaboration. The final IOCCs framework includes a definition of IOC and 34 IOCCs within six competency domains: (1) information and communication technology, (2) international and intercultural, (3) communication and language, (4) collaboration, (5) management and organization, and (6) domain-specific. The framework may be a benchmark for program development for Internationalization of the Curriculum (IoC), evaluation, and continuous professional development. Further research is needed to evaluate how this IOCCs framework can be integrated into higher education settings to teach and evaluate IOCCs.

Increased levels of internationalization have led to individuals working in multicultural organizations, a trend that is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. To navigate these environments successfully, more emphasis is being placed on the importance of higher education in preparing and arming the future workforce with the international competencies required to be successful in contemporary organizations. The aim of this research is to shed much needed light on how the learning design of management courses influence how and with whom 263 students learn within two culturally diverse post-graduate management courses. We found that Course B (specific cross-cultural design) significantly and with large effect size increased intercultural interaction over time relative to Course A (generic learning design), whereby qualitative findings confirm substantial differences in lived experiences between the two courses. This highlights that educators need to carefully design intercultural interactions rather than hoping that these will develop naturally over time.

One of the underrepresented aspects of pragmatic competence development is perceiving and responding to impoliteness acts. The present study reports on a quantitative and qualitative investigation of two international English language teaching (ELT) textbook series published by Oxford and Cambridge University Press; it focuses on the books highly popular among a thriving representative sample of learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) across four language proficiency levels and explores their coverage and treatment of impoliteness acts and their responses. Drawing on stringent models and taxonomies, the findings reveal that this unpleasant side of language is ignored and misrepresented in the textbooks, particularly at lower proficiency levels. We draw on our own and others' previous incivility studies and argue for the inclusion of impoliteness especially from earlier stages of language learning owing to its saliency in authentic interactions. The study concludes with implications and suggestions for language learners, instructors, textbook writers, and researchers.

Study abroad is often hailed as a unique and important learning experience that fosters students' ability to engage in effective and appropriate interactions in a variety of cultural contexts. Scholars, however, have not only questioned the learning that occurs in study abroad but have also highlighted problematic aspects such as the potential miseducation of participants and harm to host communities, particularly for short-term study abroad (STSA) experiences. Utilizing the lens of criticalhope, the purpose of this study was to critically assess the potential of STSA in fostering cross-cultural learning, while also examining its limitations and potential harm. Based on interviews with 18 participants 1 and 2 years after their STSA, we found STSA has the potential to be a catalyst for learning and growth related to the attitudes, knowledge, and skills needed for effective cross-cultural interactions. However, when participants approached STSA with a colonial attitude and failed to connect learning to cross-cultural experiences after STSA, that learning was minimal and STSA reinforced ethnocentric viewpoints. Participants' race and ethnicity shaped their learning. Black, Indigenous, and People of Color participants who had positive experiences abroad felt inspired by STSA to seek out additional cross-cultural interactions, which led to further growth. The white participants who experienced more growth had passions and interests related to cultural learning prior to STSA and engaged in meaningful cross-cultural experiences after STSA. In our Implications section, we discuss ways to maximize the potential of STSA to foster cross-cultural learning and serve as a catalyst for social change.

Online program design is important for cross-cultural learning and cultural awareness and responsiveness. Because of the importance of these areas in journalism and similar fields, this research studies an intercultural "bridge" project with journalism and media-related students at a southwest U.S. university and four universities in Yemen. The paper presents an analysis of the students' experience of the cultural exchange on the platform, Slack, of journalism, and other types of media. Data demonstrated the impact of learning about each culture, and interculturally, through students' and instructors' perspectives versus news coverage provided by mainstream media. Intercultural bridge building and relationship development through collective activities and journalistic work also offered promise. The study also revealed impediments to seamless cultural exchanges and learning, and barriers to effective intercultural communication.

The goal of the current study was to ascertain pre-service English language teachers' impressions of the impact of thematic speaking tasks on the development of their intercultural competence in an online Spoken English course. Moreover, the effect of certain demographic variables on pre-service teachers' cultural intelligence (CQ) was also investigated. The findings revealed a significant difference between the CQ of students with and without overseas experience. Pre-service teachers who could speak languages other than their mother tongue and English had significantly higher CQ scores than students who could not speak other languages. However, there was not a significant difference between males' and females' overall CQ. The results showed an increase in CQ scores when the pre- and post-questionnaire averages were compared, but it was not statistically significant. Semi-structured interviews revealed speaking tasks were effective in exposing pre-service teachers to various cultural perspectives, practices, and products.

China has actively internationalized its doctoral education by funding students to study abroad via the China Scholarship Council. Nevertheless, little is known about the scholarship recipients' perceptions of their study sojourn, especially those on short-term exchange programs. Based on 100 visiting doctoral students' study reports, the study employed a sentiment analysis and was guided by the ecological system theory to untangle how this cohort affectively evaluated academic and non-academic dimensions of the study sojourn as a multi-layered ecological system. Via a computer-based SKEP analysis, the study contributes new objective insights regarding the perceived nature of an overseas sojourn, which is predominantly positive. In particular, it reveals positive perceptions regarding the funder and institutional prestige, indicating that the recipients' increasing national pride may be harnessed as a soft pulling force for nation-building. This paper ends by offering implications that may potentially benefit doctoral education in China and other countries.

To examine the interaction between educators' intercultural development and students' intercultural growth, we studied the impact of CIEE's Intercultural Communication and Leadership (ICL) course. Our results indicate that Educator, Country, Gender, and Field had impacts on students' intercultural gains (Gibson et al., 2023); the focus of this article is solely on educators' perceptions of the factors that shape their ability to foster student intercultural learning. Using the AAC&U's (2009) Intercultural Knowledge and Competence VALUE Rubric to frame the 22 educator interview responses, our study indicates the tangible results of formally and informally supported educators' intercultural professional development. As a result of educators' intentional intercultural development, they leverage skilled pedagogical techniques to effectively bridge with students to enhance their intercultural learning. Therefore, we argue for the investment, expansion, and mentorship of faculty development, particularly with regards to educator's own intercultural growth, in order to activate and expand students' learning while studying abroad.

This longitudinal mixed-methods case study aimed to explain why a seemingly ordinary U.S.-affiliated hyper-connected French language learner (Nancy) achieved extraordinary outcomes after 15 weeks in Paris, compared to fifteen Generation Z peers also enrolled in the program. Framed by Complex Dynamic Systems Theory and social pedagogies, the study adopted a retrodictive approach to "explain after by before" and retrace Nancy's complex, non-linear trajectories of success. Adapting to new realities of students going abroad with their smartphones in hand, multiple measures of success (linguistic, intercultural, social, psychological, emotional) were triangulated with reports on smartphone usage, rich interviews, and background data to provide dense time-series and narrative illustrations of changes. Findings revealed the importance of the activation of Nancy's agency to take advantage of the affordances of her study abroad environment through the butterfly effect arising from her initial conditions, judicious smartphone usage, and quality of L1 and L2 interactions.

The purpose of this focused qualitative study was to examine two urban high school students' perceptions of a study-abroad experience, five years after the fact, with the intention of assessing long-term effects on increased global competency and awareness. The interviewees, selected from 11 participants, brought an already rich intercultural perspective and as such, their experiences illuminated the profound benefits of short-term study abroad experiences. Interviews were designed to elicit whether the principle of global competency could be discerned along two basic criteria, acquisition of cultural knowledge, and capacity/desire for close observation and self-reflection. Viewed through the theories of experiential learning, this paper will explore related pedagogical themes as well as point to the cognitive issues at stake in a longitudinal approach to qualitative research.

Scholars suggest that study abroad programs must intentionally design and implement intercultural intervention for students' growth. This study used a mixed-method approach to examine the effectiveness of an online curriculum designed to facilitate the intercultural competence development of semester abroad students. Three theories informed the curricular design and study: the Intercultural Development Continuum, the Intercultural Praxis Model, and the Intercultural Knowledge and Competence VALUE rubric. Using the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) distributed before and after the study abroad experience, the study analyzed data sets for a treatment group with 110 students and a control group with 88 students. The results demonstrated that students in the treatment group achieved a statistically significant higher level of meaningful gains in their IDI scores from pre- to post-test compared to the control group. In addition, students described their growth in specific competencies. These findings contribute to study abroad literature by assessing a theoretically grounded online curriculum rooted in intercultural theories so as to suggest best practices in group mentoring, stage-based pedagogy, and critical reflection for intercultural competence development during a study abroad program.

The globalization of business, education, and other sectors has illuminated the need for institutions of higher education to prepare students to adapt, interact, and perform in culturally diverse environments (Arnett, 2002; Brislin & Yoshida, 1994; Elmuti et al., 2005; Williams et al., 2017). Utilizing the conceptual framework of Deardorff's (2006) Intercultural Competence Model (ICM), this qualitative case study explored undergraduate students' development of intercultural competence (IC) resulting from their participation in two different short-term study abroad programs (STSA) while enrolled at a specific U.S.-based university. Nine themes emerged that supported and enriched Deardorff's ICM. Findings provided a more holistic comprehension of IC by capturing students' own words, oral stories, descriptions, and feelings about their shared STSA experiences. Findings further identified students' perceptions of the role that varied pedagogy played in their development of IC through STSA.

This white paper is a conceptual summary of a think tank discussion sponsored by The Forum on Education Abroad. Following the traditional use of "white paper" as a call to action in specific contexts, this paper defines the contexts of programming for education abroad and for domestic diversity education and argues for an incorporation of their differing perspectives into the general category of intercultural learning. The result of the application would be that intercultural learning in education abroad would continue to expand its current emphasis on the developmental experience of contemporary global cultures to include more transformational experience of historical and political context, while domestic diversity education would expand its current focus on transformational experience of historically situated power inequities to include more developmental experience of contemporary domestic multicultural relations. Several illustrations of practical application of the ideas follow the call to action.

Despite a clarion call to cultivate EFL teachers' intercultural competence (IC) in supporting their classroom practice, there is a lack of empirical research on how pre-service EFL teachers develop their IC. To fill the gap, the study examined two pre-service EFL teachers' IC development during a service-learning programme in China. Drawing on data from interviews, reflective journals, and researchers' field notes, the findings revealed two IC development patterns derived from the Chinese notion of harmony, i.e., "prioritising harmony" and "seeking harmony in diversity," shaped by the participants' motivations, personality traits, and contextual influences. Implications are provided to facilitate pre-service teachers' IC development in culturally diverse contexts.

Developing intercultural communicative competence has become an inevitable need within 21st-century demands, mobilizing global efforts to promote unity through diversity. However, within the Colombian context and supported by an economic interest in bilingualism, most English language teaching programs still advocate educational practices that reaffirm cultural homogenization and legitimation. This presupposes a challenge for pre-service language teachers, who may not be interculturally prepared to overcome their ethnocentrism, and yet have to face a language classroom. The study explored the intercultural sensitivity level of a group of 50 pre-service English language teachers from a Colombian private university, its influencing factors, and explained its relationship with the representation of the Other. A twostage explanatory sequential mixed-method design was employed, involving, in the first stage, quantitative data from a self-awareness intercultural sensitivity questionnaire and in the second stage, qualitative data from semi-structured interviews and two in-class observations. Findings indicated that the participants demonstrated ethnocentric intercultural sensitivity arising from a traditionalist culture teaching approach, misleading artificial means to culture learning, and limited overseas cultural experience, which led them to perpetuate Cultural Othering, a social representation materialized through mechanisms of overgeneralization, cultural pride, and cultural underestimation. The conclusions and implications are further discussed.

There is a tendency in language courses to use textbooks which focus mainly on anglophone cultures. As a consequence, learners are more exposed to foreign cultures rather than to their own, and they have a few chances to explore and reflect on their own culture. It was evident in a syllabus for an A1 course in a Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) degree at a university in Bogotá. This article shows how problem-based activities were used to promote local cultural awareness. This action research study implemented focus groups, questionnaires, students' artifacts, and teacher's interviews. The results show that problem-based activities contribute to students' concept of culture, the development of thinking and cognitive skills, and the ability to apply problem-solving skills in local cultural contexts. It can be concluded that problem-solving activities encourage students to analyze and reflect on cultural aspects, develop skills for solving problems and improve their communicative competence.

Implementing an equity agenda in the classroom is both necessary and challenging for classes containing pre-service teachers. For this intervention, we chose to begin our History of Mathematics course for preservice middle school teachers with a cultural simulation training exercise: Bafa Bafa. After participating in the exercise, pre-service teachers were asked to write a reflection paper and were later interviewed about their experiences in the course. Although participants found Bafa Bafa an uncomfortable experience, it was not an unsafe one, and the preservice teachers agreed that this exercise helped them better understand, articulate, and notice experiences with microaggressions.

As a public compulsory course for Non-English majors in colleges and universities, College Public English should not only develop students' language and cross-cultural communication skills, but also cultivate their correct outlook on life, values, world and native land emotion, which is consistent with the ideological-political goals of the course. English textbook is the guarantee for the smooth progress of English teaching, and more importantly, it is an important carrier to practice Chinese teaching ideas. This paper mainly focuses on how to integrate ideological-political elements into English teaching from textbook perspective. It discusses the measures of integrating ideological-political education into College English courses from four aspects: teaching objectives, unit themes, and knowledge points, grammatical structure and word explanation. It is finally pointed out that exploring and integrating ideological-political elements in textbooks is the key link to realize ideological-political education in College Public English courses.

Intercultural communication plays a crucial role in second language (L2) acquisition as it always happens in the context of another, usually very different culture. The present study sheds light on the benefits of using documentary videos in teaching intercultural communication to young students and how they can affect students' development of their cultural competence. The study research sample consisted of two groups of fifth-grade primary school students, with thirty participants each. Their prescribed book of English consisted of various parts related to different countries and their local culture. Therefore, documentary videos could be considered as adequate supplementary material. Data collection method was based on ideas adapted from The Cultural Intelligence Scale (CIS) (2005). In addition, in-depth interviews were conducted to reveal students' details and subjective feelings in addition to their attitudes and opinions. The t-test was used to reveal statistically significant the differences between the two groups. Results suggested that using documentary videos in teaching culture enhances students' cultural intelligence. Moreover, they show that the students had a positive attitude towards using documentary videos in teaching culture, which can significantly stimulate their motivation. This paper can be a pilot study that will stimulate further research into the needed topic.

In an increasingly globalised society, the internationalisation of higher education has become a prime goal for many universities, which seek to promote the development of intercultural competencies and insert their actors in dynamics of academic cooperation, knowledge construction and negotiation of meanings in an environment of respect. What is sometimes overlooked, however, is the fact that university campuses are already intercultural spaces by nature, even in the absence of internationalisation initiatives; in other words, university campuses are places where diversity abounds, making it possible to experience intercultural encounters, leading to the development of intercultural competencies. This article presents the narratives of four students and their home-making experiences at a Colombian university. Through their stories, these students give us a glimpse of the intercultural challenges they face when they try to create a sense of belonging while developing, constraining or reaffirming their identities on campus. The article analyses the student narratives through the lenses of new materialism, social semiotics, intersectionality and intercultural communication to understand the complexity of building a home with others amid diversity and, sometimes, adversity.

This study investigates the complex dynamics of semantic change and cultural adaptation of metaphor in multilingual communication. The research uses cognitive linguistics, sociolinguistics, and pragmatics to develop a model that explains the fundamental mechanisms of metaphorical expression and comprehension across languages and cultures. Using qualitative analysis of 12 semi-structured interviews with senior-level academicians with experience in industry and academia, this study examines the interplay between semantic transformation, cultural adaptation, metaphor comprehension, cognitive processes, and contextual variables. The results demonstrate that as a metaphor is transmitted and adapted across languages and cultural contexts, it undergoes a complex semantic modification process. Cultural influences significantly affect the adaptation and interpretation of metaphors, highlighting the significance of sociocultural context in the production of metaphorical expressions. In addition, cognitive processes mediate metaphor comprehension and adaptation, emphasizing the significance of cognitive mechanisms in international communication. This research contributes to the theoretical understanding of metaphor in multilingual communication by illuminating the cognitive and social mechanisms that influence metaphorical discourse. The findings have implications for language instruction, translation, and communication in environments with linguistic diversity. The comprehensive approach of this study provides valuable guidelines for metaphorical expression and comprehension in various linguistic and cultural contexts.

Objectives: Two sets of intercultural learning resources incorporating Global Englishes learning content were developed for self-access use in the higher education context. The resources were investigated in terms of student learning experiences across two contexts in Japan: an English language major program and a nonlanguage major program. The aim was to develop an understanding of student learning experiences to inform practical implications for self-access learning in these areas. Method: The educational resources were investigated in a qualitative content analysis of reflective writing and supporting survey data from 30 students across the two university programs to understand how (and if) they supported student learning as well as how the resources and form of learning were perceived by the students. Results: Resources in both universities led to similar learning outcomes, showing that self-access resources can support intercultural and Global Englishes learning. A longer time requirement was necessitated by one set of resources, which was criticised by students. Students also indicated a preference for collaborative learning aspects. Conclusions: This pedagogically focused article contributes to the discussion around digital resources for intercultural and Global Englishes learning. Short-form resources integrating these areas may be more effective for self-access learning than resources requiring multiweek commitments in both language and nonlanguage major programs. Aspects of collaborative learning in self-access engagement appealed to students. Implication for Theory and/or Practice: Carefully designed short resources based on the conceptual framework and on recommendations outlined in this article may lead to effective self-access student learning, particularly in resources involving collaborative work.

Intercultural sensitivity, which is seen as an affective component of intercultural competence, is crucial to cultivating one's favorable emotions about cultural differences experienced in intercultural communication. This qualitative study was conducted to find out how undergraduate English as a foreign language (EFL) students in Vietnam perceived intercultural sensitivity. The results showed that although the majority of students had not previously heard the phrase "intercultural sensitivity" before taking part in the survey, their intuitive understanding of the term was rather close to that of the literature. The participants were well aware of the evaluation of their intercultural sensitivity level. EFL students had different strategies for improvement of intercultural sensitivity depending on their study level and intercultural awareness. All participants, especially those who were learning a second language, believed that intercultural awareness is crucial. The study findings point to the recommendation that educators strive to further integrate intercultural sensitivity instruction and learning to improve EFL students' capacity for intercultural communication.