Facilitating intercultural competence development in virtual exchange: The student-generated survey

Abstract

Virtual exchange (VE) has gained prominence as a means to improve students’ intercultural competence and foreign language abilities through forums and other supplemental activities. This study examines a supplemental activity referred to as the student-generated survey (SGS) implemented in the IVEProject, a large-scale VE with, at the time of this research, over 3000 contributing EFL students per exchange. Stemming from a sociocultural perspective with an aim to promote student agency, curiosity and discussion, the SGS allows students to participate in a survey composed of questions generated by themselves and/or their peers. Aiming to investigate how the SGS affects IVEProject participants’ intercultural competence, this cross-sectional study focuses on data collected from 768 participants from 10 countries during the May-July 2021 exchange. Quantitative analysis of nine six-point Likert scale items showed that students who took the SGS and discussed its results had statistically significant increases in multiple items related to components of Deardorff's Pyramid Model of IC compared with students who did not. Furthermore, these gains were more noticeable among students who additionally took part in the question-generation process of the SGS. Thematic analysis of an open-ended question found 96% of student comments to be positive, falling under the themes ‘intercultural development’ and ‘enjoyment and contentment.’ The findings from quantitative and qualitative data shed light on the positive effect of the SGS on IC development, offering a beneficial reference point for international VE contexts.