Multicultural Encounters and Intercultural Dialogue: Interactional Experiences of International Students on a Short- Term Online Language Program

Abstract

The development of the intercultural communicative competence of a group of 18 students who participated in a three-week online language program is presented. The quantitative and qualitative analyses carried out through questionnaires and oral presentations reveal that even a short-term online language program can become an enriching experience to distance oneself from one’s own cultural habits, to show empathy, and even to acquire the ability to communicate with others, as well as improving linguistic and cultural skills. Furthermore, the study highlights the usefulness and advantages of information and communication technologies not only in erasing geographical barriers and providing access to an extensive amount of cultural and linguistic content, but also in enabling effective communication between people of different languages and cultures, and above all in developing, consciously or unconsciously, intercultural communicative competence through contacts with others.