COIL-Based Experiential Learning: Developing Intercultural Communication Skills through Real-life International Interactions and Enhanced Reflections

Abstract

As globalization leads to increasingly multicultural societies, intercultural education is becoming ever more vital, both for bridging cultural barriers and professional advancement. Since language competence alone is inadequate for successful cross-cultural communication, EFL students also need to be equipped with intercultural skills. In order to develop such competence, it is essential for them to experience meaningful real-life intercultural interactions rather than simply learning theories in class. With this in mind, this study seeks to explore how Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) may be integrated within an experiential learning mode and implemented in a language and culture course to promote EFL learners’ intercultural competence. Drawing on a COIL project by three universities (Indonesia, Australia, and Japan), this innovative learning program combines technology-facilitated interactions online and enhanced, recurring reflective activities to promote meaningful intercultural experience among the students. With positive feedback from students, the COIL based experiential learning seems to be a promising model for facilitating students to learn the intercultural through real-life cross-cultural encounters.