Abstract
As we near a post-pandemic era with COVID-19, international education is once again focused on student mobility across borders, instead of internationalization-at-home initiatives, including the adoption of collaborative online international learning (COIL). However, COIL can continue to play a critical role in higher education internationalization efforts, especially as preparation for actual study abroad. In this paper, the researcher first introduces COIL before reporting on a study involving two bilingual, cross-cultural COIL courses between students at a university in Japan and those studying in North America, from April 2022 to June 2023. The students in Japan were enrolled in an intercultural communication class in their L2 of English, while the students in Canada and the United States were studying intermediate Japanese as their L2. Based on a qualitative survey and journaling data received from 31 students in Japan, and employing a transcendental phenomenological research design, the researcher highlights the students’ essence of experience during COIL. Essentially, students benefited from the experience through improved communicative competences and increased knowledge of the target culture, even when the L2 learning goals between institutions differed. Students also reported that COIL provided an international experience, which is especially valuable for students in Japan, who may be restricted from study abroad due to financial academic-related constraints. Both educators and administrators may consider the perceptions of Japanese university students towards COIL, which could be generalized to other higher education contexts, including those in Europe.
Presenters
Andrew NowlanAssociate Professor of Language, Language Center, Kwansei Gakuin University, Hyogo, Japan
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Considering Digital Pedagogies
KEYWORDS
COIL, EdTech, Intercultural Communication, Phenomenology, Study Abroad
