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ABSTRACT
This study investigated whether online communication among learners from different cultural backgrounds mediates Iranian EFL learners’ intercultural sensitivity (IS) development. To this end, two experimental and one control groups, and a group of intercultural speakers participated in the study. Each Iranian group consisted of 15 EFL learners who were university students majoring in English language and Literature at upper-intermediate and advanced levels of proficiency. The intercultural group consisted of 4 non-native English speakers of differing cultural backgrounds. The first experimental group engaged in intercultural discussions with intercultural speakers, while the second experimental group took part in in-person cultural discussions with their peers. Learners in the control group discussed general topics with their peers. Intercultural Sensitivity Scale (ISS) was used to evaluate IS of the participants prior and after the completion of the study. Findings revealed the outperformance of the first experimental group in IS. However, no significant difference was found between the control and second experimental groups in their interaction engagement, interaction confidence, and interaction attentiveness. Implications of the study are discussed in the paper.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Parastou Gholami Pasand
Parastou Gholami Pasand is currently a Ph.D candidate of TEFL at Arak University. Her main areas of research interest include intercultural communicative competence, sociocultural theory, language learning strategies, and language skills.
Majid Amerian
Majid Amerian is an Associate Professor of TEFL at Arak University. He is the author and co-author of many research articles in various national and international journals. His main research interests include sociocultural theory, intercultural communicative competence, materials development, postcolonial studies, and dynamic assessment.
Hamidreza Dowlatabadi
Hamidreza Dowlatabadi holds Ph.D in applied linguistics. He is currently an Assistant Professor at Arak University. His research interests are discourse analysis, critical discourse analysis, corpus studies, and pragmatics.
Ali Mohammad Mohammadi
Ali Mohammad Mohammadi is an Assistant Professor of Arak University. His areas of interest are application of discourse analysis in translation, TEFL, and text analysis, and he has published a number of papers in these areas.