The Role of Online Learning Environments in the Enhancement of Language Learners’ Intercultural Competence: A Scoping Review of Studies Published between 2015 and 2022

Abstract

Developing intercultural competence (IC) through foreign language is believed to lead to rejecting prejudices and stereotypes and fostering bilingualism and biculturalism. Despite the growth of publications on technologies and IC, a significant gap exists between what is known (evidence) and what is done (practice) at the levels of decision making and course design. This scoping review, guided by the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines, is conducted to systematically map peer-reviewed literature, taking a longitudinal perspective to update the existing reviews, identify knowledge gaps, and provide a new conclusion to the topic investigated. A transparent, replicable review protocol was designed a priori. A formal Advisory Group was established to incorporate various perspectives and ensure the applicability of the review findings. The main findings suggest that the concept of IC is not uniformly defined across the studies examined, and the development and dynamic nature of the concept is not captured. Numerous studies rely on chosen aspects of the construct only. Still, most of them report largely positive findings concerning the development of IC in FL online learning environments. It is possible that this high number of positive findings includes some cases of type II error or false positives.