Project-Based Learning to Develop Intercultural Communicative Competence in Virtual Exchange Contexts

Abstract

Higher education requires a different approach to teaching and learning since modern-day students no longer have the same learning needs as they had in the past. Project-based learning (PBL) is an active and dynamic approach to language teaching that makes it possible for the language students to gain transferable and applicable knowledge, skills and insights, and it also contributes to support and enhance virtual exchanges (VE), especially when it comes to developing intercultural communicative competence and using digital technologies. This paper is aimed at showing the results of using PBL in VE contexts to develop intercultural communicative competence of Costa Rican and Japanese EFL students by implementing some ideas from the Council of Europe’s Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (FRCDC). The results suggest that implementing PBL in VE contexts to develop intercultural communicative competence of Costa Rican and Japanese EFL students had an impact on the participants’ skills, values, attitudes, and knowledge and critical understanding.