Integrating the Soliya Connect Program into a Classroom Course on Critical Intercultural Communication

ABSTRACT This paper presents a two-year pedagogical, teacher-as-researcher, action research project at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Sousse, Tunisia, which investigates how the integration of the Soliya Connect Program, a facilitated dialogic online exchange programme, with a theoretical course on critical intercultural communication helped students develop critical interculturality. Despite some initial concern about the extra time commitment, students were unanimously positive about integrating the two aspects, claiming that the Connect Program helped them to develop criticality in real life, and that the online communication was much more effective because they participated with the critical perspective developed in class. The findings support the integration of theoretical and practical online components in developing students’ critical intercultural communication skills, and the use of action research to inform adjustments to both components in order to improve the outcomes.