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C

Can asynchronous virtual exchanges increase willingness to communicate in low proficiency language learners?

This presentation introduces an ongoing pilot study exploring the impact of the IVE Project on Japanese students’ willingness to communicate (WTC) and related affective factors, including motivation, anxiety, grit, self-confidence, and speaking self-efficacy. Participants are divided into three groups: asynchronous VE participants, asynchronous plus synchronous video call participants, and a control group with no VE exposure. The presentation outlines the study’s methodology and invites collaboration for a larger international study planned for 2026 on the IVE platform. Intercultural communication competence (ICC) develops most effectively when students actively engage in interaction with one another. However, students with a low WTC and those with limited speaking proficiency in the target language often struggle to engage in meaningful interactions. Previous research has shown positive correlations between synchronous virtual exchanges and increased WTC (Rahimi & Fathi, 2022; Remmerswaal et al., 2025; Zhou, 2023). Notably, Remmerswaal & Metituk (2025) found that even a brief VE, riddled with technical issues during the video call, led to statistically significant gains in perceived communication competence and reduced anxiety. These findings suggest that asynchronous VE activities may also promote WTC, particularly among students with limited opportunities to interact with international peers.

Correlations of Social Presence in Intercultural Virtual Exchange Projects: The Case of IVEProject

The current study focuses on the social aspect of Virtual Exchange, examining social presence (SP) within the IVEProject (Intercultural Virtual Exchange Project) which took place from October to November 2024. The research employs the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework for online learning, which consists of three main elements, or “presences” online: social presence, cognitive presence, and teaching presence (Garrison, 2016). The study focuses specifically on SP, the degree to which participants in a collaborative online learning community feel socially and emotionally connected to one another during the learning process. SP has been shown to facilitate online learning, to positively affect learning outcomes and academic performance, leading to higher satisfaction rates across various learning environments (Mykota, 2018). Using pre- and post-surveys, forum reports, and students’ engagement reports, our study examines the SP reported by learners who took part in the project. It focuses on two aspects. First, attention is paid to potential differences in responses to the survey items. Second, the study focuses on correlations for SP identified in the field’s literature and that could be expected to be observable in the surveys : learners’ participation in face-to-face discussions (Chim et al., 2024), and students’ engagement (Felce et al., 2022).

Critical Virtual Exchange for Peace Education

This contribution explores critical VE (CVE), i.e. VE through the social justice and inclusion lens, as a conduit for critical Global Citizenship Education (GCE) as instantiated through Education for Peace. CVE has been framed as VE guided by equity, diversity, inclusion and access (EDIA) principles (Hauck, 2020, 2023, in press; Klimanova & Hellmich, 2021). We suggest that this makes it an educational intervention for implementing pedagogies of peace which aim at “more cooperative coexistence across the planet by amplifying practices of compassion, tolerance, restorative justice, and global citizenship” (Kukulska-Hulme et al., 2024). CVE has already been put forward as an ideal means to foster critical intercultural and global awareness (Reljanovic Glimäng, 2022), i.e. GCE as promoted by scholars like Andreotti (2006) who want us to challenge hegemonic discourses and the perpetuation in education of colonial ideologies and encourage us “to think otherwise” (Andreotti, 2006). Thus, as we have argued elsewhere (Hauck, 2025), critical VE can also provide the backdrop for critical GCE that is aligned with Andreotti’s (2006; 2014) reasoning. We see Education for Peace as a core component of critical GCE and efforts to decolonise our curricula. We will introduce the main concepts informing this contribution and how they interconnect and will present and discuss exchange examples including specific exchange tasks to illustrate what our proposed approach looks like in practice, particularly in situations where conflict arises among participants. We will conclude with pointers to future research at the interface of Critical VE and Critical Peace Education.