Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
ENRICH2021- 1st International Conference on ELF-Aware Practices for Inclusive Multilingual Classrooms, Athens, Yunanistan, 3 - 05 Aralık 2021
The International Virtual Exchange Project (IVEProject) gives students an easy way to communicate
internationally as the platform has students from over 20 countries (that number is increasing) interacting via
text, video and audio in English as a Lingua-Franca (ELF). This borderless platform is changing students’ and
teachers’ philosophy of communicative language learning. The relatively authentic means of communication
ensures foreign language classes have a very “real” feel about them promoting intercultural communication
that doesn’t involve native speakers. Research is beginning to show ELF Virtual Exchange (VE) is better received
by students of EFL and of more value to them. The IVEProject is free-of-charge and sponsored by a Japanese
government grant. It runs for 8 weeks twice a year (though the number of times will increase.)
Supported by both qualitative and quantitative data, this presentation will showcase both research and case
studies on a number of different groups but focus on one particular group - Turkish pre-service EFL teachers.
The research shows their intercultural competence development and VE experiences were positive. The
outcome of the study demonstrates that students’ intercultural sensitivity increased through participation in
the IVEProject and they enjoyed this cross-border ELF communication. Other outcomes of the project will also
be discussed. The presentation will finish with a brief outline of how teachers can join this or similar projects
and ideas on how to incorporate ELF style VE into the foreign language curriculum.