DEVELOPING EFL STUDENTS’ INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE AND COMMUNICATION THROUGH THE COLLABORATIVE ONLINE INTERNATIONAL LEARNING (COIL) APPROACH

Abstract

This study aims to investigate Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) as an approach to help develop Indonesian and Japanese students’ intercultural competence and identify EFL communication strategies in a multilingual context. Qualitative data in the form of observation notes and post-conference questionnaires were collected during an annual online conference as part of a larger COIL project. The questionnaires were adopted from Intercultural Competence theory and EFL communication strategies to identify learner approaches to entering into discourse using a foreign language. Findings suggest that through COIL learning, Indonesian and Japanese students demonstrated a sufficient degree of intercultural competence in attitudes, knowledge, and skills; meanwhile, the most frequent communication strategies used in communicating their ideas in English were appeals for help and message reduction.