Bolstering Intercultural Communication among EFL Learners in Online Conversation Clubs

Conversation clubs are excellent resources for practicing a new language. They bring together individuals with diverse perspectives and backgrounds to engage in enriching language activities and discussions that promote intercultural consciousness and intercultural skills. While previous studies have emphasized the importance of conversation clubs, our study shows explicitly how conversation clubs promote intercultural communicative competence by practicing the target language through an autonomy-based design. The study revolves around the question: How can intercultural competence be fostered among learners of English as a foreign language in online conversation clubs using an autonomy-based design? We draw on a qualitative and descriptive case design following Hernández-Sampieri & Mendoza (2008). Our descriptive case study involved conducting conversation club sessions with four students by adapting materials and plans and complying with the Program of Education in Foreign Language regulations. Recordings of the sessions, transcripts, and journal entries served as primary data. The findings indicated that conversation clubs fostered students’ intercultural communication by 1) diving into cultural differences through multimodal materials, 2) recognizing and questioning cultural stereotypes, and 3) immersing in students’ cultural worlds by referring to standard popular references. This study challenges the idea that foreign languages can be learned independently of culture. Interculturality emphasizes the relevance of a community in which ideas can be exchanged and opinions expressed. Conversation clubs are ideal spaces to foster interculturality and autonomy.