An Investigation of Group Behavior, Leadership and Intercultural Communication: An eTwinning ITE Project

This qualitative case study examines how undergraduate students from the education faculties of Türkiye and Italy navigated the processes of group development, leadership, and communication throughout a six-month online eTwinning Initial Teacher Education (ITE) project conducted in the 2024-2025 academic year. Written reflections by 75 participants were collected at both the project’s onset and completion. Drawing on Tuckman’s model of group development and Allport’s contact hypothesis, the analysis identifies initial challenges such as language barriers and weak cohesion that were alleviated by AI translation tools acting as a makeshift lingua franca. By the end of the exchange, despite some underperforming groups, most teams achieved high levels of collaboration and reported substantial personal and professional growth, including stronger digital competencies and greater intercultural sensitivity. Ultimately, these findings illustrate that well-structured international telecollaboration projects, underpinned by proactive peer leadership, purposeful technology use, and expert scaffolding, can serve as powerful catalysts for fostering inclusive and digitally competent teacher education.