Building Intercultural Bridges: Chinese EFL Learners’ Intercultural Communicative Competence Through Telecollaboration With Colombian Peers

While telecollaborative initiatives have flourished in promoting intercultural communicative competence (ICC) across Asian higher education, the lack of sustained Asia–Latin America partnerships reveals a significant gap in global intercultural education. Addressing this gap, the present study examined the impact of a 9-week telecollaborative program with Colombian peers on Chinese mainland students’ ICC development. A mixed-methods design was adopted, combining quantitative data from a questionnaire, analyzed using paired samples t -test and ANCOVA in SPSS, and qualitative data from focus group interviews, analyzed thematically in ATLAS.ti. A total of 65 participants were divided into an experimental group ( n = 32) and a control group ( n = 33). Results showed that, compared with the control group, the experimental group achieved significantly greater ICC improvement ( p ≤ .001), particularly in the skills and awareness dimensions. However, ANCOVA results revealed no significant difference in the knowledge-self dimension between groups, likely because Chinese mainland students were already accustomed to political education and had previously developed relatively high levels of knowledge-self before the intervention. Interview data further highlighted key benefits of telecollaboration: (a) significant growth in cultural, linguistic, and digital aspects, and (b) stronger bonds through a shared EFL identity. These findings make two key contributions. Theoretically, they extend intercultural communicative competence research by highlighting Asia–Latin America telecollaboration as an effective context for fostering holistic ICC through reciprocal peer interaction. Practically, the study offers guidance for designing English-as-a-lingua-franca-based telecollaborative programs that combine linguistic simplicity with intercultural depth.