The Development and Outcomes of an Integrated Online Intercultural Exchange between a Japanese and a Finnish University

[Abstract] This paper reports on the development of a course in a Japanese and Finnish university that incorporated a classroom-integrated online intercultural exchange (OIE). It also examines the extent to which the course aims of improving students’ linguistic competence in either English or Japanese, confidence when speaking a foreign language, intercultural competence and ability to reflect on their own performance and provide adequate feedback for their partner’s performance were achieved. Teachers in both universities collaborated on the design, production and conduct of the course and their students participated in four OIE sessions. Results extracted from a post-course survey and from students’ in-course work indicate that the OIE sessions and the related pre- and post-session in-class tasks are associated with statistically significant gains in students’ confidence and anxiety reduction, improvements in self-perceived fluency and lexical range, and demonstrations of intercultural competence. However, there were limited gains in students’ aptitudes for self-reflection and feedback. These findings suggest that the integration of OIE within a classroom-based course, can provide positive outcomes for students in affective, linguistic and intercultural domains.