Polish teenage students’ willingness to engage in on-line intercultural interactions

Abstract

Computer-based technologies, including various forms of computer-mediated communication (CMC), provide L2 users with opportunities to engage in intercultural interactions which may promote the development of their intercultural communicative competence. The article reports the findings of a study that investigated how beyond-the-classroom involvement in CMC stimulated Polish teenage EFL learners’ interest in other cultures, their openness to intercultural experience and their willingness to take part in intercultural interactions, all of which are initial steps in the process of developing intercultural competence. The results indicate high levels of interest in other cultures, a strong motivation to take part in intercultural online exchanges in English and also point to the great potential of CMC as a tool for broadening the intercultural perspectives of L2 learners. The teaching implications of the study include the need to prepare learners for Internet-based intercultural beyond-the-classroom experience through classroom-based tasks and strategy training.