Students' perception of a wiki platform and the impact of wiki engagement on intercultural communication

Abstract

This study describes a wiki project for a Business Chinese course designed to develop students' intercultural communication competence. It explores students' perceptions of the wiki platform and analyses the advantages and disadvantages perceived by students. It also reports on the effects of interaction between English speaking students in the UK and Chinese students in China who were learning each other's language. The interaction messages on the wiki indicate that all students were actively involved in this interaction, making contributions to the wiki. The results of a questionnaire survey and a focus group interview show that students perceived the wiki platform favourably. It not only helped them organise and reflect on their own learning, but also allowed them to learn from each other. The wider audience, peer mentoring and professional development were appreciated, and the challenges of technical difficulties and the amount of work on the wikis were identified. The study suggests that wikis can be an interesting and fruitful experience that language learners use to enhance interaction with native speakers, and thus their intercultural communication competence. However, the wiki activities need to be well-designed and monitored to ensure that there is a significant amount of this interaction with good quality.