Exploring pre-service efl teachers’ intercultural competence progression through an international virtual exchange program: a study on the iceberg model of culture

Abstract

There has been a growing interest in the cultural dimension of foreign language teaching and the promotion of intercultural competence among teachers and learners; thus, research on integrating virtual contexts with the aim of developing interculturally competent teachers has been on the rise. Within this frame, this research aims to explore pre-service EFL teachers’ intercultural competence progression through participation in an 8-week international virtual exchange program (the IVEProject). The participants selected via convenience sampling were 23 Turkish preservice teachers of English from two universities. In order to describe the virtual exchange experiences regarding intercultural competence progression of Turkish pre-service EFL teachers, a descriptive qualitative study design was adopted in the current study, and qualitative data collected by means of open-ended questions were analyzed using Thematic Analysis. The themes that emerged from the analysis were also categorized according to the Iceberg Model of Culture. The results revealed that participants learned new information each week that can be included on the surface and deep levels of the model, with the majority falling into the surface level of the model. The current study demonstrates that participation in such international exchanges helps to improve the intercultural competence of pre-service EFL teachers.