Exploring the use of technology to promote intercultural language learning: A literature review

Abstract

The advancement of technology facilitates easier communication among individuals of diverse cultures, leading to the necessity of possessing intercultural competence in today's interconnected world. This competence is crucial for effectively engaging and communicating across cultural divides. Consequently, preparing future interculturally competent students has become a new educational objective. However, recent studies reported that many students still have insufficient intercultural competence and one of the reasons is the teachers’ reluctance to incorporate intercultural learning due to many factors such as materials, time, and understanding constraints. This study aimed to review articles on intercultural language learning supported by technology. The researcher intended to evaluate the current state of knowledge concerning (a) the most frequently employed technology and their effectiveness in improving students’ intercultural communication competence and (b) learning activities. The researcher utilized keywords such as "Intercultural, competence, and technology" to locate relevant articles. These articles underwent filtering based on their titles, abstracts, and complete content. To this end, fifteen articles on intercultural language learning supported by technology published between 2019 to 2024 were selected and reviewed. The findings of this study showed that Virtual Reality and Online Collaboration platforms were the most frequently used tools. The platforms could effectively facilitate students’ intercultural development by conducting a learning collaboration program with others from different cultural backgrounds. Based on the problems stated, this study is expected to be a reference for teachers to integrate technology-based intercultural language learning in facilitating students with intercultural development and experience.