An E-mail Exchange Project between Non-native Speakers of English：

[[abstract]]Abstract The case study presents findings from a semester-long cross-cultural e-mail, with aim to have non-native speakers of English exposed to the real communicative writing context and experience a different culture. More importantly, it also serves as a model for the teachers interested in the field. 39 Polish junior high school students and 39 Taiwanese senior high school students participated in the project, and were matched based on their English proficiencies. The schedule and cultural-related topics were co-designed by the researcher and the Polish teacher. Students’ attitudes, their self-perceived gains in language and culture, and the difficulties and solutions throughout the exchange were explored and compared between two groups. Five months after the required e-mail writing was completed, a survey was conducted to find if any students still willingly carried on the exchange. The data included semester-end questionnaire, students’ reflections in final presentation, interviews, and teachers’ observations and were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. The results indicate that students were generally positive on the project, and recognized its effect on their self-perceived linguistic improvement and cultural understanding. Besides, instead of ignoring them, most students chose to deal with the difficulties related to contact, language, and computer. Due to their willingness to communicate, self-confidence in English, motivation, and good relationship with their Polish e-pals, three students continued the e-mail, which only lasted for two months though. Pedagogical implications, limitations and suggestions for the future studies were discussed.