Communication in Intercultural Online University Classrooms : An Interview Study

This exploratory qualitative study aims to gain insights into university students' and teachers’ views about interculturality and willingness to communicate (WTC) in online synchronous classes where English (as a lingua franca) is the medium of communication, as well as their views on how interculturality and students’ WTC may influence each other. Semi-structured interviews were conducted online with fifteen participants, ten students, and five teachers, and thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Research findings showed that using different online education platforms required previous experience from the participants. As a result, teachers exert considerable effort into class preparation. The responses also suggest that while interculturality has many benefits in the classroom, its advantages appear to be less exploited online than in face-to-face classes. They note that students' WTC is generally low for various reasons; therefore, both teachers and students argue that working with a variety of topics of discussion in virtual classes might encourage students to communicate more