Digital Tools: Supporting the Development of Intercultural Competence in World Language Education Teacher Candidates
Abstract: Developing intercultural competency is a necessary skill in order to successfully navigate our increasingly global society. This article reports the findings of a study that examined how technology-mediated activities provide evidence of advancement towards intercultural competency and how digital tools played a role in this advancement in world language teacher certification candidates studying abroad. Data from student blogs, participatory observations, and language learner autobiography documents were analyzed using a modified matrix based upon Byram’s guidelines for self-assessment of an intercultural experience (2000). The results demonstrated that evidence of intercultural competence was present among the digital artifacts examined and that digital tools played an important role in the advancement towards intercultural competency through affordances not available with print-based methods.