Virtual exchange in teacher education programs from Brazil and USA: outcomes and challenges

Abstract

Virtual exchanges (VE) are important initiatives to include pre-service teachers (PST) in internationalization practices with others at a geographic distance while they remain in their own contexts of learning (Internationalization at Home – ( Beelen; Jones, 2015 ). VEs contribute to the development of intercultural and global attitudes as well as foster digital and technological competencies. This paper shares the results of a 2022 and 2023 VE eight-week project with pre-service teachers enrolled in second language acquisition-related courses at state universities, one in the US and one in Brazil. This article analyzed data from periodic and end-of-semester surveys and narratives as well as from their interactions and tasks in different digital platforms to explore the outcomes and challenges of the VE. The results discuss the perspective of the involved professors and students as well as established VE teacher education contexts (such as Hanks ( 2019 ; Godwin-Jones, 2019 ) to share insights regarding the virtual exchange experience on PST’s global perspective-taking about teacher education and language teaching. Qualitative analysis revealed patterns of desired student outcomes: interactional skills; the development of information, communication technology skills; intercultural communicative competence; content, cultural, language learning, and contextual knowledge. Analyses also illustrated the challenges to those outcomes, such as busy schedules, class format, and difficulties in communications and interactions.