Utilizing COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) to Foster Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) in Language Courses

Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) has been implemented at two public universities led by their respective English and Spanish disciplines of the Foreign Language (FL) departments. This academic partnership demonstrates how COIL modules have developed through nine years of collaboration. The accomplishments and challenges at each institution led to the infusion of global education strategies across the curriculum. Initially, in the classroom, COIL students enhanced their communicative and linguistic skills across cultures, became aware of intercultural differences, and communicated those differences using the target language. Then, at the inter-institutional level, universities developed their own capacity for support by engaging other participants’ roles within the COIL activity and fostering student international research activities. COIL allowed concrete paths for institutions to internationalize their curriculum. This research essay supports the institutions’ visions to prioritize internationalization in their mission and to seek faculty and student leadership engagement to widen the impact on the global communities.