The Future of Education

The inclusion of virtual exchanges in the curriculum of language programs in the United States is steadily increasing. Implementing virtual exchanges requires careful planning across institutions and concrete venues to benefit all students involved. Focusing on social justice as an overarching theme of virtual exchanges has the potential to promote the development of students’ linguistic skills in a foreign/second/heritage language and to enhance intercultural understanding through meaningful conversation (e.g., Anderson & Macleroy, 2021; Hernandez Alvarado & Brinckwirth, 2021; Dorroll & Caballero-Garcia, 2020). In this presentation we will discuss the virtual exchange experience between university-level students from the US and Latin America (Argentina). The virtual exchanges took place over six weeks in both English and Spanish. Student perceptions before and after the virtual exchange were quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed to uncover the perceived benefits of the conversation exchanges. Survey responses showed how US students became aware of social, historic, and economic disparities in Latin America and how Latin American students challenged narratives and stereotypes originating in mass media sources like the film industry (e.g., Hollywood), TV, and social media. This research has implications for the classroom use of critical pedagogy, transformative learning, and critical language awareness in relation to multilingual practices (Quan, 2020).