Telecollaboration, also called virtual exchange or online intercultural exchange, is a form of collaborative learning whereby language learners in different locations engage in computer-mediated communication to complete tasks online. There is ample evidence that telecollaboration promotes the acquisition of language skills, intercultural competence, and digital literacies. Challenges faced implementing virtual exchanges include differences in time zones, learning objectives, academic calendars, and cultural attitudes. The present article describes a case of a multilateral telecollaboration project based on the facilitated dialogue model involving four institutions—two in Europe and two in the United States—that was designed to prepare students for the experience of giving online peer feedback on collaborative writing assignments. Our initial goal was to explore the challenges students would face and the benefits they would receive from a complex telecollaboration project involving multiple institutions and two task sequences: 1) input and reflection on giving and receiving peer feedback, 2) completion of the collaborative writing task to be peer reviewed. However, new challenges and opportunities emerged after the switch to emergency e-learning and remote teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic. Relying upon multiple data sources—including correspondence, observations, class discussions, surveys, reflective writing, and information stored in virtual learning environments—our methods of data collection involved convenience sampling, while data analysis was predominantly descriptive. Our results demonstrate that even during a global pandemic, students and instructors face similar logistical challenges and reap similar benefits as has been reported in the literature. Yet our experience also reveals the resiliency of telecollaboration in the face of extreme disruption as well as the potential to exploit virtual exchange to develop learning strategies—such as methods for giving and receiving peer feedback—and meta-awareness of how language is used in the real-world—such as the implications of English as a lingua franca.

Intensive language programs have increased in popularity in recent years. They are perceived as a means to help current or prospective university students improve their language competencies and academic skills in their medium(s) of instruction in a short amount of time prior to enrolment and/or parallel to their degree courses. However, there has been little empirical research on practices and efficacies of such programs. This paper presents a pilot project conducted during a pre-sessional intensive English course for first-year students at a trilingual university in Italy. Specifically, the project employed a mixed-method approach to explore the differences between project-based learning (PBL) and the practice of teaching from a coursebook. The results suggest that while there was no difference in learner engagement and learning outcomes between a pilot group which engaged exclusively in PBL and a control group which was taught from a coursebook, the participants expressed particularly positive attitudes to PBL, although they also expressed a desire for more teacher-led instruction. The findings merit further investigation of PBL in this and similar contexts, including the longitudinal effects of PBL and the trialling of different combinations of PBL with explicit and deductive instruction.

Word association tests (WA tests) have been used by researchers interested in measuring L2 vocabulary knowledge among L2 learners of English, although WA tests of L2 vocabulary proficiency have not yet been widely implemented by language teachers. This entry aims to re‐evaluate the WA test as a tool to assess L2 vocabulary proficiency. Research investigating the potential of WA tests to measure L2 vocabulary proficiency is considered, followed by a description of two WA tests that have shown some success at measuring L2 vocabulary knowledge. The entry concludes with an overview of the notion of central words in lexical networks and outlines a need for further research within this area, which could lead to the development of an L2 vocabulary assessment tool for use by teachers.