While many studies indicate that "virtual exchanges" also known as telecollaboration are useful for developing intercultural communicative competence, there is a paucity of research on how learners acquire new knowledge related to their own culture and society before interacting with online foreign exchange partners. This study explores the potential of applying an inquiry-based strategy in developing students' intra-cultural awareness to enhance the quality of their intercultural communication. A quasi-experimental design involving undergraduate students in Japan (n = 112) was developed to assess the effectiveness of an inquirybased telecollaboration using explicit instruction in experimental group compared with unassisted intra-cultural telecollaboration in control group. Quantitative results indicated that while several outcomes on telecollaborative tasks and intra-cultural learning were not significantly different across conditions, students learning in an inquiry-based environment reported higher levels of engagement as well as ABOUT THE AUTHOR Murod Ismailov, PhD, is an assistant professor of communication at the Centre for Education of Global Communication under the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Tsukuba, Japan. Also, he works as an Adjunct Lecturer at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies and the National Police Academy of Japan. His research focuses on learner-centered pedagogy, 4C skills development, e-learning, telecollaboration, and inquiry-and project-based learning. In addition, he is actively involved in numerous research projects and grants supported by the Japanese government addressing topics of intercultural communication, English Medium Instruction (EMI), and social capital/ education in the post-Soviet countries. His most recent articles were published in Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, E-Learning and Digital Media, F1000 Research and other international peer-reviewed journals.