Virtual exchange has played a significant role in transforming language learners’ experiences away from processes that primarily emphasize language toward ones that focus on the need to develop the linguistic, intercultural, and interactional skills for establishing and sustaining meaningful social connections and for preparing the learners to succeed in the 21st century workplace that is increasingly transnational and technologically advanced.
This work is aimed not only at scholars and educators whose expertise encompasses foreign languages, but also at all those seeking ideas for bringing virtual exchange into higher education and internationalising the curriculum in other courses. It is hoped that it will shed light on the multifaceted process of learning foreign languages in an online environment in the 21st century.
(from Introduction)