What is Telecollaboration or Online Intercultural Exchange (OIE)

While many studies have focused on providing authentic intercultural communication for successful intercultural learning outcomes, not enough attention has been paid to the role of the teacher as a pedagogical mentor. This chapter examines the role of the teacher as a pedagogical mentor in telecollaborative exchanges and provides empirical evidence for the effectiveness of strategies and techniques that teachers use to promote L2 learners' pragmatic competence and willingness to communicate. To this end, two groups of EFL learners were randomly assigned to two groups: teacher-mentored collaborative pre-task planning (n=32) and student-led collaborative pre-task planning (n=32). The participants completed the pre-tests and the post-tests: an input-based pragmatic test (acceptability judgment test), an output-based pragmatic test (discourse comprehension test), and an L2 WTC test. The results of the data analysis indicated that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group in the discourse comprehension test and increased their WTC at the post-intervention stage.