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Article published In: Decolonial Approaches to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Applied Linguistics: Addressing local and global EDI challenges
Edited by Kyria Finardi, Marina Orsini-Jones and Azirah Hashim
[AILA Review 38:2] 2025
► pp. 294–323

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Longitudinal civic engagement

Undergraduate students’ reflections on an intergenerational virtual exchange

ORCiD logo with link | Northeastern University
ORCiD logo with link | Yale University
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with Northeastern University.

Published online: 11 December 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/aila.24045.fuc
Abstract
Educators have underscored the synergy between language education and civic engagement due to the potential of enhancing students’ linguistic and cultural growth through participating in social action, which is where languages and communities converge (e.g., Palpacuer Lee, C., Curtis, J. H., & Curran, M. E. (2018). Shaping the vision for service-learning in language education. Foreign Language Annals, 511, 169–184. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Virtual exchange can facilitate such engagement by reaching global communities. We present findings from a longitudinal intergenerational virtual civic engagement between intermediate-level undergraduate learners of German at a private research institution on the East Coast in the U.S. and older adults in Germany. Participants engaged with tandem partners via Zoom or WhatsApp. Particular focus is on three returning tandem partnerships. The exploratory study is part of a larger program (Fuchs, C. (2024). Intergenerational service-learning through virtual exchange across a foreign language program. Journal of Virtual Exchange, 71, 107–122, Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) and situates itself within a sociocultural framework for telecollaboration (Dooly, M., & O’Dowd, R. (2012). Researching online foreign language interaction and exchange in foreign language education: Introduction to the volume. In M. Dooly & R. O’Dowd (Eds.), Researching online foreign language interaction and exchange (pp. 11–41). Peter Lang. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Both authors were participant-observers (Richards, K. (2003). Qualitative inquiry in TESOL. Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Our research set out to explore the following questions: (1) How do university language students in returning tandem partnerships perceive their virtual civic engagements with older adults in Germany? (2) How do all students perceive the impact of their civic engagement on their academic experience in relation to the course? Qualitative data were coded by the authors using NVivo 12. Findings suggest that returning tandem partnerships can be particularly helpful, especially for lower-level students, as evidenced in students’ reflections on their perspective changes, comfort levels, and the overall impact of the intergenerational exchanges.
Article outline
  • 1.Intergenerational civic engagement as enacted through service-learning
  • 2.Civic engagement facilitated through virtual exchange
  • 3.Methods
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Context and procedures
      • Phase 1 (4 weeks)
      • Phase 2 (8 weeks)
    • 3.3Data collection and analysis
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Perceptions and reflections on civic engagement
    • 4.2Perceived impact of civic engagement on academic experience
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
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