A Language Small Private Online Course (SPOC) for IELTS preparation and intercultural education

Underpinned by content-based instruction (CBI) (Richards & Rodgers, 2014), this project aims to develop a Language Small Private Online Course (LSPOC), which cultivates students' intercultural competence (Jackson, 2018) and enriches students' ideas and vocabulary when attempting IELTS essay writing and speaking tests. Intercultural education is treated as an end and a means in this project. In other words, one of the goals of the LSPOC is to enable students to explore global issues from multiple cultural perspectives. At the same time, students' understanding and awareness of intercultural perspectives are used as a tool to develop students' content and vocabulary for attempting IELTS essay writing and speaking (Coffin, 2004; Khan, 2006). To maximise its impact on EdUHK students' learning, the LSPOC will be co-designed/developed by a group of international students under the project investigator, the project team, and an external consultant specialising in CALL e-Learning content development. The LSPOC will be made available to all EdUHK students via Microsoft Teams. This project will benefit all EdUHK students, in particular full-time undergraduate students at EdUHK who are required to take IELTS as the language exit requirement and who would like to develop their intercultural competence through an online course.