Aspiring to create a language learning environment that propels students to become informed writers in the field of Social Sciences spurred Dr. Kalai Vaani Rajandram, Senior Lecturer, Taylor's School of Liberal Arts & Sciences (SLAS) to work hand in hand with Dr. Kong Kaishan, Associate Professor and Program Advisor for Teaching English as a Foreign Language with the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, USA in a global virtual exchange project. This project culminated in two conference presentations - 2022 Cultures and Languages Across the Curriculum (CLAC) Conference and the MELTA International Research Conference in English Language Education, where their project received a Silver Award for the paper entitled ‘Flipping the Grid: Advancing Language Acquisition through Identity Construction’.
The project was designed for a six-week interaction enabling students to not only explore a variety of topics related to culture, gender, identity and intercultural citizenship but also tackle discussions and conversations that involved the acceptance of different social realities and paradigms across borders. The activities were facilitated via Flip (formerly Flipgrid) and involved 40 enthusiastic undergraduate students comprising 20 from the Bachelor of Social Sciences programme at Taylor’s University, and 20 from University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. The experience has since brought to the fore a cohort of students who have grown in empathy and heightened their awareness of the power in language.
