Interculturality and language in Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange

The European Commission has invested in many policy initiatives and projects related to intercultural communication and dialogue, the most long term of which has been the Erasmus mobility programme, which in 2017 celebrated 30 years. In the following year the Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange pilot project was launched, the main objective of which is to encourage intercultural dialogue amongst young people in Europe and Southern Mediterranean countries through “online people to people interactions”. This paper provides a brief overview of this pilot project and how it relates to EC policies and practices regarding intercultural dialogue and communication. After looking at how interculturality and language are approached in two of the models of virtual exchange being implemented, some of the findings from the qualitative evaluation of the first year of implementation regarding intercultural learning and attitudes to language use will be presented.