Internationalization of the foreign language curriculum during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The current reality has challenged higher education globally. With border closure and distancing, provoked by the COVID-19 pandemic, the paradigm of internationalization in higher education has considerably altered the way and scale of incorporating intercultural and international components into the academic agenda. The curriculum of the foreign language field at non-linguistic higher education institutions has always been positioned distinctively apart within the context of internationalization. This study is focused on the key changes that the internationalization of educational programs for foreign languages has undergone in the COVID-19 and post-pandemic periods. The paper analyzes and systematizes scientific works on internationalization, and also uses a comparative-analytical method to describe approaches to implement the internationalization of language programs. As a result of the study, the key characteristics of the internationalization of higher education in the pre-COVID, COVID, and post-COVID situations are summarized. The pre-COVID opposition of physical mobility vs internalization at home has been smoothed out by virtual format in the COVID period. In the post-COVID era, the changes have resulted in greater flexibility and diversity in teaching, learning, professional collaboration, and development through and/or physical, virtual, online, and/or digital delivery, hybrid forms of introducing an international and intercultural component into programs; reduction of the duration of mobility programs in favor of their effectiveness.

Keywords

• intercultural education
• multiculturalism
• intercultural communication
• language education