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Introduction: To present technical content clearly and effectively for global users of English, engineering students need to learn how. About the case: Technical communication classes in Spain and the US engaged in an international telecollaborative project between cross-cultural virtual teams in which students in Spain developed oral presentations that were then peer-reviewed by counterparts in the US. Situating the case: Research on international professional communication and, more specifically, virtual exchange is rapidly growing to explore how instructors can help students gain key competencies such as audience awareness, intercultural sensitivity, and an understanding of English as a lingua franca. Approach/methods: As part of the Trans-Atlantic & Pacific Project network, this project focused on spoken communication. Data were analyzed from feedback forms used by US students to evaluate oral presentations, and on prelearning and postlearning reports completed by students in Spain, as well as from class discussions accompanying the project. Results/discussion: Through reflections on pragmatic strategies that facilitate exchange and collaboration in English as a lingua franca, the engineering students became more fully aware of the importance of rhetorical and linguistic factors that affect meaning-making for engineers internationally. Conclusion: Results suggest that students who participate in transnational virtual exchange projects integrate their desire to acquire knowledge with an awareness of the importance of sharing knowledge through mindful and inclusive communication practices. Technical and engineering communication instructors from different countries can heighten their students’ audience awareness, and cultural and language sensitivities through such projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The international project described in this paper has been inspired by the Trans-Atlantic and Pacific Projects (TAPP). By 2013, the TAPP network had connected classes in writing, usability testing and/or translation at three universities in the US and several partner universities in Europe, Africa and China. The pedagogical import of these forms of collaboration has been emphasised in studies that analysed the dynamics of cross-cultural virtual teams. The goal of our study was to have first-year undergraduate students in the US learn what is at stake when they write a text for an ‘alien’ audience. At the Italian end, we wanted students to enhance English as a lingua franca (ELF) reading and writing skills as well as to raise their cross-cultural language awareness. Another goal for both groups of students was to communicate via email, Facebook and other online environments using ELF. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

• This study draws from translingualism and research in English as a lingua franca. • Can proficient speakers identify idiomatic expressions in written texts? • The participants were able to identify idiomatic expressions. • The participants were able to reword idiomatic expressions in several different ways. • The participants struggled to 'translate' idioms accurately and efficiently. This study draws from calls for a translingual approach to writing studies and current research in English as a lingua franca, but shifts focus from multilingual speakers to proficient speakers of English. While many studies have illustrated how emergent speakers resort to various pragmatic strategies to negotiate language in intercultural encounters, there is a dearth of research on how proficient speakers accommodate emergent speakers, especially in writing. A group of 35 proficient speakers of English was asked to identify the idiomatic multi-word expressions (MWEs) contained in a film review, and then reformulate them building sentences analytically (open-choice principle), rather than retrieving chunks of language from memory (idiom principle). Results show that the participants were able to identify idiomatic MWEs, but they need training to distinguish language that is unfamiliar to them from idiomatic MWEs, and to improve the quality of their translations. Teachers of English composition should provide proficient speakers with more opportunities to negotiate language with emergent speakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]