Blurb:

Higher education institutions are seen as being responsible for preparing young people for living and working in a globally interconnected world by helping them develop their international and intercultural skills including languages. One way of assuming this responsibility is through internationalization at home (IaH) (Beelen & Jones, 2015) implemented via virtual exchange (VE) which—over the past two decades—has enjoyed increasing popularity in (language) teacher education in particular (Hauck et al., 2020). Working online with colleagues and students from diverse backgrounds and education systems has allowed trainees to experience and reflect on issues related to technology and pedagogy in authentic linguistic and intercultural contexts but has also challenged them to engage with issues related to social justice and inclusion. The latter refers to the fact that VE-based IaH is not inherently equitable and inclusive. This mostly conceptual contribution to the nascent field of critical virtual exchange (CVE)— that is, VE through the social justice and inclusion lens—puts the spotlight on the interface between critical CALL, critical digital literacy, critical global citizenship education, and CVE. Two examples from language and culture learning and teaching contexts that speak to the CVE agenda are presented to illustrate the proposed approach.