| Abstract | This study presents the impact of the SMILE project on the development of communicative abilities and other communication components between Thai and Japanese junior high school students through virtual collaborative learning. This highlights the learning experiences of the two groups of Thai students who participated in the SMILE project for two consecutive years, and how this framework helps students engage in real-world experiences while developing mutual understanding and cultural awareness through scheduled activities such as group presentations and language exchanges. In addition to encouraging students to use English as a communication tool, this study fosters global perspectives and multicultural awareness. This study also highlights the importance of Online Collaborative Learning (OCL) in developing communicative competence, genuine emotion expression, and how it can be linked to improving other skills that influence learners' formative stages of English communication. The study applied the Community of Inquiry (COI) paradigm (Garrison et al., 2000) to online collaborative environments to investigate the effects of Social Presence, Cognitive Presence, and Teaching Presence on students’ growth in an inclusive digital environment. The study found that by regularly engaging with these factors, educators can tailor their teaching approaches to build strong learning communities and increase student engagement. Furthermore, the results indicate that collaborative virtual environments, when combined with clear instructional design, provide relevant learning opportunities. |
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