Globalisation has made intercultural communication more central to higher education, while also exposing how symbolic hierarchies influence participation, voice, and access to knowledge. This systematic review examines how Hofstede's power distance dimension operates across three communicative pathways: student-student, student-teacher, and teacher-student. The review followed PRISMA reporting principles and identified 20 peer-reviewed studies published between 2019 and 2024 in Scopus and Web of Science; these studies were then analysed through thematic coding in NVivo. The findings show that peer interaction can foster empathy, dialogue, and intercultural competence, although language barriers and stereotypes remain significant constraints. Upward communication is comparatively underexplored and often limited by reluctance to challenge authority. Teacher-student relations continue to reflect transmissive patterns, although participatory pedagogies and digital tools may reduce power asymmetries. The review proposes a three-pathway analytical framework that integrates fragmented evidence and highlights the need for institutional strategies that advance communicative equity in multicultural university settings.
Fluency in speaking is a problem foreign language learner at all proficiency levels experience. To help learners cope with this problem research-proven techniques may be helpful. This study used 3/2/1, a research-tested technique, to develop the speaking fluency of learners of Turkish as a foreign language. The learners were given practice opportunities using the technique at two proficiency levels. Data were collected to determine the extent of fluency development in speaking and analysed using the number of words used by the learners per minute, the number of hesitations, repetitions, and false starts per 100 words, the number of grammar mistakes, and the use of more complex sentences in the talks of the learners. The results showed that improvements were observed in all criteria, which meant that the learners had made progress in terms of fluency, accuracy, and control of the content of their talks.
