Telecollaboration and the development of intercultural communicative competence (original) (raw)
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Education and New Developments 2022 – Volume 2, 2022
"Although the idea of performing collaborative tasks by language students from geographically distant countries dates back to the end of the 20th century (Warschauer, 1996), its benefits were reconsidered once again after the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns had halted students’ mobility and abated their enthusiasm for worldwide discoveries. The latter constraints reduced the number of natural opportunities for students to develop their intercultural communicative competence. To bridge the developmental gap, the attention was shifted toward the application of technologies engaging them in semi-authentic communication (O’Dowd, 2013), consequently, one of the modes of telecollaboration was chosen. The study focuses on the analysis of the outcomes of the telecollaboration project run by the teachers of the four universities: Vilnius University (Lithuania), the University of Latvia (Latvia), Los Lagos University (Chile), and the University of Austral (Chile). All the three stages (before, during, and after interaction) of the project are reviewed with a particular focus given on 64 students’ attitudinal reflections obtained via a designed questionnaire. The study also presents the analysis of the students’ feedback on the project in general, the challenges they were exposed to, and their personal achievements, including the development of intercultural communicative competence."
This TILA report addresses issues of task design and pedagogic implementation for intercultural telecollaboration exchanges between secondary school pupils from different countries. It is based on case studies of three telecollaboration scenarios: tandem conversations in 3D world environments in OpenSim, lingua franca conversations in 3D world environments in OpenSim, and lingua franca conversations in a multimodal environment combining video communication in BigBlueButton with chat and forum in Moodle. These scenarios are distinguished by relevant task design features including topic selection, blended learning task ensemble, tandem and lingua franca constellations, telecollaboration tools and communication modes, and physical locations. Pupils’ performance data, feedback comments from teachers and pupils as well as participant observations provide insights into the workings of these task design features and their affordances for intercultural communication practice: Topics that enable pupils to talk about their own experiences, likes and dislikes, and opinions are generally well suited to foster authentic communication. Worksheets or posters with guiding questions, keywords or controversial statements help stimulate the interaction. Pupils should also be encouraged to discuss topics that come up spontaneously. Telecollaboration exchanges require embedding in blended learning ensembles. In a preparatory phase, teachers need to make sure that their pupils are sufficiently familiar with the tools to be used. As regards the conversation topics, an evenly balanced preparation on both sides is of key importance. In a follow-up phase (in class or in a forum), pupils should be guided to reflect on their telecollaboration experience with the aim of raising awareness for the challenges of intercultural interaction, fostering openness and curiosity, and critically revising one’s own attitudes. Learning diaries and portfolios help them become more autonomous in both intercultural communication and learning; they help teachers improve pedagogic assessment and feedback. Tandem constellations are in line with a general preference in foreign language teaching for communication with naive speakers. Challenges were observed regarding organisation of matching school classes, helping pupils to act as native speaker experts, and switching between the two languages involved. It seems advisable to adopt the “one session, one language” principle at least in the initial stages of pupils’ tandem telecollaboration experience. Lingua franca constellations, on the other hand, can be highly motivating since they offer authentic communication on an equal footing. Pupils seem to feel more confident and less worried to make mistakes; focus is on getting the message across. The telecollaboration tools available in TILA support all communication modes relevant for intercultural foreign language communication. As regards intercultural communicative competence development, oral communication seems to be particularly strong and attractive particularly because of its positive effects on pupils’ fluency and confidence. It should be emphasized, however, that the various communication tools and modes have their respective strengths and pedagogic values. A multimodal approach, including telecollaboration from home, thus seems to be best suited for serving the full range of intercultural communicative skills required as well as for coping with adverse conditions in schools’ computer labs for spoken interactions. The pedagogic affordances offered by telecollaboration exchanges open up new ways for intercultural foreign language learning beyond the limitations of the physical classroom. For pedagogically sustainable solutions, however, it is essential to make telecollaboration part of the regular curriculum. At the same time, teachers should be aware of the scaffolding needs of weaker and intrinsically less motivated pupils as well as of their own needs for continuous professional development.
The EUROCALL Review, 2023
Telecollaboration has proved to be an excellent means for the development of students' intercultural skills (O'Dowd & Dooly, 2012). Based on this presumption, a telecollaborative project was carried out between B2 level (CEFR) learners of English from Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain) and B1 level (CEFR) students of Spanish as a foreign language from the University of Bath (UK). The aim of the project was to help learners from both universities, Aerospace Engineering students in particular, to develop their intercultural communicative competence. Throughout a six-week period, students carried out asynchronous discussions focusing on two cultural topics in groups of four and participated in synchronous Zoom sessions in pairs. The topics at the core of the discussions were a) Catalan Independence b) Digital Education. Topic a) was conducted entirely in Spanish and topic b), in English. The social network used for students' written interaction was MeWe (www.mewe.com). To conclude the project, the participants completed a collaborative task with their overseas partners that was assessed by the instructor. Qualitative data was gathered through the students' posts on MeWe (which was then analysed following Byram's (1997) proposed objectives for the assessment of Intercultural Communicative Competence), analysis of transcripts from the Zoom sessions as well as a final project survey. The results from the qualitative analysis show traces and instances of all the objectives proposed by Byram (1997), while the findings from the final project questionnaire reveal that at the end of the
This TILA report addresses issues of task design and pedagogic implementation for intercultural telecollaboration exchanges between secondary school pupils from different countries. It is based on case studies of three telecollaboration scenarios: tandem conversations in 3D world environments in OpenSim, lingua franca conversations in 3D world environments in OpenSim, and lingua franca conversations in a multimodal environment combining video communication in BigBlueButton with chat and forum in Moodle. These scenarios are distinguished by relevant task design features including topic selection, blended learning task ensemble, tandem and lingua franca constellations, telecollaboration tools and communication modes, and physical locations. Pupils' performance data, feedback comments from teachers and pupils as well as participant observations provide insights into the workings of these task design features and their affordances for intercultural communication practice:
This TILA research study analyses written and spoken communicative interactions in eleven lingua franca conversations between pairs or small groups of pupils in different home-based telecollaboration environments: text chat, video communication and 3D virtual world exchanges. Special attention is given to topic development, comprehension and production problems, and aspects of interactional intercultural competence. In addition to the assigned conversation tasks, pupils tend to introduce their own personal topics, in particular in video communication encounters. This is an indicator of increased autonomous authenticity and a move beyond school towards real-life communication. Comprehension and production problems are addressed on the fly in highly cooperative and efficient ways. The pupils’ attention is on ensuring successful communication: they want to be understood and convey their message. Any focus on form serves the communicative ambition. In particular in video conversations, pupils show a high degree of social presence by expressing empathy and rapport. The conversational interactions are thoroughly cooperative and supportive. Creating common ground and negotiating a shared line of argumentation seems to be more important than engaging in controversies.
Proceedings of 181st ISERD International Conference, London, United Kingdom, 07th -08th March, 2020
The medium and mode of communication used for Online Intercultural Exchange (OIE) can play an important role in engaging partners with each other across time. 23 Japanese university learners were given guidance on and a free choice of technology to use for the iron line interaction with American partners during a four-week exchange program. Survey findings showed that the most engaging technology used was a messaging application called 'Whatsapp'. Reasons reported for this preference included familiarity and ease of use, lower stress levels with a written mode of communication, and ease of setting up online groups. Implications for these findings, as well as recommendations for improving learner engagement in OIE are summarized.
ELTJ: Online intercultural exchanges
In this series, we explore technology-related themes and topics. The series aims to discuss and demystify what may be new areas for some readers and to consider their relevance to English language teachers. Online intercultural exchanges have been a developing focus of research in the field of learning technologies and ELT over the past two decades. With the advent of networked computers in the early 1990s, teachers were increasingly able to connect learners in different parts of the world with the dual aim of improving their linguistic competence and developing their intercultural knowledge and skills. As hardware, software, and the internet have developed, so too have research approaches, learning theories, and classroom practice in this area. In this article, we briefly review the history and research of online intercultural exchanges, from the use of email and other early tools in the 1990s, to more recent projects using Web 2.0 tools. We consider whether online intercultural exchanges can increase learning outcomes, and we examine some of the caveats and challenges that emerge in the research.