A videoconferencing tandem exchange involving adult learners of english and spanish as foreign languages : an interactionist perspective (original) (raw)
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Three Experiences in Video-Conferencing with Native Speakers of Spanish and French
NECTFL Review, 2017
Student interactive exchanges with native speakers of a target language may increase learners' self-confidence, production, and oral comprehension in the target language, as well as students' intercultural communicative competence (ICC). One approach to interactive exchanges is video-conferencing (VC). This article discusses three experiences with the use of interactive exchanges with native speakers using video-conferencing tools in target language acquisition in higher education. It outlines how to include VC into the world language curriculum and assesses its benefits and challenges. Additionally, it argues that innovative use of technology
@tic. revista d'innovació educativa, 2015
En este artículo presentamos nuestra investigación sobre la negociación de significado en dos interacciones con los mismos estudiantes españoles y alemanes de 16 años de edad en colegios de España y Alemania respectivamente. Las interacciones incluyen dos constelaciones de idioma, es decir, inglés como lengua franca y un tándem español. Nuestra investigación se llevó a cabo dentro del proyecto Telecollaboration for Intercultural Language Acquisition project (TILA). Nuestro análisis cualitativo de la interacción demuestra que la telecolaboración ofrece muchas oportunidades para la comprensión y el aprendizaje. No hemos encontrado pruebas concluyentes para apoyar la hipótesis de que la negociación de significado es muy diferente en los dos tipos de constelaciones de idioma. Palabras clave: Telecolaboración. Negociación de significado. Tándem. Lingua Franca. Resum En aquest article presentem la nostra investigació sobre la negociació de significat en dos interaccions amb els mateixos estudiants espanyols i alemanys de 16 anys d'edat en col•legis d'Espanya i Alemanya respectivament. Les interaccions inclouen dos constel•lacions d'idioma, és a dir, anglés com a llengua franca i un tàndem espanyol. La nostra investigació es va dur a terme dins del projecte Telecollaboration for Intercultural Language Acquisition project (TILA). La nostra anàlisi qualitativa de la interacció demostra que la telecol.aboració ofereix moltes oportunitats per a la comprensió i l'aprenentatge. No hem trobat proves concloents per a recolzar la hipòtesi de que la negociació de significat és molt diferent en els dos tipus de constel•lacions d'idioma.
The current study examined the impact of video-based conversational interaction on the longitudinal development (one academic semester) of second language (L2) production by college-level Japanese English-as-a-foreign-language learners. Students in the experimental group engaged in weekly, dyadic conversation exchanges with native speakers in the US via telecommunication tools, wherein the native speaking interlocutors were trained to provide interactional feedback in the form of recasts when the non-native speakers' utterances hindered successful understanding (i.e., negotiation for comprehensibility). The students in the comparison group received regular foreign language instruction without any interaction with native speakers. The video-coded data showed that the experimental students incidentally worked on improving all linguistic domains of language, thanks to their native speaking interlocutors' interactional feedback (recasts, negotiation) during the treatment. The pre-/post-test data led to significant gains in their comprehensibility, fluency and lexicogrammar, but not in the accentedness and pronunciation dimensions of their spontaneous production abilities. No significant improvement was found for the control group. The findings in turn support the acquisitional value of interaction, especially with regards to certain aspects of linguistic competence related to the early phase of L2 speech learning.
Telecollaboration to what extent is this a valuable addition to a Spanish Language Program
Working Papers in Linguistics at the University of Washington, 2016
This case study was motivated to formally assess the value of the UBC-UNAM telecollaboration for Spanish language practice. Drawing on the notion that in-tandem learning is an effective complement to traditional Spanish language instruction (Navarro, 2013), volunteer students at a university on the West Coast of Canada exchange English for Spanish with Mexican counterparts since 2013. The observation of a single Anglophone Canadian student over the course of five sixty-minute sessions revealed some systematic patterns of interaction during the online language exchange sessions with Mexican partners. More precisely, we observed whether participants functioned in monolingual mode (Grosjean, 2000); how they negotiated meaning (Gass & Mackey, 2006); and the extent to which a computer-to-computer interface constrained participants' embodiment of the language learning process (Taylor, 2012). Findings showed that while conversing in English, participants produced 605 interactions from which only 7.44% were cases of language mixing, whereas from a total of 611 interactions in Spanish, 6.71% were switches into English. These findings suggested that overall, participants managed to activate and process both languages successfully, functioning primarily in
This study adds to the literature on computer-mediated communication (CMC) by examining the impact of online voice recording (VR) activities and peer-to-peer videoconferencing (VC) conversations on the development of beginning Spanish learners' speaking performance. Specifically, this paper explores (1) whether VR and VC activities promote oral proficiency, and if so, whether those gains can be seen both in presentational and interpersonal modes of communication; and (2) whether VR and VC activities foster oral proficiency in similar ways to face-to-face (F2F) communication. A quasi-experimental, pre-/post-test design was used in the study. Three sections of a first semester Spanish course were assigned to one of the following conditions: F2F, VR, and VC. Complexity, accuracy, and fluency measures were used to analyze learners' speaking performance in the two tasks. A mixed effects model analysis was used to investigate differences across time as well as among groups. Results show that both F2F communication and VR activities promote complexity and fluency in presentational tasks and fluency in interpersonal tasks, although F2F produces superior results regarding complexity in presentational tasks. VC activities promote complexity and fluency in presentational tasks and complexity, accuracy, and fluency in interpersonal tasks. Overall, this study shows that medium is not merely a delivery device but has important implications for learning outcomes. In this sense, these findings contribute to answering the wider question of how the use of technology in second language instruction plays a decisive role in current teaching practices.
Foreign Language Annals, 2021
In the context of learning a second language, the passing on of cultural information as a means to further the development of intercultural competences is primarily viewed as being unidirectional—the “native-speaking culture” passing on information to the language learning student. However, in EFL (English as a foreign language) environments, the most relatable cultural norms available to the learners tend to be those associated with their homeland—the place they presently reside. As such, teaching language learning students using a unidirectional cultural frame ignores the wealth of cultural knowledge that such language learners possess. Offering cultural exchanges between groups of different language learners is one way to facilitate cultural learning in a bidirectional manner. In this study, 11 university students, six Japanese and five Taiwanese, took part in a cultural exchange project using the videoconferencing application Zoom. Findings from the data suggest that such telecollaborative video activities are mutually beneficial for exchanging local cultural information. We conclude that such exchanges develop intercultural competences via increased verbosity, the application of polite language, and of the utmost importance, by building interpersonal relationships. For language teachers who ascribe to a belief in the value of intercultural exchanges, applications like Zoom open up avenues for student interactions that are real, meaningful, and culturally rich.
The Specialist, 27(1), 189-212., 2006
Em publicação anterior nesta mes m a revista , apresen ta m o s a funda m e n t aç ão teórica e os procedim e n t o s práticos de duas modalida d es da abord age m à apren di zage m de línguas estrangeiras intande m -o m face-a-face e o e-Tande m . Neste artigo, apresen t a m o s nossa prop o st a de uma terceira mod alida de -o Teletande m , como uma nova opção em CALLT. Trata -se de um Tande m virtual que utiliza as ferra m en t as on -line de escrita, leitura, áudio e vídeo do aplicativo Windows Live Messenger. Em seguida, descreve m o s e argu me n t a m o s pela viabilização dos princípios teóricos e práticos desta terceira modalida d e de tand em no contexto de um projeto de pesq uisa -o Teletande m Brasil: Línguas estrangeiras para todos . Um dos objetivos centrais deste projeto é prop orcio nar, por meio do espaço virtual do teletan de m , o contato dos alunos universitários brasileiro s com outro s povos da comunid ad e inter nacion al e, por meio deste contato, o intercâ m bio de suas respectivas línguas e cultur as.
Face-to-face Versus Computer-Mediated Adult Learner Interactions and Second Language Acquisition
2018
This dissertation investigated face-to-face (FTF) interactions and computer-mediated communication (CMC) in second language acquisition (SLA) through a systematic literature review and two mixed-methods empirical studies. The systematic literature review analyzed 35 studies' findings that have investigated SLA through task-based interaction in FTF versus CMC. The review's findings support previous review studies indicating a positive connection between CMC and FTF interactions and SLA. The first empirical study investigated the effectiveness of corrective feedback (CF) in FTF and text-synchronous-computer-mediated communication (SCMC) modes. The participants included six native speakers (NSs) and six intermediate L2 learners. Three NSs were trained to provide implicit CF and three NSs were trained to provide explicit CF. The participants formed six NS-learner dyads, which were divided into two groups: implicit and explicit CF. All dyads performed one task in each mode. The interactions were coded for CF episodes and types. Results of chi-square analysis indicated statistically significant difference in the frequency and effect of CF types on L2 development in FTF versus text-SCMC. This study's findings indicated that the CF nature, the communication mode's features, and the interlocutor impacted L2 development through interactions. Text-SCMC was more conducive in providing explicit CF, whereas FTF was more conducive in providing implicit CF. The second empirical study investigated dyadic types in FTF versus text-SCMC. The participants included four NSs, four low proficiency learners (LPLs), and four high proficiency learners (HPLs). The participants were paired up to form two of each of the following dyadic types: NS-LPL, NS-HPL, and HPL-LPL. All dyads performed one task in each mode. The iii interactions were coded for negotiation episodes and strategies. Results of chi-square analysis found no statistically significant difference in the frequency of negotiation episodes among the three dyadic types or the LPLs' and HPLs' language learning outcome in FTF versus SCMC. Results revealed that learners benefited more from interactions with NSs than with peers. When interacting with NSs, LPLs benefited more from FTF, whereas HPLs benefited more from text-SCMC in terms of generating negotiation episodes. Overall, this dissertation's findings showed that FTF and text-SCMC complement each other in creating opportunities for L2 development. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would not have completed this dissertation without the guidance and support of several people who followed me throughout the journey of writing it. First, I would like to thank my committee chair, Dr. Zohreh Eslami, who believed in my potential even before I applied to the PhD program. Her belief in me, encouragement, and high expectations increased my determination to be involved in research projects, publications, and conferences. Dr. Eslami's high expectations came with challenges. As I look back, I realize that it was those challenges I had to face that made me stronger and more confident in my work.
Journal of Pragmatics, 1996
The observation has been made that speech in contacts between native and non-native speakers may be modified and simplified to the point of ungrammaticality (the me Tarzan, you Jane phenomenon). Since the early 1980s, a number of studies in Second Language Acquisition have carried the notion of modification into the analysis of the interaction itself. The goal was to learn about interactional modifications and about how they relate to processes of language acquisition. In these analyses, a number of concepts from Conversation Analysis (CA) have been applied. This paper discusses a number of methodological problems in this research, of which especially the model of communication assumed and the type of data analyzed are the most prominent. Finally the paper discusses problems related to the introduction of core CA concepts into research on native-nonnative speaker communication.