Enhancing Intercultural Communicative Competence through

Enhancing Intercultural
Communicative Competence through
Tellecollaboration
An Intercontinental Video-Web
Communication Project Between Chile and
The Netherlands
Emerita Bañados
Kristi Jauregi
EUROCALL 2009 - GANDÍA
Universidad de Concepción
Enhancing Intercultural Communicative Competence through Tellecollaboration
2
Maximizing Opportunities for Authentic Interaction
through Tellecolaboration
3
Conditions to Promote Foreign Language
Learning
• Comprehensible, rich & varied input (Krashen, 1985).
• Opportunities to produce comprehensible output, correct &
adequate to the conversational context (Swain, 1985).
• Opportunities for Interaction, negotiation of meaning, strategic
use of language in a social, authentic context (Long, 1985; Ellis,
2003; Lantolf, 2006).
• Emphasis on intercultural & pragmatic aspects (Byram,1997;
Kasper, 2001).
• Focus on form (Doughty, 1998; Long, 1998).
CMC in SLA
• Learners become more confident & active (Kelm 1992, Kern 1996), produce more
coherent language (Felix & Lawson, 1996).
•Learners’ output shows syntatically & lexically more complex structures (Smith,
2003; Sotillo, 2000; Warschauer & Kern, 2000).
•There are frequent instances of negotiation of meaning (Lee, 2004; Shekary &
Tahririan, 2006; Warschauer & Kern, 2000).
•They develop Intercultural Competence (Belz & Thorne, 2006; Tudini, 2007; Vogt,
2006).
Tellecolaboration through Video-Web
Interaction
Universidad de Concepción- Utrecht University
CHILE-THE NETHERLANDS
Objectives:
• To enrich, internationalize & innovate the academic contexts at both
universities, particularly focusing on the development of Intercultural
Communicative Competence (Byram 1997) through learners’
participation in telecollaborative tasks.
• To empower the language learning environment carrying out tasks
which promote meaningful interaction with a real audience.
• To provide input and output opportunities with a real audience in an
authentic sociocultural context.
Computer Mediated Interaction Tools used
to Enrich the English-Spanish Language Learning Enviroment
Adobe
Connect
Website
Blog
Interaction
Skype
&
MSN
E-mail
Facebook
Context
•
•
•
•
Time span: October-December 2008
Participants: 8 students (Utrecht U.) & 8 students (U. Concepción)
Tandem: English-Spanish
Integration in courses:
– Utrecht >Spanish course at B2 level
– Concepción > English at A2 level
• Interaction formats: one to one
• Process: sharing pedagogical goals > adapting tasks > contacting students >
organising a plenary session to share project goals & to know each other >
tutorial about use of project ICT tools > making interaction dyads > organising
informal virtual exchanges > 5 official interaction sessions > session evaluation
in blogs > surveys
• Video-communication tools: Adobe Connect, MSN & oovoo
Interaction Tasks
•The project required learners to accomplish five tasks with a focus on
the development of intercultural communicative competence. They
aimed at creating opportunities to negotiate intercultural meaning, to
promote cultural awareness, understanding and tolerance of cultural
differences and discussion of commonalities. Task design integrated
the practice of the four basic linguistic skills: listening, reading, speaking
and writing.
•Tasks offered opportunities for co-constructing meaning.
•They had opportunities to focus on their oral output by the feedback
they got from their partners.
Tasks
Task 1: Challenging stereotypes and getting to know
each other
Both Chilean and Dutch learners were asked to interview each other online.
The interview had to include questions that would make them comment on
their views, concepts, stereotypes of Chilean and Dutch people and culture
and their biographies. Chilean and Dutch learners were expected to engage in
purposeful negotiation of intercultural meaning which would contribute to get
a deeper understanding of their idiosyncratic features, different customs,
interaction styles, etc. After the telecollaborative encounter Dutch students
wrote down a text interview based on the information they had exchanged
during the interactive session.
Task 2: Interview review
Dutch learners had to upload their interview texts to the e-platform to get
feedback from their Chilean partners to introduce changes where necessary.
Chilean students were asked to focus on the content of their Dutch partners’
interview texts first: Was it appropriate, comprehensible and relevant? Had
they missed anything? Should something be clarified, added or deleted? Then,
Chilean students had to focus on linguistic inaccuracies by applying strategies
of consciousness raising (Sharwood-Smith, 1994). Thus, Chilean students
gave Dutch partners hints on mistakes so that they had to detect them by
themselves, mobilize knowledge and try to repair them. They then had to post
the corrected version of the interview text, based on their Chilean peer-revision
to the project blog.
TASKS
Task 3: Students’ life in Concepción and Utrecht
Students were asked in this telecollaborative task to talk about their student
life, focusing first on academic issues (study program, subjects and contents,
classes per week, pedagogical viewpoints, exams…) moving on to lodging
alternatives, and referring finally to leisure activities they undertook in their free
time. They were also asked to report on intercultural experiences they might
have had as students in international exchange programs or to report on the
experiences of foreign international students staying at their university they
might know.
Task 4: Literary debate
This task had two phases: (1) Each Dutch student had to make a five minute
oral power-point presentation of a book to the Chilean group. They had to
focus on the socio-cultural and communication patterns described in the book.
The Chilean students played the role of a jury evaluating their presentations.
They had to choose the best presenter and announce the winner of the literary
award. (2) Chilean and Dutch students held a debate on literary issues: They
had to present their favourite national writers and their works and talk about
the genres they liked or disliked.
TASKS
Task 5: Differences puzzle us
Before starting this session, participants read a questionnaire
addressing differences in the communication events in both cultures
which might affect adequate interpretation: Punctuality, the distance
interlocutors hold when talking to each other, presence or absence
of physical contact between speech-partners, the use of an agenda
in social life, expressions of gratitude as a politeness cue in social
encounters, etc. Then, they had to listen to audio fragments where
native Spanish speakers talked about other cultural and pragmatic
differences which might cause misunderstandings: Talking about the
weather as a ‘safe’ topic to engage in conversation; gaze intensity
and direction; the use of swear words in social interaction; the use of
the imperative and differences in teacher and student roles. They
had to compare the experience with their own culture and exchange
views with their partners.
Results surveys: Tasks
(N Utrecht 6, Concepción 5)
Were tasks appropriate?
Mean
U
StDev
U
Mean
C
StDev
C
1.Challenging stereotypes and getting to know each
other
4,7
0,5
4,6
0,5
2. Interview review
4,4
0,9
4,6
0,5
3. Students’ life in Concepción and Utrecht
3,6
1,1
4,6
0,5
4. Differences puzzle us
4,4
0,5
4,8
0,4
5. Literary debate
2,8
0,8
3,6
0,9
Were tasks relevant for your study
3,8
0,4
3,8
0,4
Results surveys: platform
Platforms used
Utrecht
percentages
Concepción
percentages
1. Adobe Connect
100%
60%
2. MSN
66 %
80%
3. Oovoo
46 %
60%
4. Skype
16 %
How did the platform function?
Mean
U
StDev
U
Mean
C
StDev
C
1. Adobe Connect
1,7
0,8
1,6
0,5
2. MSN
4,7
0,6
3,0
1,4
3. Oovoo
3,3
2,1
4,3
0,6
4. Skype
5
0
Resultsvisual cues
Results surveys:
Mean
U
StDev
U
Mean
C
StDev
C
40. Were you able to see your interlocutor?
4,7
0,5
4,8 0,4
41. How do you value the possibility to see your
interlocutor during the interaction?
5
0
5
42. Does seeing your interlocutor facilitate (5) or
hinder (1) communication processes?
4,7
0,5
4,8 0,4
45. Do you think that anonymity hinders (1) or
facilitates (5) communication processes?
1,7
1,2
1,5 1,0
0
CHILEAN & DUTCH learners agreed about the importance of
seeing each other while interacting, which, as participants reported,
contributes to overcoming anonymity and favouring proximity and
familiarity, making the communicative event more pleasant.
Results surveys: general experience
Mean
U
StDev
U
Mean
C
StDev
C
How do you value the videocommunication project?
4,0
1,3
4,6 0,5
Do you think the project should be integrated in the
studies you follow?
4,7
0,5
5,0 0,0
Would you like to keep on participating in this
project?
4,2
1,0
4,2 1,8
Results surveys: what has been the
positive aspect of the project? (UU)
La posibilidad de hablar con un nativo y aprender sobre su país y cultura.
Hacer sesiones en lugar de presentaciones en clase es
algo más divertido y da la oportunidad de intercambiar información cultural.
El aprendizaje de la lengua española, naturalmente.
Conocer otra cultura.
Los temas de hablar me han parecido muy interesantes y divertidos.
Que el proyecto es muy interesante y hacerlo es muy divertido y útil.
Results surveys: what has been the
positive aspect of the project? (UC)
La preocupación por el éxito del programa,
la oportunidad de integración en todos los aspectos.
Es una muy buena experiencia para aprender sobre otras culturas
de una manera entretenida.
El hecho de conocer otra cultura
Conocer una nueva cultura, no sabia mucho de holanda así que aprendí
muchas cosas,
también me sirvió mucho para practicar y ver lo difícil que fue expresar ideas
pero finalmente se logro.
Results surveys: what has been the
positive aspect of the project? (UC)
La oportunidad de aprender sobre otro país y sus costumbres
además de la posibilidad de aprender de alguien que domina el idioma
(ingles)
tips que no se aprenden en clases.
Además como experiencia era algo nuevo para mí.
También cabe destacar el echo de dejar a chile como un país en
desarrollo constante
ante la mirada de, al menos un holandés,
y no un país de indígenas que desde épocas coloniales aun no se
desarrolla…
RESULTS: Impact of VideoWebTechnological Mediation on
Developing Intercultural Competence
•
•
•
Improvement of learners’
communicative competence, with a
particularly positive effect on their
intercultural and linguistic competence.
Both Chilean and Dutch students
emphasized the value of the cultural
issues they had learned during their
interaction sessions.
Learners engaged in authentic
communication, talking with a real
audience about similarities and
differences in their customs, behaviours,
ways of life, interaction styles, social
codes, and their different cultural views
on similar subjects.
Chilean and Dutch learners improved
their cultural awareness discussing and
evaluating the perspectives, practices
and products of their own and another
culture and country
Results
• This intercontinental project has provided evidence to support the
positive aspects of integrating video-web communication technology in
language learning programs. Current video-web technology can enrich,
empower and inject life and motivation in the language class.
• Both Chilean and Dutch learners were able to gain in understanding,
tolerance and respect of different sociocultural contexts, working
collaboratively to accomplish their personal and pedagogical goals.
• Technology made it possible to overcome geographical barriers
connecting learners from distant continents, who were able to break
down their classroom walls, situating their language learning experience
in a broader environment, which would not have been possible otherwise.
• The affordances of the video-web communication technology enabled
teachers and learners to enhance the language learning processes,
offering opportunities to participate in a live intercultural experience to
learn the language and deal with pragmatic and cultural issues together
in an authentic, online socio-cultural context.
• http://www.let.uu.nl/users/Kristi.Jauregi/per
sonal/videoconference.htm
• Future NIFLAR project:
www.niflar.eu
niflar.ning.com
THANKS FOR YOUR
ATTENTION!
ebanados@udec.cl
k.jauregi@uu.nl