Conceptualizing an inquiry-based lingua-cultural learning through telecollaborative exchanges.

Murod Ismailov

doi:10.12688/f1000research.55128.2

Abstract

In recent years, telecollaboration has been gaining popularity among scholars, teachers, and students engaged in foreign language education because it facilitates the use of Internet-mediated communication tools to connect language and culture learners in geographically distant locations. Telecollaboration, as currently viewed in academic and classroom settings, places greater emphasis on the development of learners' intercultural communicative competence. The problem with this approach is that this process may not consider the possibility that learners engaged in online intercultural exchanges could have limited or no knowledge about certain aspects of their own lingua-culture. We argue that, for learners to effectively share lingua-cultural knowledge with their online peers abroad, there must be a framework that supports the construction of learners' own intra-cultural knowledge to provide a solid foundation for intercultural learning and communication. In this paper, we develop an inquiry-based model of telecollaboration incorporating both inquiry and online exchange based on the inquiry cycle, which includes engagement, exploration, explanation, elaboration, and evaluation. This paper builds a case for the application of inquiry-based telecollaboration in a real classroom environment, which could not only help learners obtain and eventually share more authentic, deeper knowledge about their lingua-culture, but also promote informed intercultural exchange.

Highlights

In one of the early essays about the role of the Internet in foreign language instruction published in 1993, William J
More than 25 years later, foreign language teachers and their students can send emails to any person in any country in the world, and engage in discussions; exchange ideas; make presentations; practice their speaking, writing, reading, and listening skills; and instantly get feedback from their partners through real-time communication applications (Guth and Helm 2010). This form of interaction is known as telecollaboration, with some authors labelling it ‘an online intercultural exchange’ (O’Dowd 2007) or ‘Internet-mediated intercultural foreign language education’ (Belz and Thorne 2006)
Telecollaboration is an important aspect of foreign language education because it highlights the importance of intercultural learning and communicative competence in the process of foreign language acquisition (Byram 1997; O’Dowd 2012)

Summary

Introduction

In one of the early essays about the role of the Internet in foreign language instruction published in 1993, William J. Inquiry-based model of telecollaboration Existing telecollaboration cases reveal that online intercultural exchange necessitates the presence of two or more linguistically and culturally distinct groups of individuals whose goal is to learn about each other’s language and culture through various Internet-mediated activities, such as information exchange, comparison and analysis, and collaboration and product creation (see Figure 1).

Results

Conclusion