Engagement beyond a tour guide approach: Korean and US elementary school students' intercultural telecollaboration

Abstract

This paper reports findings from a case study of intercultural telecollaboration between elementary school students in South Korea and the United States via the social networking service Classting. The goal was to provide an opportunity for Korean students with limited exposure to authentic English language communication to interact with native speakers of English and for the US students to experience online intercultural activity in class with the hope of promoting intercultural communicative competence (ICC) in both student groups. The study applies Byram’s (1997) model of ICC to analyze patterns of engagement within the communication between students. Findings indicate that although both student groups endeavored to create common ground in their intercultural encounters, there was a tendency to relate to each other by enacting a Tour Guide Approach towards their own culture and a Tourist Approach (Byram, 1997) towards the other culture. Findings also show, however, that students went beyond such approaches during “off task” interactional moments, drawing on shared small cultures to initiate more authentic interpersonal engagement and opportunities for knowledge exchange.