Telecollaborative Project Research Articles

Transformation through telecollaboration: A working hypothesis on the transformative potential of blended spaces for (Italian) foreign language acquisition in South Africa

This article formulates a working hypothesis on the transformative potential of telecollaborative projects in a foreign language classroom in South Africa. It is based on a project which has been already successfully implemented in Australia. The working idea is to transfer this project into the South African context, where the use of technology may be helpful both to improve the quality of students’ learning experience and to address the transformative demand coming from the South African society. The essay both illustrates the transformational potential of digital spaces of blended foreign language acquisition and suggests how current blending strategies deployed abroad may be re-thought and re-shaped so as to better match the peculiarities of the South African context.

Blending Italian “down-under”: Toward a theoretical framework and pragmatic guide for blending tertiary Italian language and culture courses through Skype-enhanced, pre-service teacher-centred telecollaboration

This contribution draws on the article by Carloni and Zuccala (2017), that offered a preliminary discussion of a joint telecollaborative project between Italian Studies at Monash University and the University of Urbino. The present work aims at providing a theoretical, as well as pragmatic, starting point for developing a Pre-Service Teacher-centred model for a “sustainable”, cross-institutional, blended mode of delivering foreign language and culture tuition in the field of Italian

Exploring the transnational connections between blended learning spaces, trans-institutional collaboration, and intercultural awareness in transformative telecollaborative projects

This introductory essay aims to shed light on the theoretical raison d’etre , the intersections within, and the main lines shared by the five essays that make up this section. The section is dedicated to transnational and blended learning spaces in telecollaborative, trans-institutional projects. This piece pivots on the increasingly important and pervasive theoretical notion of the “Spatial Turn” (Bachmann-Medick 2016, 211-243), which has become increasingly visible in, among other fields, pedagogy and cultural studies, and more specifically in the idea of boundary-crossing and hybridisation not only of physical but also of methodological spaces. This introductory essay shows how these five scholarly pieces contribute in different ways to enriching the interdisciplinary scholarly space at the intersection of intercultural awareness and technology- enhanced teaching and learning of foreign languages and cultures.

Integrating Intercultural Competence development into the curriculum through Telecollaboration. A task sequence proposal for Higher Education

Despite its demonstrated potential to enhance students’ Intercultural Competence and other 21st century skills, telecollaboration still fails to be fully integrated into university courses. Literature shows that there is a need for developing sustainable instructional design models for this purpose. Hence, the main goal of this work is to propose a theory-informed task sequence to facilitate the integration of telecollaboration into university courses for the development of Intercultural Competence. Based on the typology of tasks from O’Dowd & Ware (2009) and enriched with contributions from other authors, the task sequence: (1) facilitates the development of Intercultural Competence according to EMIC model and adds a new block to its composition in order to approach the specificities of virtual teamwork, (2) contains detailed instructions for each task, (3) provides guidelines on implementation, on the selection of technology and on the integration of tasks to the syllabi and (4) offers an assessment plan, accompanied by a list of learning evidences that are expected to be manifested by students per task. This sequence can serve as a reference for further adaptations to diverse contexts. It is currently being piloted in two telecollaborative projects and the results are expected to contribute to future improvements.

Intercultural learning in schools through telecollaboration? A critical case study of eTwinning between Turkey and Germany

Digital media offer various possibilities for internet-based telecollaboration in schools and open up a space for intercultural learning. Diverse initiatives like such as the European Union-initiative eTwinning network aim to support telecollaboration projects in education. This article argues that we need to develop critical and grounded understanding of telecollaboration projects and how they are being embedded in the context of existing school cultures. The article presents an in-depth case study of a telecollaboration project between a Turkish and a German school. On the basis of observations in schools, interviews with teachers and focus groups with pupils, the article argues that there are two main challenges that limit the experience of intercultural learning in the analysed project. The first point is about the strong teacher-centred project design and the discrepancy between the perspectives of teachers and pupils. The second point is the rather simplistic and superficial understanding of culture, which reasserts national cultures instead of promoting a more open perspective, that influences the project tasks and topics.

Raising intercultural awareness through voice-based telecollaboration: perceptions, uses, and recommendations

ABSTRACTThis article explores learners’ uses and opinions regarding the design and implementation of an approach for developing intercultural knowledge and skills via an online voice-based telecollaboration tool. The participants were 14 pre-service teachers taking an intercultural course for English teachers at a Russian university. For three weeks, they engaged in a multicultural out-of-class telecollaboration with 14 pre-service teachers pursuing an MA degree in foreign language education in the U.S. English was used as a means of interaction. The Russian participants’ uses and views regarding the telecollaboration project were gathered through a mixed-method analysis of their oral posts, online questionnaire responses, a whole-class discussion, and individual reflections. The results revealed that the pre-service teachers appreciated the format, timeframe, and facilitation of the project as well as the affordances mediated by the voice-based tool for enabling them to develop their intercultural skills with multicultural partners. The results also indicated that, to maximize student engagement, it is important to consider learners’ contextual variables, and their individual preferences and needs when choosing CMC tools and telecollaboration partners. The study concludes with a number of pedagogical suggestions for teachers interested in conducting projects that can raise their students’ intercultural awareness via telecollaboration tools.

Promoting pre- and in-service teachers’ co-construction of knowledge through an intercultural telecollaboration project

This paper reports an intercultural telecollaboration project between four pre- and in-service second/foreign language teachers that sought to analyze how knowledge was co-constructed among team members through online social negotiation. Data consisting of transcripts of two conversations using the conferencing platform Skype were analyzed using a taxonomy adapted from Gunawardena, Lowe and Anderson’s (1997) model. It was found that the highest amount of utterances (62%) fell into Phase I (Sharing/comparing of information) and that few occurrences fell into higher phases of negotiation of meaning (Phases IV and V). These findings raised awareness regarding task’s design, structure and content in order to foster higher levels of negotiation of meaning and to prevent potential lack of involvement.

Learner expectations and satisfaction in a US-Spain intercultural telecollaboration

The focus of this paper is the analysis of data collected after conducting a telecollaboration project throughout one semester with 12 advanced learners of Spanish from a mid-sized Atlantic coast university in the USA and 12 higher intermediate students of English from a technical university in Spain. Data was collected through a questionnaire enquiring about learner expectations at the outset of the project and a final survey seeking detailed information about learner satisfaction in order to implement improvements in subsequent projects. In-depth analysis of the data shed light on the perceived benefits and challenges of the intercultural telecollaboration project. There was evidence that the students were very open-minded about discussing multifaceted intercultural issues and very positive toward collaborating with fellow students from a different cultural background. The surveys also suggest that the learners’ expected benefits aligned with their stated benefits after carrying out the project, which led us to believe that possible frustrations and communication breakdowns had been kept to a minimum.

Value Orientations and Off-Topic Interactions: Contradictions in American–Japanese Intercultural Telecollaboration

Drawing from activity theory and its notion of contradictions of various levels, the present study analyzes tensions that emerged during a six-week telecollaborative project between American learners of Japanese (AMU students) and Japanese learners of English (JPU students) regarding expectations and manners of interaction. Transpacific groups of students participated in online discussions of pre-assigned topics and a series of supplemental, reflective tasks such as in-class discussions, weekly journals, and individual interviews. Using a three-stage grounded theory data coding strategy, major contradictions were identified and analyzed. This case study presents negotiation of an emergent contradiction concerning learner expectations and manners of interaction between two transpacific groups. The object of the two JPU participants was oriented more toward exchange value and they faced a contradiction when the transpacific conversation went off-topic, while their AMU partners enjoyed it. Findings also show how the negotiation of a contradiction in an activity system undergoes expansive transformation involving a neighboring activity system.

Linking Virtual and Physical Mobility: A Success Story of a Multilingual and Multicultural Exchange

Summary The article presents a scientific analysis of a practical application of multilingual and multicultural education at higher education, more specifically, the description of the eTandem project developed and launched by the Language Center of the University of Padua, which won the European Language Label (ELL) in December 2016. The project was selected and nominated since it provides a methodological approach and study strategies which favour multilingualism, mobility for young people and inclusiveness. The project is based on an online exchange between Italian students enrolled at the University of Padua and international students who will be coming to the University. It differs from many other telecollaboration projects in that it involves different languages, levels of language competence as well as various ways of interaction. Indeed, it implies three different ways of communication among participants: (1) one-to-one partnership in the students’ target language; (2) many-to-many interaction in Italian and/or English/French/Spanish as linguae francae on a Moodle platform and/or in a social Facebook area; (3) one-to-many multilingual interaction carried out by e-tutors in Facebook. They provide students with useful links regarding cultural events and things to do in Padua and its surroundings, as well as recent news and interesting linguistic and cultural issues related to different countries. Mobility, informality, autonomy, reciprocity, friendship, fun and multilingual community are the key words of this initiative whose objectives are aimed at developing linguistic, cultural, personal, social and digital skills in different languages, even in the less used and less taught ones.

Constructive content-based feedback in EAP contexts: lessons from a cross-border engineering-related pre-sessional course

ABSTRACTThis paper investigates a small-scale project concerned with establishing and sustaining an e-partnership between international students in the UK and engineering students in Palestine. It focuses on the value of peer teaching and learning as an attempt to ensure a greater balance between knowledge and language on a UK pre-sessional English language course, by involving more able peers from a Gazan student body. At the same time, it was hoped that such an arrangement would enable the Gazan students to develop a range of transferable skills, of use in accessing employment at a distance. The article initially outlines the wider context to the Project, discussing the issues related to instituting peer learning/teaching schemes in an HE setting. At its centre though is the presentation and evaluation of a constructive feedback course, whose design and delivery aimed at facilitating the development of skills needed to perform as a peer mentor. It demonstrates students’ attitudes towards feedback and the strategies they use when asked to provide their peers with content feedback in an e-partnership. In this way, it provides food for thought to educators interested in developing similar cross-border schemes. Though the potential issues that emerge in terms of First World/Global South imbalance are very considerable, the paper suggests that telecollaboration projects of this nature may help overseas students start interrogating discipline-specific literacies, thus preventing the decontextualisation of the learner, including those unable to pay to study at a prestigious HE institution.

Twenty years of telecollaborative practice: implications for teaching Chinese as a foreign language

ABSTRACTIn an attempt to promote telecollaborative exchanges in the field of teaching Chinese as a foreign language, this paper conducts a comprehensive review of telecollaborative practice from the past twenty years and focuses on five important themes emerging from the literature on telecollaboration, i.e. models, tasks, challenges, technologies, and new trends. Special attention is given to how each theme's findings can be applied to telecollaborative projects for Chinese language learners. Based on the model of competencies for telecollaborative teachers developed by O'Dowd (2013), the implications of twenty years of telecollaborative practice for teaching Chinese as a foreign language are discussed in four areas, i.e. organizational, pedagogical, digital competences, and attitudes and beliefs.

Pioneering Outputs in Aesthetics of Telecommunications: The Case of Telecollaborative Projects by Kit Galloway and Sherrie Rabinowitz

Pioneering Outputs in Aesthetics of Telecommunications: The Case of Telecollaborative Projects by Kit Galloway and Sherrie Rabinowitz

Curriculum Integration in Distance Learning at Primary and Secondary Educational Levels on the Example of eTwinning Projects

Curriculum integration is one of the concepts which has been discussed for years. Telecollaborative projects, which employ elements of distance learning, provide opportunities for putting the idea into practice. Analysis of eTwinning projects undertaken in Polish schools aims at demonstrating the integrative role of distance learning approaches and their contribution to integration of various themes in educational context. As the eTwinning framework is very flexible, allowing for teacher and students autonomy the projects may vary in the topics, age and number of participants, duration scope within curriculum etc. The study shows various levels and perspectives of curriculum integration which take place in eTwinning projects. It also discusses the role of distance learning at primary and secondary educational levels. The challenge is to transform international collaboration of selected schools an everyday practice for all learners and teachers.

Bilingually traversing the US/Mexico "wall" via a classroom telecollaborative exchange: Translanguaging online with the Functional Approach to Code-switching Electronically (FACE)

This study proposes to make the concept of translanguaging online accessible for teachers who wish to connect their classrooms with students in other countries via telecollaboration projects. I explore the role of instructed code-switching, as a strategic and intentional translanguaging strategy, for developing learners’ symbolic competence and in promoting the kind of communication in transnational telecollaboration projects that leads to positive bilingual identity and language development. The majority of telecollaboration projects reported in the literature describe projects at the university language classroom setting and the varied dysfunctions that may lead to “failed communication” (O’Dowd & Ritter, 2013) or “missed communication” (Ware, 2005). In contrast, the study within describes the successful impact of a pedagogical intervention, the Functional Approach to Code-switching Electronically (FACE) (Author, 2014), that fostered intercultural understanding among public high school students in an American Government class in the Southwestern United States and students in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) class in the Central Pacific Coast of Mexico. Findings demonstrate how teachers can adopt translanguaging practices in their classrooms by instructing the purposeful use of code-switching for facilitating the development of students’ L2, content acquisition, symbolic competence, and positive identities as bilinguals. In doing so, students are given the strategies needed to successfully play within the power games situated across semi-anonymous online borders, walls, and contact zones (Vinall, 2010). DOI:10.2458/azu_itet_v5i2_przymus

Synthesizing the Practice of SCMC-based Telecollaboration: A Scoping Review

Telecollaboration is a type of online learning arrangement between geographically distant participants for the development of language and intercultural competence. After two decades of research, it is an apt time to engage in a systematic review of previous studies in the form of a scoping review in order to illuminate the pedagogical practices commonly used in telecollaboration. The study synthesized 55 distinct telecollaboration projects that took place in university foreign-language classes and utilized synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) tools to answer (1) What are the typical arrangements of SCMC-based telecollaboration (e.g., participants, project set-ups, and interaction set-ups)? and (2) How have SCMC-based telecollaboration projects changed over the last two decades? We identified six commonly adopted arrangements of SCMC-based telecollaboration. We also found that, while certain pedagogical practices in telecollaboration have matured, the field is undergoing reconceptualization and expansion with the advancement of technology and diversification of participants. We conclude the article with suggestions regarding reporting practices in telecollaboration research, thereby enabling more rigorous synthesis in the future.

Synchronous Telecollaboration for Novice Language Learners: Effects on Speaking Skills and Language Learning Interests

Telecollaboration brings together learners in different parts of the world for collaborative language learning and cultural exchange. Defined by Belz as the application of global communication networks in foreign language education (2002: 61), telecollaboration holds a plethora of benefits for language learners. Mostly utilized in intermediate and advanced language classes, this article argues for the incorporation of telecollaboration at all language levels. Even novice learners can benefit in different ways from the direct exchange with native speakers of the target language. This article summarizes one example of telecollaboration aimed at exploring the effects of participation in a semester-long synchronous virtual exchange on the speaking proficiency of L2 learners of German, as well as their interest in the study of German and potential study abroad. A telecollaborative project was conducted between novice learners of German at a college in the US and advanced learners of English at a high school in Germany. Students formed tandem partnerships and completed voice-chats and text-chats in alternation each week. The results showed that students' speaking proficiency was not stronger than that of the control group after the exchange, but that their interest in learning German and studying abroad had increased.

The role of telecollaboration in language and intercultural learning: A synthesis of studies published between 2010 and 2015

AbstractIn today’s globalized world, learning languages and developing intercultural skills are of paramount importance due to dynamic and complex global interdependencies. However, not every language student around the world has a chance to engage in face-to-face intercultural communication with people from different backgrounds. Telecollaboration offers a worthwhile opportunity by creating digital environments for language learners to communicate with people from diverse backgrounds. This qualitative meta-synthesis therefore aimed to investigate the research papers that were published between 2010 and 2015 in respect to language and intercultural learning within telecollaborative environments. Besides reporting emerging research trends among the studies, this synthesis study scrutinized recent emerging issues and observable patterns under five main themes: (1) the participants’ overall views on their telecollaborative experiences, (2) language learning through telecollaboration, (3) intercultural learning through telecollaboration, (4) the challenges experienced within the telecollaborative projects, and (5) the needs for further effective telecollaboration. Finally, this study synthesizes key emerging issues in telecollaborative projects and offers further research and practice directions in line with the current observable patterns.

Visualization Forms in the Cross-cultural Collaborative Activities of Design and Development of a Digital Resource for Education

Recent studies have demonstrated the integration of visualization technology to support collaboration and stimulate learning performance. The use of visualization tools during the collaborative activities of international students is a worthy topic for further exploration. Based on grounded and activity theories, this research uses observation and qualitative behavior analysis to determine how participants use visualization tools to distinguish the behavior features of learners and to explain the role of these tools in a telecollaborative project. The analysis distinguishes three major types of visualization forms: shaped, diagramed, and tabled presentations, which serve particular epistemic and social demands of collaborative tasks. Findings indicated that visualization forms and tools can enhance collaborative activities by helping international members visualize their thoughts, comprehension, and discussion, although they use different languages and are from diverse cultures. Further research can develop new and effective methods for collaboration and learning using visual support tools.

Sequences of normative evaluation in two telecollaboration projects: A comparative study of multimodal feedback through desktop videoconference

Abstract In our study we analyse how the same interactional dynamic is produced in two different pedagogical settings exploiting a desktop videoconference system. We propose to focus our attention on a specific type of conversational side sequence, known in the Francophone literature as sequences of normative evaluation. More particularly, we analyse data from two telecollaborative projects through desktop videoconference: a French-Chinese tandem, and a French-Irish telecollaboration between trainee teachers and learners of French as a foreign language. The comparison of two different pedagogical settings allows us to understand what types of interactional dynamics are co-constructed through the desktop videoconference environment and which characteristics are specific to each pedagogical setting. Within a socio-interactionist perspective, we analysed four hours of interactions, focusing particularly on the transmodal enactment of the sequences under scrutiny and its relation to learners’ uptake. Our results show on the one hand that there are some quantitative differences in the production of sequences of normative evaluation between the two pedagogical settings, and on the other hand that, contrary to our hypothesis, the co-construction of these sequences does not differ in multimodal density across the two contexts. We discuss these results and propose some tentative explanations for them.