ERIC Number: EJ1399796
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2023
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: EISSN-1695-2618
The Development of Foreign Language Students' Intercultural Communicative Competence through Telecollaboration
The EUROCALL Review, v30 n1 p35-51 2023
Telecollaboration has proved to be an excellent means for the development of students' intercultural skills (O'Dowd & Dooly, 2012). Based on this presumption, a telecollaborative project was carried out between B2 level (CEFR) learners of English from Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain) and B1 level (CEFR) students of Spanish as a foreign language from the University of Bath (UK). The aim of the project was to help learners from both universities, Aerospace Engineering students in particular, to develop their intercultural communicative competence. Throughout a six-week period, students carried out asynchronous discussions focusing on two cultural topics in groups of four and participated in synchronous Zoom sessions in pairs. The topics at the core of the discussions were a) Catalan Independence b) Digital Education. Topic a) was conducted entirely in Spanish and topic b), in English. The social network used for students' written interaction was MeWe (www.mewe.com). To conclude the project, the participants completed a collaborative task with their overseas partners that was assessed by the instructor. Qualitative data was gathered through the students' posts on MeWe (which was then analysed following Byram's (1997) proposed objectives for the assessment of Intercultural Communicative Competence), analysis of transcripts from the Zoom sessions as well as a final project survey. The results from the qualitative analysis show traces and instances of all the objectives proposed by Byram (1997), while the findings from the final project questionnaire reveal that at the end of the course all participants felt they had learnt something about their partners' culture. The quantitative analysis further demonstrates a correlation between the number of videoconference sessions and spontaneous conversation about cultural topics, which suggests that, in order for a telecollaborative project to be successful, students should attend the scheduled sessions.
Descriptors: Intercultural Communication, Interpersonal Competence, Telecommunications, Cooperative Learning, English (Second Language), Second Language Learning, Spanish, Foreign Countries, Asynchronous Communication, Computer Mediated Communication, Electronic Learning, Social Networks
European Association for Computer-Assisted Language Learning (EUROCALL). EUROCALL Headquarters, School of Modern Languages, University of Ulster, Cromore Road, Coleraine BT52 1SA, Northern Ireland, UK. Tel: +34-67-943-1283; Web site: http://www.eurocall-languages.org/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Spain; United Kingdom
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A