Intercultural Language Learning

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Intercultural Language Learning Group-to-Group
Videoconferencing

• Robert ODowd
• University of Essen,
• Germany

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Contact Learning

• Most teachers who have used the Internet have
  started out with some kind of simple key pal
  (computer pen pal) exchanges. And most teachers
  who have used these exchanges have felt something
  lacking. Simply put, there is no more reason to
  except a significant educational outcome from
  simply creating a pen pal connection than there
  is from simply bringing two students into a room
  and asking them to talk.
• Mark Warschauer P. Fawn Whittaker (1997)
• http//iteslj.org/Articles/Warschauer-Internet.htm
  l

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The Challenge

• ...for communication to be meaningful, we need
  to do more than link computers We need to
  construct an approach to how others, in other
  cultures, experience their world (Furstenberg et
  al., 20012).

4
Overview

• What do language learners learn from contact?
• Towards an ethnographic approach
• Background on videoconferencing
• Videoconferencing in León
• Tasks
• Opportunities for intercultural Learning
• Guidelines and lessons learned

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1. What are they looking for? Definitions of
culture

• Cristina (Spanish student)
• They live alone and not with their parents as
  almost all Spanish students do
• Marta (Spanish student)
• Like everybody else, some Americans are like
  you and me and some are different.

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2. Students receive information, but do not know
how to interpret it

• Interview with Cristina after videoconferences
  with USA
• Q What did you think of Americans before the
  exchange?
• A People who are always thinking of themselves
  and dont care about others.
• Q Did you get this impression from the
  videoconference?
• A Maybe, cos they did not seem very interested.
• Q All of them?
• A No, but that boy who was drinking coffee he
  wasnt serious at all.

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Intercultural Communicative Competence (Byram
1997)

• Attitudes of curiosity and openness
• Knowledge of social groups and their products and
  practices in both cultures
• Skills of discovery and interaction how to
  acquire new knowledge about a culture
• Skill of interpreting a document or event from
  another culture ...and relating it to documents
  from ones own culture
• Critical cultural awareness

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Students as ethnographers

• A move away from an encyclopaedic approach of
  seeing culture as a collection of facts and
  figures to
• an ethnographic approach the study of a
  groups social and cultural practices from an
  insiders perspective (Roberts et al. 2001)

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Spradley on Ethnography (19796)

• we do not eliminate an interest in behavior,
  customs, objects, or emotions. We have merely
  shifted the emphasis from these phenomena to
  their meaning. The ethnographer observes
  behavior, but goes beyond it to inquire about the
  meaning of that behavior.

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Videoconferencing in Foreign Language Learning

• Teacher-Class
• Traditional teacher-led instruction
• Student-Student
• Tandem-Style intercambios
• Class-Class
• Presentation, debate and group discussion

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Videoconferencing Exchanges 1999-2001

• Universidad de León, Spain.
• 2nd Years Students of English.
• Connections Made
• http//www.iecc.org/
• http//www.ialic.org

• Partner Classes
• Students of Spanish at
• University of Michigan, USA.
• University of Dundee
• University of Nottingham

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Videoconferencing Facilities

• Large view of other group and own group on screen
• Pictures and text can be presented on screen via
  projector
• Video clips can also be shown on main screen

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Task Cycle
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Some Examples of Tasks

• Students present products or practices from their
  home culture which they think might be strange or
  different for the other group (e.g. Easter in
  Spain)
• Comparative reviews of films
• Both groups try to agree on punishments for
  controversial crimes

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How Can Videoconferencing Contribute to
Intercultural Learning?

• 1. Presentations by members of the target culture
• Insight into the foreign perspective
• Explanations of products and practices are
  supported through media and demonstrations

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How Can Videoconferencing Contribute to
Intercultural Learning?

• 2. Discussion and debate brings about
• Better understanding of the reasoning and values
  that underly beliefs and behaviour in the target
  culture
• Practice in negotiation and interaction with
  members of the target culture

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Drawbacks of the Technology

• Time delay between sound and image
• Rules of interaction Turn taking, interruptions
  and simultaneous starts
• Passive viewing
• Organisational practicalities

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Practical Guidelines

• Integrate visual materials (photos, video,
  overheads, real objects)
• Give the sessions a clear structure beforehand
• Begin with icebreakers such as quizzes or
  vocabulary games
• Make clear to whom comments and questions are
  directed
• Use non-verbal signals to show understanding

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Pedagogical Guidelines

• Add-on v. integrated approaches
• Balance personal views with statistics and
  factual material
• Follow-up discussions and feedback
• Reciprocity in language use and workload

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All Contact Welcome

• Robert.odowd_at_uni-essen.de
• http//www.uni-essen.de/odowd/vcing2002

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Bibliography (1)

• Byram, M. (1997) Teaching and Assessing
  Intercultural Communicative Competence.
  Multilingual Matters.
• Feldman, A. (2000) Network science A decade
  later.
• Furstenberg, G. et al. (2001) Giving a virtual
  voice to the silent language of culture The
  Cultura project Language Learning and Technology
  (Vol. 51). http//llt.msu.edu/vol5num1/furstenber
  g/
• Intercultural E-mail Classroom Connections
  http//www.iecc.org/

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Bibliography (2)

• International Association for Languages and
  Intercultural Communication. http//www.ialic.org
• Roberts, C. et al. (2001) Language Learners as
  ethnographers. Multilingual Matters.
• Spradley, J. (1979) The ethnographic interview.
  Hold, Rinehart and Winston Inc.
• Warschauer, M. Whitaker, P. (1997) The Internet
  for English teaching Guidlines for teachers The
  Internet TESOL Journal (Vol 310)
  http//iteslj.org/Articles/Warschauer-Internet.htm
  l