Transcript Contact = Learning?

Intercultural Language Learning &
Group-to-Group Videoconferencing
Robert O´Dowd
University of Essen,
Germany
Contact & Learning
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“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)
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http://iteslj.org/Articles/Warschauer-Internet.html
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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., 2001:2).”
Overview
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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 don‘t 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 wasn‘t serious
at all.
Intercultural Communicative
Competence (Byram 1997)
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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 one’s own culture
Critical cultural awareness
Students as ethnographers
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A move away from an encyclopaedic approach
of seeing culture as a collection of facts and
figures to…
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an ethnographic approach: “…the study of a
group’s social and cultural practices from an
insider’s perspective”
(Roberts et al. 2001)
Spradley on Ethnography (1979:6)
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“…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.“
Videoconferencing in Foreign
Language Learning
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Teacher-Class
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Student-Student
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Traditional teacher-led instruction
Tandem-Style intercambios
Class-Class
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Presentation, debate and group discussion
Videoconferencing Exchanges
1999-2001
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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:
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University of Michigan,
USA.
University of Dundee
University of Nottingham
Videoconferencing Facilities
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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
Task Cycle
1. Task in
Home Class
2. Videoconference
With Partner Class
3. Review of
Videoconference
Some Examples of Tasks
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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
How Can Videoconferencing
Contribute to Intercultural Learning?
1. Presentations by members of the target culture
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Insight into the foreign perspective
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Explanations of products and practices are
supported through media and demonstrations
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
Drawbacks of the Technology
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Time delay between sound and image
Rules of interaction: Turn taking, interruptions
and simultaneous starts
Passive viewing
Organisational practicalities
Practical Guidelines
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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
Pedagogical Guidelines
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Add-on v. integrated approaches
Balance personal views with statistics and factual
material
Follow-up discussions and feedback
Reciprocity in language use and workload
All Contact Welcome
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[email protected]
http://www.uni-essen.de/odowd/vcing2002
Bibliography (1)
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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. 5:1).
http://llt.msu.edu/vol5num1/furstenberg/
Intercultural E-mail Classroom Connections
http://www.iecc.org/
Bibliography (2)
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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 3:10)
http://iteslj.org/Articles/Warschauer-Internet.html