Embracing the New Normal: Intercultural Telecollaborations in EFL Classrooms

Telecollaboration, a type of computer-mediated communication, has recently emerged as a popular approach to developing intercultural communicative competence amongst foreign language students. Various sociocultural learning theories support the notion that interactions between peers of different backgrounds may expedite intercultural familiarity and understanding. Thus, instructors at two universities in Taiwan and the USA cooperated on a project to develop students' intercultural communicative competence by having them engage in online telecollaborations. Instructors prepared topics of discussion that could highlight cultural comparisons and prompt discussion. While instructors supplied a foundation for discourse, the students autonomously led their discussions through their personal interactions utilizing modern digital technology. Data collection included typed transcripts of discussions, reflection logs, interviews, and questionnaires. Over the course of the telecollaborations, participants clarified their stereotypes of expected sociocultural norms of their interlocutors, and they re-examined how their cultural moorings have shaped and influenced their social biases. This study may provide insights into how intercultural telecollaborations can be used and refined in future EFL pedagogy and to what extent educators can expect an increase in their learners' intercultural awareness.

關鍵字

pedagogical innovation ； globalization ； intercultural awareness ； telecollaboration ； blended learning

並列摘要

透過電腦媒介溝通的跨國合作學習，已經成為學習外語學生發展跨文化溝通知能的流行取向。諸多社會文化學習理論均支持來自不同文化背景的同儕互動，可以增進跨文化知識與理解。因此，來自台灣以及美國大學的教學研究者，進行一項線上跨國合作研究專案來提升學生跨文化溝通知能。討論題目包含跨文化間的比較以及相關議題討論。討論議題雖由教學者提供，學生卻能透過網路科技自發性地主導彼此間的討論。研究資料包含學生討論錄音記錄、反思日誌、訪談與問卷。在線上跨國合作研究期間，參與研究學生釐清了來自對互動同儕社會文化背景的刻板印象，他們也同時重新檢視自身環境文化脈絡如何形塑並影響自己的社會偏見。本研究能提供未來以英文為外語的教學如何結合線上跨文化暨跨國合作的參考，並且瞭解此種創新混成教學如何提升學生的跨文化意識。

並列關鍵字

教學創新；全球化；跨文化意識；線上跨國合作；混成學習

參考文獻

Chun, D. M. (2015). Language and culture learning in higher education via telecollaboration. Pedagogies: An International Journal, 10(1), 5-21 https://doi.org/10.1080/1554480x.2014.999775

Guichon, N., & Wigham, C. R. (2016) A semiotic perspective on webconferencing-supported language teaching. ReCALL, 28(1), 62-82. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0958344015000178

Hockly, N. (2014). Online intercultural exchanges. ELT Journal, 69(1), 81-85. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccu061

Izmaylova, A. R., (2017). Using social media to develop intercultural competence through telecollaboration. (Unpublished Doctoral dissertation), University of Iowa. https://doi.org/10.17077/etd.fr3fqk9v

Kam, M., Ramachandran, D., Devanathan, V., Tewari, A., & Canny, J. (2007). Localized iterative design for language learning in underdeveloped regions. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. https://doi.org/10.1145/1240624.1240791

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