Robert O'Dowd

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Telecollaboration in Foreign Language Education
A Practical Introduction

• Robert O'Dowd
• La Universidad de León
• November 2008
• Villanueva de los Infantes
• robert.odowd_at_unileon.es
• http//www3.unileon.es/personal/wwdfmrod/

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Why do we need to use online technologies in our
classrooms?

• How does culture appear in your English
  classes?

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Intercultural Learning

• Cultural awareness
• All behaviour takes its meaning from its
  particular cultural context
• Therefore students need to understand how the
  products and practices of the target culture are
  viewed through that cultures own perspective
  (Empathy)

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Are we deep down all the same?

• There is much apparent uniformity in human
  social life. But these similarities mask an
  underlying diversity in a given situation one
  cannot assume that the behaviour of two
  individuals physical acts with the same form
  have the same meaning for the two individuals
  (Fischer, 1997126).

• Spanish interpretation Foreign interpretation

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The Common European Framework of Reference for
Foreign Languages (Council of Europe,2001)

• What learners have to know and to do in order to
  communicate effectively in a foreign language
• Communicative Language Competences
• Linguistic competence
• Sociolinguistic competence
• Pragmatic competence
• General Competences
• Declarative knowledge (e.g. sociocultural
  knowledge)
• Skills and know-how (e.g. intercultural skills,
  social skills)
• Existential competence (e.g. personality,
  attitudes)

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Do Textbooks help?

• The content of EFL textbooks assumes a
  materialistic set of values in which
  international travel, not being bored, positively
  being entertained, having leisure, and above all
  spending money casually in the pursuit of these
  ends, are the norm. (Brown, 199013)

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How can New Technologies help?

• In telecollaboration, language learners in
  different locations use on-line communication
  tools (such as e-mail, blogs and
  videoconferencing) in order to engage in
  collaborative project work, debate and
  intercultural exchange with each other.
• Why? On-line interaction with native speakers
  when it is organised within a structured format -
  has great potential for the development of
  intercultural communicative skills, language
  proficiency and learner independence.

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Example 1

• Pedro a secondary school teacher of English as a
  Foreign Language in Valdepeñas, Spain
• My students began to write to their American
  e-pals like one month and a half ago. They have
  two or three epals for each student and they
  write like twice or three times a week both in
  English and Spanish.
• They also share their blog with their American
  and Canadian e-pals, who also publish and comment
  on the posts in both languages. I feel excited
  about that and I think they really enjoy it.
• The class blog http//2bloginlasolana.blogspot.c
  om/

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Example 2

• Another teacher writes
• EFL teachers from seven countries (Kuwait,
  Brazil, Argentina, the United States, Sudan,
  Hungary, and Romania) have brought our classes
  together online to correspond and to develop
  joint projects. You can see some of the first
  efforts by our students in their introductory
  slideshows, VoiceThreads, animated movies and
  videos at our Student Showcase
  http//esleflstudents.edublogs.org/

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What are the origins of Telecollaboration?

• Célestin Freinet
• Students carried out research into areas of
  personal interest
• Students published work in school newspapers
• Correspondence and exchange of newspapers between
  students in other French schools

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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)
• http//iteslj.org/Articles/Warschauer-Internet.htm
  l

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Issues when Designing an Online Exchange

• 1) How to combine the L1 and L2?
• 2) Which online communication tools to use?
• 3) What should the students do/discuss together?
• 4) Should there be an explicit focus on form?
• 5) What should be the role of the teacher?
• 6) How should the exchange activity be assessed?

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1) How to combine the L1 and L2?

• The Tandem Approach this entails that each
  partner should communicate as closely as possible
  to half in his/her mother tongue and half in
  his/her target language. This grants both
  learners the opportunity to practise speaking and
  writing in their target language and listening to
  and reading text written by their native speaking
  partner.
• http//www.slf.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/etandem/etindex-
  en.html

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• Hey Pablo!It was great to receive your letter. I
  was so happy to see that you responded to my
  questions. Thank you. Your responses were very
  informative and definitely showed me that family
  life in Spain was not all I'd expected it to be
  (I was surprised, for example, that your family
  is not religious. I assumed that most families in
  Spain are, and I'm sure you have many assumptions
  about life in America as well).
• Your English is very good. There are only a few
  suggestions that I have to correct it. Some of
  your sentences are too long, and would make more
  sense if you separated them into two or three
  sentences instead. For example, "My parents are
  not divorced in Spain there are very few cases of
  divorced" could be rewritten as "My parents are
  not divorced. In Spain there are very few cases
  of divorce." Your letter was great and made sense
  despite these things. Good work. Las fiestas en
  the ciudad de Nueva York son muy locas y
  emocionantes. Voy a las discotecas con mis amigas
  los jueves, los viernes, o los sabados. Vamos a
  los bars tambien. Nosotros volvemos a nos salons
  de dormitorio a las cuatro de la manana. Queremos
  bailar a las discotecas. Necesita tener veintiuno
  anos por beber el alcohol pero la mayoria de
  estudiantes en las universidades tenen los "fake
  IDs" y ellos beben el alcohol. No sabo mucho
  de Espana. Sabo que hay un museo de Guggenheim en
  Bilbao y sabo que hay muchos castillos bonitos.
  Que sabes de los Estados Unidos? Como es la
  fiesta en Espana? Elena

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• The Cultura Approach
• To have students write in the forums in their
  "native" language was also a deliberate choice.
  We wanted to make sure that students were able to
  express their thoughts in all their complexity as
  fully and as naturally as possiblewhat students
  may "lose", by not writing in the target
  language, is largely offset by the gains they
  make by getting access to a rich, dynamic and
  totally authentic language.
• http//web.mit.edu/french/culturaNEH/

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Other possible Approaches? Spanish-American
Cultura

• Students alternate writing in BOTH LANGUAGES in
  the online interaction. In English-language
  forums both groups communicate in English and in
  Spanish-language forums they do so in Spanish.
• Students read responses in both languages
• Students always use target language in classroom
  discussion and analysis
• Rationale
• Pedagogic demands of the institution
• Better use of class time for students
• Practises both writing and reading in target
  language
• Explore http//cultura2.wikispaces.com/
• robert.odowd_at_unileon.es
• cultura

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http//cultura2.wikispaces.com/robert.odowd_at_uni
leon.escultura
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2) Which Online Communication Tools to use?

• In your opinion, what might be the different
  outcomes of using these different tools? As a
  teacher, which would you prefer?
• Asynchronous v. Synchronous tools?
• E.G. E-mail Message boards v. Messenger Chat
• Oral v. Text-based tools?
• E.G. Skype, Wimba Videoconferencing v. All above
• Web 2.0 v. Traditional tools?
• E.G. Blogs, podcasts wikis V. All above

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One experience of Videconferencing

• My local secondary school (11-18 year-old
  children) was givenvidoconferencing equipment by
  a local business, which also helpedthem find a
  partner school in France, close to the business's
  FrenchHQ. The school experimented with
  videoconferencing for several monthsbut finally
  abandoned it. The head of foreign languages told
  me thatthe main reasons were1. Difficulties
  in finding mutually convenient times when the
  twoschools could link up.2. Lack of time to
  plan for a session so that it ran smoothly
  andbecame really fruitful.3. Embarrassment of
  teenagers confronting one another reluctance
  totalk and lots of giggling about the hairstyles
  and clothing of theircounterparts.4. No
  measurable progress in the students' language
  skills as adirect result of the
  videoconferencing sessions.

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Another Teacher replies

• I think that it all comes down to peoples'
  preferences and context, whether they like video,
  audio or text conferencing or combinations of the
  above.
•  
• Often we forget that. I personally prefer to
  use text or audio conferencing but context has a
  part to play. If I have just met someone in SL I
  will fist interact through text thus keeping a
  distance until I get to know them. I have found
  that others agree with me too.
• The anonymity and privacy offered in full
  through text and partly through audio are
  characteristics much valued by users and
  teenagers especially. Video, on the other
  hand, offers no privacy.
•  
• In studies I have carried out I found that
  teenage students much value their privacy and
  enjoy text conferecning and hiding behind avatars
  which they find empowering.

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• Blogs If you were a foreign student, which one
  of these blogs would you value more? Why?
• http//castanaspilongas.blogspot.com/
• http//7legion.blogspot.com/

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Podcasts
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Factors to consider when choosing the right
Tool(s)

• Students current online practices and preferences
  in their social and working lives
• Fit of the technology into both
  socio-institutional contexts
• Availability
• Reliability
• Location

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Understanding Technology in Context

• Spanish student feedback comparing oral and
  written discussion boards
• I prefer the written one because you dont get
  so nervous and you have more time to think about
  what you want to say. Also I did not like to
  speak in the computer lab with my classmates
  listening to what I was saying.
• Its easier to understand them in the written
  forum because its very difficult to speak with
  someone that you dont see.

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3. What tasks to do with your partner class?

• Cultural Presentations - Exchange with your
  partners information about their personal
  biographies, local schools or towns or aspects of
  their home cultures.
• Treasure hunts teachers give students a
  questionnaire about a topic (How Christmas is
  celebrated in the USA) and they have to
  interview their partners in order to complete the
  questionnaire. (www.isabelperez.com/x-mas.htm)
• Collaborative games and simulations students
  write to each other to create chain stories or to
  carry out simulations (e.g. one student is agony
  aunt and their partner invents a problem.)

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http//www.slf.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/tandem/inh01-eng
.html
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• Dear partner/ ..................................,
  
• I will introduce myself to you in this letter.
• I am ................. twelve/thirteen years old.
  
• .........................a boy/girl.
• .........................a twelve-year-old girl.
• My surname is ............................... and
  my first name is........................
• People call me ...................................
  .........
• I have ..............two brothers
  .......................three sisters.
• I don't have any brothers or sisters I am an
  only child.
• I live ................... with my
  father/stepfather
• .....................with my mother/stepmother
• ............................ with my parents
• with ............
• ............................ in a boarding school
  (or another place where you live when you cannot
  live with your parents).
• My parents are divorced.
• I like ................... football
  /......................./.......................
• I love .................. music.
• I am fond of singing /......................./....
  ...................
• I am in the .......... sixth form of
  .......................... (name of
  school/Germany), Im in class 6...

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Practical Example Cultura
http//web.mit.edu/french/culturaNEH/spring2004_sa
mple_site/index.html
http//web.mit.edu/french/culturaNEH
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Questionnaires
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Answers to the questionnaires
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4) Should there be an explicit Focus on Form?

• In Tandem learning
• Error-correction by their partners
• Working backward from their partners mistakes in
  the L1
• Refer to structures and vocab used earlier in the
  L2 by their partner (noticing)

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Problems with focussing on form

• Students dont know how to correct their
  partners mistakes- How many English natives
  could explain the difference between practice
  and practise to a non-native Spanish speaker?
• A Spanish student after her exchange with an
  American partner Its ok but I think there is a
  bad point. That is that they are not teachers.
  They can make mistakes too. In the correction she
  sent me of firstly she didnt realise you can
  say this in British English.

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Some more Problems

• Difficulties correcting your partner
• I thought, I would seem arrogant if I tried to
  correct their grammar and their spelling in a
  casual conversation about the topics. When youre
  speaking to somebody, you dont expect them to
  correct you and it could actually insult them.
  Dana from the USA speaking about her Spanish
  partner
• Schwienhorst (2000) even though students were
  explicitly encouraged to correct their partners
  grammar errors, very little evidence of error
  correction appeared in the transcripts.
  Perception by students that tandem was primarily
  a communicative activity?

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5) What should be the Role of the Teacher?

• A teacher writes to partner teacher Do you
  think there is any need to monitor the
  discussions or just exchange e-mail addresses and
  let the students handle the rest? (E-mail to
  author, 2001)
• Another teacher writes to partner teacher
  On-line exchanges should be integrated into the
  regular classes in the way which the teacher
  finds most effective. When students are left to
  themselves they lose interest in the process
  fairly soon. As any other teaching/learning
  process, this should be well-planned, organized
  and controlled then it brings results.

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Should studentse-mails be read and shared in
class?

• Q Do you find it useful and interesting when we
  talk about the exchange in class? 
• A I think it might be necessary, just to keep it
  going. But on the other hand it seems
  uncomfortable to me that I would actually like to
  discuss (up to a certain degree) rather
  private, or non-superficial subjects, but my
  e-mails have to be forwarded to at least two
  people. And the content might be topic of our
  next meeting...

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What Approach will you take?

• Who decides on the content of the tasks and
  interaction?
• How often will the online interaction be
  discussed in class?
• Do students need guidance in writing and
  analysing correspondence?
• Should the teachers intervene/participate in the
  online interaction?

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6) How should the exchange activity be assessed?

• What do we want to assess?
• Participation?
• Development in the L2?
• Electronic Literacies?
• Intercultural Competence (skills, attitudes,
  cultural awareness)?
• How should it be assessed?
• Proof of participation
• Products of interaction (essays, blogs, websites)
• Reflection on learning (portfolios, diaries)

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More tomorrow....

• This presentation will be available at
• http//www3.unileon.es/personal/wwdfmrod/