Maisa de Alcântara Zakir Graduate Program in Language Studies – UNESP

1. International Conference Telecollaboration in University Foreign Language Education Focusing on culture-related episodes in a teletandem interaction between a Brazilian and an American student Maisa de AlcântaraZakir Graduate Program in Language Studies – UNESP CAPES Foundation, Ministry of Education of Brazil Brasília-DF 70.040-020, Brazil Universidad de León Spain, February 12-14 2014

2. The Teletandem Project UNESP – UniversidadeEstadualPaulista, Brazil Coordinator: Dr. João Antonio Telles

3. CampiAssis, Araraquara and São José do Rio Preto

4. The Teletandem Project 2006-2010Teletandem Brasil: foreignlanguages for allwww.teletandembrasil.org 2011 – Currently Teletandem and transculturality in on-line foreign language interactions via webcam http://teletandemetransculturalidade.weebly.com/index.html

5. Current phase: • Institutionalization: Portuguese classes in the foreign universities; • Mediation sessions: A professor/researcher/graduate student coordinates a reflective talk on the teletandem sessions; • Virtual platforms: writing activities and discussion forums in Teleduc, Facebook, Blackboard, Moodle etc.; • General research question:How can the cultural dimension of teletandem interactions in foreign languages be described?

6. Research topics (Telles, 2011) (1) Ways of understanding the study, the learning and the social use of foreign languages; (2) Ways of representing the culture of the teletandem partner and the impact of such understanding on the process of learning a foreign language and on the relationship with the partner; (3) the contribution of the cultural dimension of teletandem to the education of the learner to relate to other cultures; (4) The impact of the cultural dimension of teletandem on the different views of institutional implementation in the curriculum

7. Some partner universities EUROPE - Universityof Southampton - Universityof Bonn - Universitè Lille 3 - Università del Salento - Università di Bologna - Università di Roma 3 ASIA - Universidadede Chulalongkorn (Thailand) - Universityof Yamaguchi (Japan) AMERICA • - UNESP • - University of Miami • - Georgetown University • - Virginia Commonwealth University • - University of Georgia • - Truman State University • - University of Hawaii • - University of Washington • - Seattle University • - Universidad NacionalAutónoma de México

8. Research paper (Zakir, Funo & Telles, forthcoming) • Introduction: Teletandem as a context to research culture; • Theoretical framework: Culture definition and dimensions (Kramsch, 1998; Levy, 2007); • Research participants: a female Brazilian undergraduate student and a male American undergraduate student; • Data analysis: three out of seven Culture-related Episodes – adapted from LRE (Swain & Lapkin, 1995, 1998; Zhu, 2012) in a teletandem interaction; • Final remarks: CRE grounded on the personal experiences of the teletandem participants; teletandem interactions as a context to understand culture and its dimensions (mediation sessions).

9. A definition of culture • “In summary, culture can be defined as membership in a discourse community that shares a common social space and history, and common imaginings.” (Kramsch, 1998, p. 10) • “Moreover, any one individual’s experience of culture will be affected by the multiple aspects of their identity—race, gender, sex, age, sexuality, class, caste position, religion, geography, and so forth—and it is likely to alter in various circumstances.” (Skelton & Allen, 1999, p. 4). • “Thus, culture is both a manifestation of a group, or a community, and of an individual’s experience within it, or apart from it. As a group, members engage with one another in a shared social space. […]Recognisingthe perspective of the individual in relation to the group is key in developing a pedagogical approach. (Levy, 2007, p. 105)

10. LRE – Language Related Episodes • LRE – Language Related Episodes are “any part of a dialogue in which language students talk about the language they are producing, question their language use, or correct themselves or others.” (Swain & Lapkin, 1995, 1998).

11. CRE – Culture Related Episodes • CRE – Culture-Related Episodes: “moments when the spoken classroom discourse focuses on the collaborative construction of cultural understanding and cultural knowledge among the participants.” (ZHU, 2012, p. 7). • CRE - “Anypartof a dialogue produced in the teletandem sessions in which the students focus on any interest, explanation or inquisitiveness about their own culture or the partner’s” (Zakir, Funo & Telles, forthcoming)

12. LEVY (2007) – Culturedimensions 1. Culture as elemental; 2. Culture as relative; 3. Culture as groupmembership; 4. Culture as contested; 5. Culture as individual (variableandmultiple).

13. 1. Culture as elemental: the learner is no more a "blank slate"

14. 2. Culture as relative: “culture is, fundamentally, a relative concept, not an absolute one.”

15. 3. Culture as groupmembership:

16. 3. Culture as groupmembership:

17. 4. Culture as contested:

18. 5. Culture as individual (variableandmultiple)

19. CRE 1 “Do youlikefootball?” Will: I will! World Cup, I will come back! Gabi: Yes, World Cup? Will: Copa do Mundo, yeah! Gabi: Oh, yes. Ok. So, it's very good. Do you like football? Will: Yeah, I do. I definitely like to watch it. I really... I mean, I like watching it in South America, because it's so much... more intense... everybody is... huh... more into it! They're excited about it. Yeah... Gabi: Yes, I love football! Will: That's great! Gabi: Yes, but... but I don't understand anything. Will: (Laughs) Gabi: but I love...

20. CRE 2 ““They say that you like [música] sertaneja, too, right?” Gabi: No, I don't like sertanejo (laughs embarrasedly). I study Literature and Letters. Will: Oh, ok. So sertaneja is not good. (laughs) Gabi: So sertaneja is not good. Will: (laughs) Gabi: It's not poetry. (laughs)_ Will: That's right. It's a little different. Gabi: Yes. I like poet, good songs. (laughs) Will: We have something like sertaneja here. Huh... it's called "country music". Gabi: Country Music, yes.... Will: And, it's kind of like that. Yeah, it's not yeah, it’s poetry by any means. But, it's huh... it's very popular in like... some areas of the country. Gabi: Yes, I know. I think it's very similar. Will: Yeah. Gabi: I've heard some things of country music and... yes... it's very similar. Will: (laughs) That's so funny. (laughs) Gabi: And, do you like country music? Will: I like it more now than I used to. Huh... I think that hum... it...you know... it grows on you. When you... when you listen to it a lot... it's because I have some friends who like it, you start to like it a little more. So... yeah, I guess Gabi: Yes, it's the same here. I listen a lot of sertanejo. So... sometimes, I can hear, but I don't like (laughs)

21. Data analysis • Culture as elemental: • Will’s assumption about soccer and “sertaneja” music • Culture as relative: • Watching soccer in North America X Watching soccer in South America • “Caipiras” like “sertaneja” music • Culture as group membership: • Will shares with Gabi the “passion” for soccer • “Sertaneja” is similar to country music • Will’s friends like country music and influenced him to like it as well • Gabi’s collegues (language students) don’t like “sertaneja” music • Culture as contested: • “‘Sertaneja’ is not poetry” • Culture as individual: • Will’s interpretation of the importance of soccer in South America; • Gabi dislikes “sertaneja” music

22. Final remarks • Culture dimensions: variable and dynamic; • Teletandem interaction(s): a context to reflect about culture and CALL; • Mediation sessions after teletandem interactions: a context to rethink language teachers’ education and the role of foreign language and culture exchanges.

23. References KRAMSCH, C. Context and culture in language teaching. Oxford: OYP, 1993. ______. Language and Culture. Oxford University Press Oxford, 1998 LEVY, M. Culture, Culture Learning and New Technologies: Towards a pedagogical framework. Language Learning & Technology, v. 11, n. 2, 2007, p. 104-127. Disponívelem: <http://llt.msu.edu/vol11num2/levy/>. Acesso em: 13 julho 2011. SWAIN, M.; LAPKIN, S. Interaction and second language learning: Twoadolescent French immersion students working together. Modern Language Journal, v. 82, 1998, p. 320-337. TELLES, J.A. Projeto Teletandem Brasil: Línguas Estrangeiras para Todos – Ensinando e Aprendendo línguas estrangeiras in-tandem via MSN Messenger. Faculdade de Ciências e Letras de Assis, UNESP. 2006. Disponível em: <http://www.teletandembrasil.org/site/docs/TELETANDEM_BRASIL_completo.pdf>. Acesso em: 02 setembro 2010. ______. Teletandem: A transculturalidade das interações on-line em línguas estrangeiras via teleconferência. Trabalho apresentado no IX CBLA – Congresso Brasileiro de Linguística Aplicada, Rio de Janeiro, UFRJ – Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, 2011. WELSCH, W. Transculturality: the puzzling form of cultures today. CaliforniaSociologist, 17 & 18, 1999, p. 19-39. Disponível em: <http://www2.uni-jena.de/welsch/Papers/transcultSociety.html> Acesso em 08 julho 2011. ZHU, J. Weaving language and culture together: the process of culture learning in a chinese as a foreign language classroom.2012. 456 f. Tese (Doutoradoem Second Language Acquisiton), Graduate College of the University of Iowa, Iowa City, 2012. ZAKIR, M. A.; FUNO, L. B. A.; TELLES, J. A. Episódios relacionados a cultura em teletandem: uma análise de interação entre uma aluna brasileira e um aluno estadunidense. (em preparação).