Intercultural Exchanges in Online Cafés: Content and Tasks

1. Online cafés for heritage learners Day 2: Content/tasks/sequence/media for online intercultural exchanges --- Gilberte Furstenberg NFLRC Workshop University of Hawai‘i June 18, 2008

2. The projects presented • The three projects: • The original Cultura Project (between MIT and other universities/institutions in France) • The Italy-Padova exchange • The Spanish High School exchange • These three projects all take place within a language class

3. Topics (on which students base their online discussions) • General statement: the goals will greatly define the topics • The choice of topics: some important considerations: • The topics need (ideally) to be chosen by both partners • They need to fit the stated goals • They need to cover a wide range • The choices will be made mostly by teachers but to some extent by students • General statement: the content needs to be pertinent to the two cultures involved

4. The Cultura goals and content • The goals: Understand the values, attitudes, beliefs and concepts inherent in another culture - discover how people in the other culture interact, look at the world and frame their thoughts and ideas, and why. • The content of the original Cultura site: • Responses to three questionnaires • National polls/statistics • Films • Media • Texts (founding texts and texts written by “experts” - historians/sociologists/literary writers) • Images (photos and videos)

5. The connections between class and online work • Students work in and outside of class, both on their own and in groups. • Outside of class, students work individually on specific documents (ex: answer the intercultural questionnaires (in their “native” language), analyze the responses, research national surveys, watch the films, read articles, upload images and write and send comments in the on-line discussion forums, based upon assignments given by the teacher • Inside the classroom, students share their observations with each other.

6. The sequence of events : a closer look • Stage 1: Students analyze a document individually (ex: the responses to the questionnaires) based upon a worksheet provided by the teacher. • Stage 2: Students come back to class and share their observations with their classmates, then go on the board trying to make connections between the different documents. This leads to whole class discussions.

7. The sequence of events (continued) Stage 3: Outside of class, students go on the online forums, posting individual comments, based on their own observations and the class discussions and asking their partners many questions (add example) • Stage 4: They come back to class with a selection of comments by their peers from abroad which they share with each other in groups. Some of the comments are discussed in the class as a whole • Stage 5:Students go back to the websiteto explore other/new materials, gradually refining their understanding in the light of every new data analyzed, in a continuous growing circular motion

8. A summary of the process • Step 1

9. A summary • Step 2

10. A summary • Step 3

11. The choice of language for the online discussion forums • Our choice: students write in their “native” language. • Rationale for using one’s native language in the on-line forums • No linguistic dominance by any person or any group. Everyone is on an equal footing. • Students can express their thoughts fully (not limited by their linguistic abilities). They are thus equally able to write about complex issues • In return, students: • read completely authentic texts (in French/Spanish/ German, etc.) written in a very contemporary language • Use the language of the other when they speak in class and write their essays and projects • And the differences in discourse become yet a new cultural object of analysis

12. The place of language learning • The discussions focus mostly on the differences students perceive in terms of cultural attitudes but language is also an integral part of their learning. • Students use their “native” language in the online discussion forums but the target language in class and in their assignments, essays, etc.. • By virtue of the French students writing in French in the on-line forums, students constantly read French and learn a lot about: • vocabulary (contemporary and authentic) • grammar (in context). Ex: the use of the pronoun (direct/indirect) Ex: the ways of expressing agreements/disagreements (indicative/subjunctive) • the discourse markers

13. The different media used • In terms of content: • texts, websites, photos, vidéos, films • In terms of communication modes: • Essentially: text-based discussion forums • Combination of photos (students select and upload photos or videos) and texts (to accompany the photos and comment on their partners’ photos) • Occasionally: videoconferences

14. New tools, new pedagogical practices • Such a project changes the role of the teacher and the students. • We are not the only voice of authority in the classroom • Our main role as teachers is to give students as many opportunities as possible to share with others what they have discovered, to reflect, discuss, confront points of view and allow multiple voices and perspectives to emerge in the classroom

15. The classroom becomes… • … a highly interactive place where students, taking center stage and interacting with their classmates, develop more insights, co-construct and expand their own knowledge and understanding of the subject matter.

16. What this changes (continued)… • This obviously clearly brings the process (of constructing knowledge) into the limelight, not the finished product. Students are like “cultural archeologists”, trying to make initial connections which they will then try to confirm or revise in the light of new materials they will analyze, trying to bring patterns to light and put together the cultural puzzle. • Incidentally, I would also argue for an extensive use of black/white boards (our old staple!). They play a vital role as they make the students’ observations visible to the whole class and thus provides them with the ability to reflect further. They act as wonderful mirrors of the students’ thought processes and as springboards for further general reflection, interpretation and discussion.

17. The specific role of the teacher • Sharing goals and means with the students (ex: what language to use and when) • Providing appropriate materials and a sequence (ex: calendar) • Assigning tasks/projects and designing worksheets • Ensuring good quality intercultural exchanges (providing appropriate prompts) For a more detailed look at the teacher’s role in the classroom, see: The Teacher’s role (Word document) • And… >

18. Evaluating students’ intercultural understanding • Important question: how to evaluate a process? • Carnets de bord or Portfolios • Syntheses • Analyses of new materials • For assessment of asynchronous forums, see the LLT June 2008 issue, Vol.2, Number 2: Asynchronous forums in EAP: assessment issues

19. The US-Italy Exchange • The partners: • Masters’ level students in an advanced English class in “Foreign Languages for International Communication”, at the U. of Padova, Italy • Undergraduate students in an Italian intensive writing course focusing on the history and culture of Italy, at Dickinson College in • The exchange was the major part of the course for the students at Padova, but only a component of the writing course at Dickinson. • For more information, see the website (under partner classes)

20. A closer look at the Padova - Dickinson exchange content • The main website • The aims • The topics explored (choice driven mostly by the Dickinson College syllabus)

21. The Padova-Dickinson exchange (continued) • Weekly calendars and activities • Introductions • Questionnaires • Word associations • Sentence completions • Other materials used (under Resources) • Articles: Italy seen from the US • Articles: the US seen from the US • Videos from YouTube

22. The means of communication • Asynchronous online discussion forums, some based on: • The answers to the questionnaires (ex: about lifestyles) • Articles and videos • The questions posed (chosen by both teachers on the basis of questions posed by students in the class) • Skype conversations (once a week) • Based on the conversations they had in class (about the diverse materials and subjects), students prepared a series of questions (cf week 5) which would become the basis of their conversations on Skype). Conversations not recorded. • Blogs • Collaborative writing of a wiki-based final project (as a end-of-semester final project)

23. Language(s) used in the exchanges • For the online discussion forums: one forum a week in English from the Italian students and one in Italian from the American students per week + English used for article about the US and Italian used for articles about Italy • One interesting observation (from the American teacher in Padova): the Italian students who tend to use complex vocabulary and structures when writing in their own language simplified their writing when addressing themselves to the American students • For the Skype exchanges: the first half-hour everyone speaks English, for the second, everyone speaks Italian. • For the wiki final project:50% in Italian, 50% in English. 25% will be written by the American student in Italian, 25% by the Italian students in Italian and 50% by the Italian students in English.

24. Final projects • Description and guidelines • The different stages: • Selection of final project topics (below Week 7) • Tasks • Calendar • Peer feedback (voting)

25. Assessment • This is the final activity • self-assessment in terms of: • the exchange itself • their own intercultural learning • their own language learning • example of student self-assessment

26. The High School Spanish exchange: topics • The context: preparing for a physical exchange • The Website • The topics (chosen mainly in terms of the textbook used by the school in Spain) • Family • Environment • Arts and Travel • Immigration

27. The High School Spanish exchange: materials used • Questionnaires (administered in class on a piece of paper and compiled by the instructors) formed the basis of the exchange. • Questionnaires for each topic. • Ex: family • Ex: environment • Results of the questionnaires about the environment • Answers from the American students • Answers from the Spanish students

28. How students worked with the materials • After the questionnaires were administered, (at the beginning of the terms) students: 1. went back to their textbooks and studied relevant vocabulary 2. discussed the results in class (in the target language): the similarities and differences they noticed 3. went on the online forums to share their observations with their foreign partners and ask questions 4. discussed the postings of the partners in class, looking both at content and language.

29. Modes of communication used • Online discussion forums: to talk about the topics (sometimes the teacher in Spain would interfere and participate in the discussions. The teacher in the US never would) • Chats : to talk about anything they wanted • Videoconferences were planned but never happened due to technical problems on the Spanish side

30. The language(s) used • A bit of everything • In the online discussion forums: • Sometimes in their native language • Example 1 (The… environment) • Example 2 (Problemas en Espana) • Sometimes a mixture • Example: Que se prefiere..playa o montana? • In the chats • Sometimes all in English (ex: the exchange) • Sometimes all in Spanish (ex: la voz de la experienca)

31. To summarize • Content is crucial (this is what will give substance and meaning to the online discussions). • Not a single recipe: • A variety of topics, content • Different language choices • Different things can happen in the respective classrooms. What is important is to try and make that third, common and shared space truly interactive and to ensure that it will generate real intercultural learning and understanding. • Choices will depend on cultural constraints (priorities, syllabi) in each institution and country. Compromises will always need to be made • But what cannot be compromised are the goals and the following question always needs to be asked: do the choices we make help us achieve our goals?