Kristi Jauregi, Emerita Bañados, Jerónimo Morales

1. Distantintercultural communication through video-web communication tools: preliminary results after four years of experience Intercultural communication Kristi Jauregi, Emerita Bañados, Jerónimo Morales Universidad de Granada Call 2008, Antwerpen

2. Video-web communication tool

3. Projects Spanish Language Course (Lengua 3) (B1) UU • Pilot 2005 > 6 + 6 > Granada • 2006: 20 + 20 > Granada + Barcelona • 2007: 20 + 20 > Granada + Valencia • 2008: 17 + 15 > Granada + Valencia Spanish Language Course (Lengua 5) (B2) UU • 2006: 20 + 18 > Concepción (Chile) • 2007: 20 + 17 > Concepción (Chile) Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

4. Background: CMC in SLA • Learners become more confident& active(Kelm 1992, Kern 1996), produce more coherent language (Felix & Lawson, 1996) • Learners output present syntatical & lexically more complex structures (Smith, 2003; Sotillo, 2000; Warschauer & Kern, 2000) • There are frequent instances of negotiation of meaning (Lee, 2004; Shekary & Tahririan, 2006; Tudini, 2003; Warschauer & Kern, 2000) • Develop Intercultural Competence (Belz & Thorne, 2006; Tudini, 2007; Vogt, 2006) Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

5. Synchronouscommunication • Communication through chat has been reported to: • enhance language learning at syntactic (Sotillo, 2000), grammar (Pelletieri, 2000), lexical (Smith, 2004) and Intercultural (Fuchs, 2007; Toyoda & Harrison, 2002 Tudini 2007) levels; • fovour negotiation of meaning (Jepson, 2005; Lai & Zhao, 2006; Shekary & Tahririan, 2006; Smith, 2004; Thorne, 2003; Toyoda & Harrison, 2002; Tudini, 2003) • Audio (graphic) conferencing (Hampel & Hauck, 2004; Hampel et al 2005; Hauck 2007; Kötter, 2004; Levy, 2004; Ciekanski & Chanier, 2008) • Videoconferencing (O’Dowd,2000; 2006;2007) • Desktop-conferencing (Wang, 2006; 2007) • Video-web communication (Jauregi & Bañados 2008) Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

6. Questions Are communication processes supported by chat and video-web technology similar? Does visual information (seeing each other while talking to each other) hinder communication processes or just enhance them? How? Does anonymity favour communication processes? Under which conditions can Intercultural Communicative Competence (Byram, 1997) be furthered using synchronous communication tools? Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

7. Projects Spanish Language Course (Lengua 3) (B1) • Pilot 2005 > 6 + 6 > Granada • 2006: 20 + 20 > Granada + Barcelona • 2007: 20 + 20 > Granada + Valencia • 2008: 17 + 11 > Granada + Valencia Spanish Language Course (Lengua 5) (B2) • 2006: 20 + 18 > Concepción (Chile) • 2007: 20 + 17 > Concepción (Chile) Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

8. Project description: participants • Utrecht University: Volunteer students of Spanish Language and Culture in their first or second academic year. The project is included in two Spanish language courses: B1 & B2. • Task-based language teaching context. • Spanish Universities: Volunteergraduate students of the Master of Education of Spanish as a FL. • University of Concepción: Volunteer students of pedagogy becoming teachers of Spanish as L1. The project has been part of the course “Introduction to Pragmatics”. Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

9. Process • E-mail to students inviting them to participate in the project • Plenary initial virtual session: project presentation • Tutorials about how to use the e-platform • Selection of students • Matching dyads and groups / Schedule interactions • Informal meetings • 5 official interactive sessions (once per week) Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

10. Tasks • 5 communicative tasks per project with a clear intercultural focus according to course objectives • Textual and audio(visual) input • Objective: information and opinion exchange, reflection (mostly speaking; one task writing), negotiation of intercultural meaning Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

11. Changes in the process • From a controlled, centralised organisation (personal site) to a more flexible, learner oriented model > learner autonomy (group site: Surfnet groepen) • Experienced students as tutors & supervisors Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

12. Data • Recordings of interaction • Evaluation questionnaires • Blog postings • Final presentations Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

13. Are communication processes supported by textual chat and video-web technology similar? • Both synchronous communication modes > organisation • Textual chat relies on literacy skills, reading & writing, quick typing; discussion threads, disrupted turn structure (questions and answers do not match) hybrid genre, informal language use. • Lack of visual and paralinguistic • features might difficult • comprehension processes • > emoticons & smileys Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

14. Communication processes supported by VWC technology • VWC tool is a multimodal environment where logged in members can: • Talk and listen to each other while seeing each other in real time (dyadic & group interaction). • Chat (complementary function to conversation) • Collaboratein real time from different computers inthe writing process of a text. • Share multimedia documents in the same environment (flash video, mp3, ppt, flash documents) & the computer, desktop. • VWC relies particularly on speaking & listening skills. Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

15. Video-web communication Logged in members Record Webcam image Chat On-line writing Shared documents

16. Are communication processes supported by textual chat and VWC technology similar? Technical issues Are communication processes supported by textual chat and VWC technology similar? Technical issues VWC requires good computers and a quicker connection to the Internet than the chat environments. Technical problems are not unusual & these disrupt the normal communication flow. Consequently interlocutors engage in side-sequences negotiating technical matters (echo, low volume of microphone, default microphone, communication delay). Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

17. Communication through chat or VWC. Quantitative results. Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

18. Chats in a multimodal VWC environment are used: • To support negotiation sequences: • of comprehension & production problems • of technical problems • of cultural information • For private talk • To make jokes • To sheer up interlocutors • To empathise Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

19. Does visualinformation hinder communicationprocessesorjustenhancethem? • Lack of body language is at times perceived as an advantage: it allows learners to remain anonymous to speak more freely (chat, Tudini, 2007), (audio-graphic conferencing, Hampel et al 2005) > it reduces anxiety. • Butnot knowing who you are addressing (an unknown /unseen audience) can cause anxiety. • Without visual cues it is more difficult to detect non-literal use of language, indirect speech acts and irony or humor & it makes it more difficult to know whether the interlocutors have understood one’s contribution. Thus comprehension processes become more difficult without visual cues.

20. Visual cues within the Integrationst approach (SSLA, 2008 / 30, Gullberg, McCafferty) • The Integrationist approach to linguistics (Harris, 2005) posits moving away from the “orthodox exponents” that have idealized the notion of language to focus on communication, that is, language in use, whereby gesture is regarded as a central aspect of language in use, integral to how we communicate (make & interpret meaning). Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

21. Gestures: Integrationstapproach SSLA, 2008 (30) (Gullberg, McCafferty) • Are regarded as an important component to acquisition both as a means of expression and as a mediator of meaning. • Are implicated in interactional work (turn & floor regulation, feedback elicitation, agreement marking attention directing, via pointing) in experiences of sympathy & rapport. • Influence & improve addressee’s comprehension & interpretation of speech (speech in noise, indirect speech acts) • Important in cross-cultural communication & learning

22. Importance of visual cues in communication processes. Quantitative results. Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

23. Importance of visual cues in communication processes. Qualitative results. All students reported visual cues to be crucial to communication processes, as facilitative cues and information providers. “In an interaction it is important to see how the interlocutor reacts, which attitude s/he has when s/he talks (laughter, signs of misunderstanding, lack of agreement…) UU”. Some students reported non-verbal communication to be as important as verbal communication. Mostly Dutch students reported that visual cues contribute to facilitate comprehension and to reinforce personal relationships. Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

24. Visual cues • Facial expressions: sign comprehension, confusion, puzzlement, enjoyment • Importance of laughter and smiling to reinforce solidarity among participants • Reduce misunderstandings and ambiguity in speech (also Wang, 2006) • Contribute to reinforce interpersonal social relationships > favours adequate IC negotiations Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

25. Face to face versus virtual interaction with video-web technology: Qualitative results. • Students reported all to prefer face to face communication. Arguments: • Loss of embodiment • More difficult to break the ice • Technical problems • But: • Good environment for shy interlocutors who might feel embarrassed, inhibited in front of NSs Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

26. Face to face versus virtual interaction with video-web technology: Quotation “Although, generally speaking, I prefer to speak face-to-face with a person, from all ICT-tools, the video web communication is the closest one to this. I also think that it is useful to have at hand a computer with the tasks and dictionaries. And of course without the video-web communication tool, it wouldn’t have been possible to speak with people form other countries and even less from another continent” (Utrecht student, 2006). Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

27. Video-web communication with Adobe connect Does anonymity favour communication processes? Anonymity may contribute to self-confidence of more inhibited students and so stimulate more active participation and output production (Kern, 2000) But as is typical to human interaction, students engaged in exchanges of anonymous communication are left with the desire to know more about their interlocutors: who they are, how they look like (Tudini, 2007) Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

28. Anonymity and communication processes. Quantitative responses to a questionnaire. Video-web communication with Adobe connect Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

29. Does anonymity favour communication? Qualitative results. Video-web communication with Adobe connect • Changing partners. Almost all participants responded negatively to this option. Arguments: • Impossible to get to know somebody if you change partners constantly • With somebody you know you can conduct a more fluid and rich conversation (ICC) • But some students (NSs) mentioned that having the option to talk to more interlocutors can widen your view of foreigners. Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

30. Does anonymity favour communication? Qualitative results. Video-web communication with Adobe connect • Participants responded negatively to this option. Arguments: • it would have been impossible to establish a friendly relationship, which is seen as a basis for a natural, meaningful and significant communication process; • you feel freer, more at ease when you know somebody • One Dutch student reported not to be a difference between both options. Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

31. Video-web communication with Adobe connect Does anonymity favour communication processes? If the objective of interaction is to reinforce interpersonal social relationships and adequately negotiate intercultural meaning, “to understand, & respect otherness”, participants will automatically develop a genuine interest of coming to know who the other person is, how s/he thinks, s/he lives… This is crucial to the development of ICC. Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

32. Under which conditions can ICC be furthered using CMC tools? Byram’s 5 savoirs (1997: 50-4) : Attitudes: curiosity and openness, readiness to suspend disbelief about other cultures and belief about one’s own. Knowledge of social groups and their products and practices in one’s own and one’s interlocutor’s country, and of the general processes of societal and individual interaction. Skills of interpreting and relating: ability to interpret a document or event from another culture, to explain it and relate it to documents from one’s own. Skills of discovery and interaction: ability to acquire new knowledge of a culture and cultural practices and the ability to operate knowledge, attitudes and skills under the constraints of real-time communication and interaction. Critical cultural awareness/ political education: an ability to evaluate critically and on the basis of explicit criteria perspectives, practices and products in one’s own and other cultures and countries. Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

33. Under which conditions can ICC be furthered using CMC tools? O’Dowd & Ritter, 2006: failed communication in telecollaborative exchanges Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

34. Reasons of failed communication • Social and economic value of the TL • Proficiency mismatch between partners • Students’ level of intercultural competence (appropriate attitudes to culture & in interaction, curiosity, openness, tolerance, pragmatic concerns of interaction, willingness to communicate & to make an effort to develop a personal relationship) • Misalignment of academic matters (calendars, technological access to technology, novelty, forms of assessment, didactic approaches, language and culture, task design, relationship between teachers ) > organisation Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

35. Under which conditions can ICC be furthered? • Language teaching perspective and methodology used > learner autonomy + Intercultural focus • Adequate tasks • Interlocutor matching (favour interpersonal & social communication > not anonymous matching) • Interdependency, responsibility • Good supervision / guidance • Clear organisation • Synchronous tools with visual cues contribute to avoid & better negotiate misunderstandings > ICC (cf. Tudini, 2007) Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

36. Tasks according to questionnaires & blog postings • The most interesting tasks those focusing entirely in cultural differences: • “Gente y culturas” B1 (UU 4.9, NS 4.7) • “Las diferencias sorprenden” B2 (UU 4.6, NS 4,8) • Questionnaire + audioinput on cultural differences Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

37. Learning experiences: Qualitative results (blogs & questionnaires) • Cultural differences and commonalities • To talk spontaneously in an authentic communicative setting • To talk more fluently and accurately • To improve Spanish grammar and vocabulary (idioms) • To help students of a FL • Didactic applications of an innovative virtual environment Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

38. Learning experiences: Qualitative results. Quotations. The positive aspect of participating in the project was the opportunity to get to know a Spanish native speaker of my age, listen to his/her Spanish language variant, and learn about his/her culture and how it differs from mine. (Utrecht student). Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

39. Learning experiences: Qualitative results. Quotations. Personally, I liked the project very much. I find very interesting the fact of being able to contact people from such a different environment. To talk and exchange experiences about common subjects (studies, family, friends) brings us closer and connects us with a different interesting reality. …I have learned how wrong the stereotypes that we may have about other cultures can be. (Concepción student). Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

40. Examples Barcelona: Gente y culturas Concepción: Las diferencias sorprenden Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen

41. Thank youHartelijk dankDankeMerciGracias por su atención Kristi Jauregi, Emerita Bañados, Jerónimo Morales Jauregi et al, Call 2008, Antwerpen