Using Blogs and Podcasts for Online Intercultural Exchanges

1. Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages April 17, 2009 New York, NY Using Blogs and Podcasts for Online Intercultural Exchanges Lina Lee University of New Hampshire

2. Online Intercultural Exchange • Use web-based learning between two institutions from different cultures • E-tandem learning: Cultura project (1997) • Online communication tools • Web 1.0 and 2.0 technology • Equal opportunities and benefits • Use of both L1 and L2 • Exchange of language and culture • Task-based activities

3. Why? • Intercultural communicative competence (ICC) • Cross-cultural awareness and understanding (Wade & O’Dowd, 2008) • Virtual social networking community • Collaborative Interaction (Lee, 2004) • Active and autonomous learning (Lee, 2005) • Affordances (VanLier, 2000) • Linguistic and cultural constructions • Scaffolding via peer feedback (Lee, 2008) • Language accuracy via focus on form

4. How? • Institutional context • How can technology enhance learning and teaching? • What technology and support are available? • Partnerships • IECC: Intercultural E-mail Classroom Connections: http://www.iecc.org/ • Blogs-Exchange (BE): www.blogs-exchange.com • Discussion with partner teacher • Objectives of the project • Structure of the exchange; task design • Evaluation and feedback

5. León - NH Online Exchange • January 20 - May 10, 2008 • Student groups • 10 UNH graduate students • 23 León students with advanced English skills • Course syllabus with three major tasks • 30% of final grade • Tools • Bloggersfor group blogs • Audacity andiMovie for podcastings • Message board of Moodle for feedback and comments

6. Moodle site in Blackboard

7. Three Major Tasks • Blogs • Young people’s lives • A minimum of three articles • Podcasts/Vodcasts • Controversial issues • Global warming, political system, capital punishment, euthanasia, same sex parents • Ethnographic interviews • Spanish and American culture • To post a list of 6-7 questions in Moodle message board.

8. Topics for Group Blogs

9. Topics for Interviews

10. Super Bowl from NH Blog - UNH

11. Road to Presidency from UH Blog - UNH

12. Blog - UNH

13. Blog - León

14. Blog from León Blog - León

15. About Old Part of León Blog - León

16. Tapas and Nightlife Blog - León

17. Blog - León

18. Interviews with León Students Blog - León

19. Vodcast in Blog from NH

20. Podcasts from León in Moodle

21. Ethnographic Interview: Questions from León

22. Responses from NH

23. Vodcast: Capital Punishment

24. Questions from NH

25. Responses from León

26. Post-Task: Peer Feedback • Read blogs and listen to podcasts • No specific instructions on “how” to provide feedback • Peer feedback by • Written comments or voice recordings • Use of both English and Spanish • Focus-on-form • Linguistic problems

27. Feedback in Message Board

28. Podcast Feedback from NH

29. Podcast Feedback from León

30. Feedback Strategies (1) Comment on the content and then the linguistic problems (2) Direct Feedback without explanations --junta con 1,400 otras comunidades; This should be... junto con otras 1.400 comunidades. --impede --> impide [León student] (3) Feedback with explanations --When you say 'nos disfrutamos del ambiente' you have to include a subject and 'nos' is not a subject but a reflexive pronoun, so you could say: nosotros disfrutamos del ambiente or simply disfrutamos del ambiente.” [León student] -- Be careful with the spelling - "hole" is "agujero" pero "whole" means "entero" o "total” [NH student]

31. Feedback on Content and Form “Hi girls!!! Interesting topic about global warming. I like the way you introduce us to this issue because you did it in a clear and organized way. By the way, your Spanishaccent is quite good but take care with the Verb "to be” (ser/estar) I know that this may be weird for you but it is very important to distinguish them.” (León Student)

32. Feedback on NH Podcasting “Hi again!! We think that the idea of the fish and the joke is very original !! we are so amazed about your ability for making people laugh because it's too difficult to tell a joke in a different language. There is a difference between your pronunciation and ours with "r” sound. It should be vibrant. The rest is very spontaneous, but you have done a great work!!! Well done!!” (León Student)

33. Comments on León Blogs • I liked how you presented different perspectives from the students of Erasmus. In this way, it presents a better way to talk about the life in León. • I have to say that the blog is super fun to read. I liked the way you presented your city and how you described the events and the culture.

34. Comments on León Podcast • The podcast is very informative. It was interesting to learn what you think about the topic. I was born in Massachussets. It was always a very polemic topic during my childhood. But it was very interesting to hear international voices and your opinions. I agree with you. The appearance of the family does not matter because the definition of the family is changing. [Same sex parents]

35. Positive Appraisal from León • Interesting; great; a lot of interesting information; well-written; very well-done; great job! • I think you have done an excellent podcast! You have both a very good Spanish, and your conversation about politics is very interesting!! You give a lot of information about the elections in America in a very interesting way, I enjoyed a lot listening to it!!

36. Positive Appraisal from UN • Me gustó mucho; interesante; fantástico • !Felicitaciones!Su podcast es bien pensado y lo presentan con mucha claridad. • Sobre León Focus, diría que su sitio es presentado de una manera muy formal y meticulosa. El lenguaje es muy preciso y descriptivo, y el formato facilita la navegación de la página.

37. Direct Feedback from NH

38. Direct Feedback from León

39. Feedback with explanations to NH

40. Feedback on León Blogs Feedback with explanations to León

41. Lexical Comment from León “By the way,"mirar la tele" it is not use in Spain,we say "ver la tele". Why is that? I don’t know and besides, I think you’ll never find a logical answer because it should be "mirar la tele" because you are paying attention while you are watching the TV, isn’t it?”

42. Lexical Comment from León “One interesting thing about your spanish is thatsometimes (not often, I must say) it seems more "mexican" than "spanish" due of the use of the diminutives and becausewords like "ahorita” "linda" or "usted/es" (we spanish people are not so polite as latinoamerican peolple, actually). Don’t get me wrong, I find this pretty cool.”

43. Lexical Item Debate --“Also there are words we do not use as "maestrías” that is not the name we use.” (León Student) -- “Perdón, pero tengo que decirle que sí en algunos países se dicen "maestría". Supongo que en España existe otra palabra, como posgraduado. Pero, "maestría" vale igual porque es parte del léxico español y se la usa en otras partes.” (UNH Student)

44. Lexical Comments from NH --It was the School of Agrarian Engineering, in the decade of the 80’s. ** normally we would just say in the 80's --you have a free day to spend ** instead of free day, use day off --cultural activities during all the day ** the entire dayis how we usually express this thought (focus on form by comparing the original against the “more native-sounding” rephrasing)

45. Survey Results

46. General Comments • I was able to try some new things and will incorporate some new ideas using blogs and podcasts in the classroom as a teaching tool. • I found the experience helpful and very applicable to what I will teach next year at the secondary school level.

47. General Comments • I enjoyed the exchange though it seemed somewhat impersonal. At times our partners did not seem very invested in the exchange. It made it a little frustrating to spend time on something knowing that you may not get a response in a timely fashion.

48. Comments on Blogs • In my view, blogging was an effective way of sharing thoughts because it allowed me to interact with my peers beyond the classroom walls. I must say that online publishing made my writing more enjoyable. • I liked how we wrote for multiple readers; not just for a sole instructor. Having a real audience made me more conscious of my own writing.

49. Comments on Podcasts • Podcasting allowed us to become active knowledge creators through publishing our oral work online. • Podcasting is an exciting way of practicing speaking because it exposed to me to the real-world use of communicative language skills. • I found making podcasts challenging. I ended up spending a lot of time editing recordings. I think we should receive more training on how to use imovie o Audacity.

50. Comments on Tasks • I think that it's a great idea to focus on specific topics. I was also excited to answer the Spanish students' questions because I knew that they really wanted to know the answers. They were authentic questions that came straight from the students • Ethnographic interviews were more engaging and interactive, because the topics were generated by both groups based on our personal interests and global concerns.