International Network: Germany, Iceland, UK, USA Mirjam Hauck

Web =rich source of cultural information and authentic language resources Internet = dynamic arena for communication between individuals and groups –synchronous tools: direct contact with native speaker learning partners –asynchronous tools: more time for reflection, greater impact on ICC gain (Hauck and Lewis 2007) Web 2.0 technologies = social networking/computing Context

Increasing convergence of technologies Different communication modes in one medium: learner’s computer High levels of multimodal communicative competence (MCC) “The ability to understand the combined potential of various modes for making meaning” (Royce 2002) Context

Hypothesis: Varying levels of MCM have crucial influence on intercultural awareness gain in telecollaboration Research objectives: 1. Analyse the impact of synchronous and asynchronous environments on development of MCM and ICC 2. Establish to what degree these competences are interdependent. Aim

Two multimodal environments: –Flashmeeting ( video and audio conferencing, text chat, onscreen whiteboard and file upload/download features; recorded and time-stamped; can be replayed by all participants at any time via the web –fOUndit ( repository for annotated links to text, audio and visual resources; digitally recorded on password protected server 10-week pilot phase, two 10-week project phases Language learners from the UK and Iceland; teacher trainees from Germany and the USA Methodology

Spitzberg’s (2006) Model and Measure of CMC Competence ELP in MyStuff –The Council of Europe’s (2007) Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters Fantini’s (2000) Your Objectives, Guidelines, and Assessment (YOGA) form, a self-evaluation guide for ICC Post-treatment interviews using Stimulated Recall (Gass and Mackey 2000) Data collection

ScheduleParticipants UK and Iceland: language learners (German and English) USA and Germany: language teacher trainees Tools asynchronoussynchronous September (pre-treatment) receive and return pre-treatment questionnaires Moodle Forum October Week 1 (warm-up) - get to know each other - familiarise themselves with tools Moodle ForumFlashMeeting October Week 2 and 3 - read literature about the use of technology to facilitate language learning and intercultural exchange - discuss/speculate about what works and what not Moodle ForumFlashMeeting Oct week 4- prepare for task design: search online for examples of tasks and materials for own tasks (dedicated websites) fOUnditFlashMeeting Nov Week 1 and 2 - design tasks (American and German teacher trainees) leading to multimodal presentations on intercultural issues Moodle ForumFlashMeeting Nov Week 3 and 4 - carry out tasks (Icelandic and British language learners) drawing on online tools to give multimodal presentation on intercultural issues Moodle Forum, fOUndit, blogs or wikis (depending on task design) FlashMeeting (depending on task design) Dec Week evaluation of experienceMoodle ForumFlashMeeting January (post-treatment) - receive and return post-treatment questionnaires FlashMeeting