Dorothy Chun UC Santa Barbara INTENT Conference, Léon

Different Goals & Models of Telecollaboration  Goals: global and local Internationalization of education Digital literacies Linguistic, intercultural communicative competence (ICC)  Models Class to class Tandem learning

Cultura Model’s Creators & Goals  Furstenberg, Levet & MIT in 1997  Goals: to make culture (“the silent language,” the “hidden dimension”) visible to help students understand the values, attitudes, beliefs and concepts of another culture

Reasons for Meta Synthesis  Why? To document many different adaptations To provide advice for future exchanges  How? Extensive survey sent to 30 known project leaders Response from 18 (60% return rate)

Research Questions RQ1: What were the goals that led to the adoption of the Cultura model? RQ 2: What were the processes in the implement ation of the project that built towards to goals? RQ 3: What kind of data was gathered in order to determine whether the goals were achieved?

RQ 1 What were the goals that led to the adoption of the Cultura model?

Participant Information Program settingL2 taught 4-year university15 (83%)English8 High school2 (11 %)French2 2-year comm coll1 (6 %)Samoan2 Spanish2 Chinese2 Filipino1 German1 Japanese1

Prior Experience with Cultura

Students’ Proficiency Levels

Reasons for Choosing Cultura External: 1. Opportunity to learn about Cultura 2. Opportunity to participate in a project Internal: 1. Belief or interest 2. Innovation to language program 3. Additional intercultural learning opportunity

Expected Learning Outcomes Language: skills, attitudes Other: sense of learning community Culture: skills, knowledge, attitudes Language skills (15) Language attitudes (2) Culture skills (7) Cultural knowledge (6) Cultural attitudes (13)

Language vs. Culture Learning

Summary: RQ1 (Goals)  External & internal motivations Believed in the model Language skills, confidence, motivation Improvement in cultural knowledge, skills, awareness, and openness to another culture

RQ 2 What were the processes in the implementation of the project that built towards the goals?

Cultura One of Course Activities

Features/Activities Used

Modes of Interaction

L1 and L2 in Interactions

Little Teacher Involvement Online

Roles of the Teacher Online

Summary: RQ 2 (Implementation)  Great variability  Only part of curriculum, sometimes extracurricular  Text-based questionnaires & forums most popular; video chats too  Mixture of L1 & L2 used  Teachers’ participation minimal  Exchanges ranged from 3-24 weeks

RQ 3 What kind of data was gathered in order to determine whether the goals (learning outcomes) were achieved?

Data Gathered for Assessment  Online (9)  Written homework (6)  Survey, interviews (5)  Reflective reports, self- assessment (4)  In class activities (4)

Student Learning Gains Reported LanguageCulture

Mixed Teachers’ Impressions  Positive (10): Culture learning Instructional integration  Negative (2): Student motivation/interest Instructional alignment & integration  Mixed (3) or Neutral (4)

Positive Students’ Reactions  Positive (11): Motivation/interest Learning community Language learning  Negative (1): Lack of partners’ responsiveness  Mixed (3)

Challenges Encountered  Management and logistics (22)  Instructional alignment and integration with curriculum (14)  Student motivation/interest (5)  Technology (4)

Summary: RQ3 Data & LO  Wide variety of data gathered, both online and offline  Learning outcomes: almost as many gains in linguistic areas as in cultural areas  Overall teacher and student satisfaction  Common challenges

Recommendations  1. Set realistic goals Know your learners and their abilities/proficiency Most successful with intermediate and advanced L2 learners Consider both linguistic and cultural gains

Recommendations  2. Planning, planning, planning Close communication Common goals, curricular commitments Model adaptation Appropriate tools and activities Flexibility Buy-in at all levels

Recommendations  3. Follow up on online activities Online interaction does not ensure learning or understanding Misunderstandings could have linguistic or cultural origins (or both) In-depth classroom discussions are essential

Muchas gracias y buena suerte con sus proyectos de futuro!