Understanding Attitude in Intercultural Virtual Communication
Edited by
Ana Oskoz [+–]
University of Maryland Baltimore County
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Ana Oskoz is Professor of Spanish at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), USA. Her research is on the applications of technologies to language learning. In particular, it focuses on the use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and social tools to enhance the development of second language writing and intercultural competence development. She has published numerous articles and book chapters on these topics. She is currently co-editor of CALICO Journal.
Margarita Vinagre [+–]
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
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Margarita Vinagre Laranjeira is an Associate Professor at Autónoma University of Madrid where she teaches English Language and Linguistics. Her main research interests are the integration of technologies in the foreign language classroom, computer-mediated communication, and the implementation of intercultural exchanges for the development of linguistic and generic competences. She has published widely on these topics and is currently the coordinator of the TELNETCOM project on the integration of technology in higher education, with 20 participating researchers from 5 countries.
Virtual exchange has experienced a significant development over the last twenty years. Given its multiple benefits, this innovative pedagogy has attracted instructors and researchers from all over the world who are interested in integrating this practice into their classrooms. However, implementing virtual exchange is not without its challenges, and attaining sustained collaborative interaction remains one of those challenges. To support such interaction, interpersonal factors such as identity, rapport, and trust are essential. The development of these factors relies heavily on the participants’ attitudes and how they choose to reflect them in their intercultural dialogue.
Given the scarcity of studies that investigate the impact of students’ attitudes and emotions in telecollaborative encounters, this volume aims to analyze the use of attitudinal resources in virtual interaction. By examining a range of educational settings, applying different theoretical approaches, presenting a variety of methodologies, and using different tools, the writers in this volume provide a rich picture of how participants can contribute to creating third spaces in which they feel safe exploring diversity and identity, and engaging with difference.
By presenting different scenarios, technologies, and tasks, Understanding Attitude in Intercultural Virtual Communication provides insights into the factors that affect students’ dynamics in these exchanges. These contributions will encourage readers to continue examining attitude in the ever-growing multimodal telecollaborative world.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Introduction [+–] 1-8
University of Maryland Baltimore County
Ana Oskoz is Professor of Spanish at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), USA. Her research is on the applications of technologies to language learning. In particular, it focuses on the use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and social tools to enhance the development of second language writing and intercultural competence development. She has published numerous articles and book chapters on these topics. She is currently co-editor of CALICO Journal.
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Margarita Vinagre Laranjeira is an Associate Professor at Autónoma University of Madrid where she teaches English Language and Linguistics. Her main research interests are the integration of technologies in the foreign language classroom, computer-mediated communication, and the implementation of intercultural exchanges for the development of linguistic and generic competences. She has published widely on these topics and is currently the coordinator of the TELNETCOM project on the integration of technology in higher education, with 20 participating researchers from 5 countries.
Understanding Attitude in Intercultural Virtual Communication focuses on attitude, the “willingness to explore, learn and participate in online networks, collaborate with others, share ideas, knowledge, media and contribute to the collective construction of knowledge” (Helm & Guth, 2010, p. 81) in telecollaborative encounters. Recent studies have suggested that, to ensure successful virtual collaboration, interpersonal factors such as identity, rapport and trust are essential and the development of these factors relies heavily on the attitudinal dimension and how participants chose to reflect it in their interaction (Oskoz & Gimeno-Sanz, in press; Vinagre & Corral, 2018; Vinagre & Corral, forthcoming). In telecollaboration, research on the participants’ use of attitudinal resources has been mostly content-based and Byram’s (1997) model of intercultural competence the approach most widely used for analysis. More recently, studies have looked at attitude from a linguistic perspective, and frameworks such as appraisal (Martin & White, 2005) that examine L2 learners’ attitudes and ideological positions have been employed. Despite these efforts, research in this field is still scarce and this volume aims to further explore this topic by gathering contributions in which a variety of approaches and perspectives have been taken to investigate attitude in virtual communication.
Chapter 1
University of California Santa Cruz
Zsuzsanna I. Abramsis Professor of Applied Linguistics and Multilingualism at the University of California Santa Cruz. Her research focuses on computer-mediated communication, computer-supported collaborative L2 writing, L2 pragmatic development, and language pedagogy. She applies her research to help learners develop the ability to use the L2 in real-world communicative situations by engaging them actively in analyzing authentic materials and interacting in the L2 as it is used by culturally complex communities of practice. Her research has been published in the CALICO Journal, CALL and Language Learning and Technology, among other venues.
Byram’s (1997) seminal work on intercultural communication identified attitude as an essential components of intercultural competence, defined as curiosity and openness towards other cultures and regarding one’s own (Byram, 1997; Lee, 2018; Schenker, 2012). After briefly contextualizing intercultural communication, this conceptual chapter connects research on telecollaboration to scholarship on attitude in L2 learning, specifically examining the role of attitude in yielding successful or unsuccessful telecollaborative projects. Next, informed by sociocognitive theory (Atkinson, 2011; Tóth & Davin, 2016) the discussion turns to a reconsideration of attitude as dynamic and relational, shaped by the participants and the pedagogical context in which they participate (e.g., the use of technology and the specific tasks learners are asked to complete). The chapter concludes with pedagogical guidelines for task design that foster the development of positive attitudes as relational skills contributing to intercultural communicative competence and intercultural citizenship (Byram & Wagner, 2018; Huber & Reynolds, 2014).
Chapter 2
Intercultural Virtual Communication and Novice Learners: Attitudes, Perception and Beliefs [+–] 30-63
University of Arizona
Liudmila Klimanova, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Russian and Second Language Acquisition in the College of Humanities, University of Arizona, USA. Her research focuses on topics related to critical virtual exchange, task-based learning, and identity deployment in digital spaces.
University of Arizona (PhD student)
Valentina Vinokurova M.A. (Russian Literature; Russian Linguistics) is currently a PhD student in Second Language Acquisition and Teaching at the University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ). She is interested in linguistic and instructional dimensions of L2 learning.
Understanding Attitude in Intercultural Virtual Communication focuses on attitude, the “willingness to explore, learn and participate in online networks, collaborate with others, share ideas, knowledge, media and contribute to the collective construction of knowledge” (Helm & Guth, 2010, p. 81) in telecollaborative encounters. Recent studies have suggested that, to ensure successful virtual collaboration, interpersonal factors such as identity, rapport and trust are essential and the development of these factors relies heavily on the attitudinal dimension and how participants chose to reflect it in their interaction (Oskoz & Gimeno-Sanz, in press; Vinagre & Corral, 2018; Vinagre & Corral, forthcoming). In telecollaboration, research on the participants’ use of attitudinal resources has been mostly content-based and Byram’s (1997) model of intercultural competence the approach most widely used for analysis. More recently, studies have looked at attitude from a linguistic perspective, and frameworks such as appraisal (Martin & White, 2005) that examine L2 learners’ attitudes and ideological positions have been employed. Despite these efforts, research in this field is still scarce and this volume aims to further explore this topic by gathering contributions in which a variety of approaches and perspectives have been taken to investigate attitude in virtual communication.
Chapter 3
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Margarita Vinagre Laranjeira is an Associate Professor at Autónoma University of Madrid where she teaches English Language and Linguistics. Her main research interests are the integration of technologies in the foreign language classroom, computer-mediated communication, and the implementation of intercultural exchanges for the development of linguistic and generic competences. She has published widely on these topics and is currently the coordinator of the TELNETCOM project on the integration of technology in higher education, with 20 participating researchers from 5 countries.
University of Maryland Baltimore County
Ana Oskoz is Professor of Spanish at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), USA. Her research is on the applications of technologies to language learning. In particular, it focuses on the use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and social tools to enhance the development of second language writing and intercultural competence development. She has published numerous articles and book chapters on these topics. She is currently co-editor of CALICO Journal.
Understanding Attitude in Intercultural Virtual Communication focuses on attitude, the “willingness to explore, learn and participate in online networks, collaborate with others, share ideas, knowledge, media and contribute to the collective construction of knowledge” (Helm & Guth, 2010, p. 81) in telecollaborative encounters. Recent studies have suggested that, to ensure successful virtual collaboration, interpersonal factors such as identity, rapport and trust are essential and the development of these factors relies heavily on the attitudinal dimension and how participants chose to reflect it in their interaction (Oskoz & Gimeno-Sanz, in press; Vinagre & Corral, 2018; Vinagre & Corral, forthcoming). In telecollaboration, research on the participants’ use of attitudinal resources has been mostly content-based and Byram’s (1997) model of intercultural competence the approach most widely used for analysis. More recently, studies have looked at attitude from a linguistic perspective, and frameworks such as appraisal (Martin & White, 2005) that examine L2 learners’ attitudes and ideological positions have been employed. Despite these efforts, research in this field is still scarce and this volume aims to further explore this topic by gathering contributions in which a variety of approaches and perspectives have been taken to investigate attitude in virtual communication.
Chapter 4
Northeastern University
Carolin Fuchs is Teaching Professor in the World Languages Center at Northeastern University, where she also coordinates online teaching and learning for the College of Social Sciences and Humanities. She holds a Ph.D. in English Studies from the Justus-Liebig University Giessen and an M.A. in TESOL from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. Her research interests include different aspects of online learning and telecollaboration (e.g., learner autonomy, task design). Carolin has published in CALICO, CALL, Language Learning & Technology, ReCALL, and TESOL Quarterly. She currently serves as one of the Editors-in-Chief of the Journal
[email protected]
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Hong Kong Glory Education & Technology Limited
Tsz Yan (Fion) Lo currently teaches English and interview skills at Hong Kong Glory Education & Technology Limited, which is headquartered in Shenzhen, China. She holds an M.A. in Education from the University College London (UCL) and a B.A. in English from City University of Hong Kong. Fion was a Research and Teaching Assistant in the Department of English at City University of Hong Kong between 2016 and 2017. Her research interests include educational technology, telecollaboration and social media language learning. She has presented at the American Association for Applied Linguistics 2019 Conference in Atlanta.
Nepalese community project coordinator
Sneha Thapa holds an M.A. in Applied Linguistics from University College London (UCL). She coordinates a community project for the Nepalese community in the United Kingdom, which has been funded by The National Lottery Community Fund, and she also teaches English and Math. Prior to that, Sneha worked as a Research Assistant at the City University of Hong Kong between 2016 to 2017, where she completed her B.A. in English Studies. She is interested in the areas of identity, ageing and migration. She has previously presented at the AAAL Conference 2019.
In this chapter, the authors explore how participants engage in the initial stages of a telecollaboration, what linguistic and non-linguistic choices facilitated their negotiation processes, and how they rated their attitudes. Participants in this eight-week project included English majors in a graduate-level sociolinguistics core course at a public research institution in Hong Kong who telecollaborated with student teachers in a language teaching and new media elective course for EFL teacher education at a public education university in Germany. Telecollaborative teams used social media tools to complete three sequential tasks: 1) introductions and themed discussions on Facebook for comparing their educational contexts, 2) collaborative research and writing of a literature review on Google Docs, and 3) generation of recommendations for their respective educational contexts on a Wix website. These data were a subset from a broader ethnographic analysis of these learners, and results from four focus teams were analyzed. Triangulation includes social media interactions on Facebook and pre-/post-questionnaires. Findings indicate that, regardless of task performance, all focus team made a range of choices that facilitated team negotiations such as accommodating propositions, emoticon use, or constructive communication styles. In contrast, L1 use, aggressive communication style, or pragmatic presupposition were hindering factors.
Chapter 5
Understanding L2 Teachers’ Attitudes via Their Uses of Multimodal Resources in Telecollaboration [+–] 117-143
National Taichung University
Meei-Ling Liaw is a professor of the English Department at National Taichung University of Education in Taiwan. As a two-time Fulbright Scholar, she visited UC, Berkeley in 2000 and UC Irvine in 2008. Her research focuses on intercultural learning, teacher education, and CALL. Her publications have appeared in professional journals including System, Foreign Language Annals, Computer-Assisted Language Learning, ReCALL, and Language Learning and Technology. She has been Associate Editor of Language Learning and Technology since 2016. She is on the editorial board of international journals, including Language Learning and Technology, Journal of Virtual Exchanges, and Journal of Intercultural Communication Education.
Université Laval, Quebec, Canada
Sabrina Priego is an Associate Professor of the Department of Languages, Linguistics and Translation at Université Laval in Quebec, Canada where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in second language (L2) teacher education. Her research focuses on multilingual digital storytelling, telecollaboration, Virtual Reality, Tandem language learning, and L2 teacher education. She has published on the role of telecollaboration in language learning and on Tandem language learning in refereed journals and given talks at several international conferences. In collaboration with Dr. Liaw, she has designed and implemented several telecollaborative projects involving L2/FL learners, and pre- and in-service L2/FL teachers.
Many studies have demonstrated that telecollaboration has the potential for developing intercultural communicative competence (Byram, 1997), an essential requirement for both learners and teachers in the globalized world. One of the emerging directions in telecollaborative learning is multimodal communication (O’Dowd, 2016). Thus, to adequately interpret the effects of telecollaboration for language teacher education, it demands a sound understanding of how multimodal resources are used and how this may affect teachers’ attitudes or abilities to ‘decenter’ (Byram, 1989) from pre-existing notions of language learning and teaching as well as from their own culture and language. In this chapter, we report on a telecollaborative project that provided L2 teachers in different countries with opportunities to engage in professional dialogues via multimodal means. We specifically focused on the participating teachers’ attitudes and on their changes during the telecollaboration.
Chapter 6
What’s with the Attitude? Exploring Attitudinal Resources in Telecollaboration for Teacher Education [+–] 144-165
Georgetown University
Joe Cunningham is Assistant Professor of German at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, where he is also Director of the undergraduate curriculum. Situated at the intersection of technology-mediated second language pedagogy and instructed pragmatic development, his research has appeared in peer-reviewed journals such as The CALICO Journal and Language Learning & Technology. In addition to studying the benefits of virtual exchange for second language learning and teacher education, Dr. Cunningham is interested in the role of telecollaboration at the curricular level.
Georgetown University
Marianna Ryshina-Pankova is Associate Professor of German and Director of Graduate Studies at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. In collaboration with her colleagues she is actively involved in the maintenance, revision, and evaluation of the undergraduate curriculum and in mentoring graduate students in the program. Her research involves application of systemic functional theory in language pedagogy and content- and language-integrated curriculum design, development of advanced second language literacy and intercultural communicative competence through telecollaboration, and foreign language teacher education.
Understanding Attitude in Intercultural Virtual Communication focuses on attitude, the “willingness to explore, learn and participate in online networks, collaborate with others, share ideas, knowledge, media and contribute to the collective construction of knowledge” (Helm & Guth, 2010, p. 81) in telecollaborative encounters. Recent studies have suggested that, to ensure successful virtual collaboration, interpersonal factors such as identity, rapport and trust are essential and the development of these factors relies heavily on the attitudinal dimension and how participants chose to reflect it in their interaction (Oskoz & Gimeno-Sanz, in press; Vinagre & Corral, 2018; Vinagre & Corral, forthcoming). In telecollaboration, research on the participants’ use of attitudinal resources has been mostly content-based and Byram’s (1997) model of intercultural competence the approach most widely used for analysis. More recently, studies have looked at attitude from a linguistic perspective, and frameworks such as appraisal (Martin & White, 2005) that examine L2 learners’ attitudes and ideological positions have been employed. Despite these efforts, research in this field is still scarce and this volume aims to further explore this topic by gathering contributions in which a variety of approaches and perspectives have been taken to investigate attitude in virtual communication.
Chapter 7
Researching Emotions and Attitude through Student Teachers’ Reflections on Virtual Exchange [+–] 166-165
University of Padova
Francesca Helm is assistant professor of English at the Department of Political Science, Law and International Studies, University of Padova in Italy. Her research research interests are in the fields of identity, intercultural learning, virtual exchange and internationalisation of education. She is currently leading the Monitoring and Evaluation in the European Commission’s recently launched Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange project. Recent publications include the volume Emerging Identities in Virtual Exchange https://research-publishing.net/book?10.14705/rpnet.2018.25.9782490057191
University of Padova
Alice Baroni is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Political Science, Law and International Studies at University of Padova, Italy. Her main research interests are in (visual) ethnographic and participatory research in contexts of urban violence; the relationships between conventional and new media; policies on media and gender equality; the role of media as a tool for conflict resolution and social justice.
Understanding Attitude in Intercultural Virtual Communication focuses on attitude, the “willingness to explore, learn and participate in online networks, collaborate with others, share ideas, knowledge, media and contribute to the collective construction of knowledge” (Helm & Guth, 2010, p. 81) in telecollaborative encounters. Recent studies have suggested that, to ensure successful virtual collaboration, interpersonal factors such as identity, rapport and trust are essential and the development of these factors relies heavily on the attitudinal dimension and how participants chose to reflect it in their interaction (Oskoz & Gimeno-Sanz, in press; Vinagre & Corral, 2018; Vinagre & Corral, forthcoming). In telecollaboration, research on the participants’ use of attitudinal resources has been mostly content-based and Byram’s (1997) model of intercultural competence the approach most widely used for analysis. More recently, studies have looked at attitude from a linguistic perspective, and frameworks such as appraisal (Martin & White, 2005) that examine L2 learners’ attitudes and ideological positions have been employed. Despite these efforts, research in this field is still scarce and this volume aims to further explore this topic by gathering contributions in which a variety of approaches and perspectives have been taken to investigate attitude in virtual communication.
End Matter
Index [+–] 196-197
University of Maryland Baltimore County
Ana Oskoz is Professor of Spanish at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), USA. Her research is on the applications of technologies to language learning. In particular, it focuses on the use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and social tools to enhance the development of second language writing and intercultural competence development. She has published numerous articles and book chapters on these topics. She is currently co-editor of CALICO Journal.
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Margarita Vinagre Laranjeira is an Associate Professor at Autónoma University of Madrid where she teaches English Language and Linguistics. Her main research interests are the integration of technologies in the foreign language classroom, computer-mediated communication, and the implementation of intercultural exchanges for the development of linguistic and generic competences. She has published widely on these topics and is currently the coordinator of the TELNETCOM project on the integration of technology in higher education, with 20 participating researchers from 5 countries.
Understanding Attitude in Intercultural Virtual Communication focuses on attitude, the “willingness to explore, learn and participate in online networks, collaborate with others, share ideas, knowledge, media and contribute to the collective construction of knowledge” (Helm & Guth, 2010, p. 81) in telecollaborative encounters. Recent studies have suggested that, to ensure successful virtual collaboration, interpersonal factors such as identity, rapport and trust are essential and the development of these factors relies heavily on the attitudinal dimension and how participants chose to reflect it in their interaction (Oskoz & Gimeno-Sanz, in press; Vinagre & Corral, 2018; Vinagre & Corral, forthcoming). In telecollaboration, research on the participants’ use of attitudinal resources has been mostly content-based and Byram’s (1997) model of intercultural competence the approach most widely used for analysis. More recently, studies have looked at attitude from a linguistic perspective, and frameworks such as appraisal (Martin & White, 2005) that examine L2 learners’ attitudes and ideological positions have been employed. Despite these efforts, research in this field is still scarce and this volume aims to further explore this topic by gathering contributions in which a variety of approaches and perspectives have been taken to investigate attitude in virtual communication.
