ABSTRACT
Teletandem: Dimensions of online intercultural contacts in foreign languages
Foreign language classrooms have been a locus that requires teachers’ multifaceted practices. This can be particularly evidenced in the classrooms of the twenty-first century, where we must face the challenges that new technologies impose on pedagogy at the same time that they open opportunities for virtual immersion and real conversation practices in the target languages at low costs and investments.
Language learning in-tandem involves pairs of speakers of different languages working collaboratively in order to learn each other’s languages (or language of proficiency). We call this process teletandem when this kind of learning is assisted by computers, at distance, by means of synchronous communication and use of the writing, reading and teleconference resources. This free and virtual access by means of the internet promotes the contact between foreign languages and cultures, in addition to the establishment of partnerships, friendships and reciprocal exchange of cultural information between the partners. In this lecture I will outline three dimensions of this kind of online collaboration between students of foreign languages: the linguistic, the cultural and the identity dimensions. Because of the multiple aspects of teaching practices, their dimensions cannot be simply considered from a single theoretical point of view. Different (and, perhaps, even incompatible) theories can help us, teachers, be theoretically equipped in order to be able to tackle the multifaceted dimensions of foreign language classrooms and online interactions. Since the above three dimensions are imbricated into one another, Vygotskyan sociocultural theory (1989) will guide me in the outlining of the linguistic dimension of teletandem interactions. I will, then, argue that the notion of transculturality (Welsch, 1994, 2002) can help teachers deal with their cultural dimension. Finally, performativity theory (Butler, 1996) can help us deal with issues regarding national and geo-linguistic identities that emerge during teletandem interactions. I expect that the lecture will broaden teachers’ views and students’ perspectives of telecollaboration in foreign languages.
Language learning in-tandem involves pairs of speakers of different languages working collaboratively in order to learn each other’s languages (or language of proficiency). We call this process teletandem when this kind of learning is assisted by computers, at distance, by means of synchronous communication and use of the writing, reading and teleconference resources. This free and virtual access by means of the internet promotes the contact between foreign languages and cultures, in addition to the establishment of partnerships, friendships and reciprocal exchange of cultural information between the partners. In this lecture I will outline three dimensions of this kind of online collaboration between students of foreign languages: the linguistic, the cultural and the identity dimensions. Because of the multiple aspects of teaching practices, their dimensions cannot be simply considered from a single theoretical point of view. Different (and, perhaps, even incompatible) theories can help us, teachers, be theoretically equipped in order to be able to tackle the multifaceted dimensions of foreign language classrooms and online interactions. Since the above three dimensions are imbricated into one another, Vygotskyan sociocultural theory (1989) will guide me in the outlining of the linguistic dimension of teletandem interactions. I will, then, argue that the notion of transculturality (Welsch, 1994, 2002) can help teachers deal with their cultural dimension. Finally, performativity theory (Butler, 1996) can help us deal with issues regarding national and geo-linguistic identities that emerge during teletandem interactions. I expect that the lecture will broaden teachers’ views and students’ perspectives of telecollaboration in foreign languages.