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Integrating cross-cultural interaction through video-communication and virtual worlds in foreign language teaching programs: is there an added value?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 February 2013

Silvia Canto ,
Kristi Jauregi  and
Huub van den Bergh
Silvia Canto
Affiliation:
Utrecht University, Trans 10, 3512 JK Utrecht, The Netherlands (email: S.Canto@uu.nl, email: k.jauregi@uu.nl, email: h.vandenbergh@uu.nl)
Kristi Jauregi
Affiliation:
Utrecht University, Trans 10, 3512 JK Utrecht, The Netherlands (email: S.Canto@uu.nl, email: k.jauregi@uu.nl, email: h.vandenbergh@uu.nl)
Huub van den Bergh
Affiliation:
Utrecht University, Trans 10, 3512 JK Utrecht, The Netherlands (email: S.Canto@uu.nl, email: k.jauregi@uu.nl, email: h.vandenbergh@uu.nl)
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Abstract

Organizing and implementing telecollaboration projects in foreign language curricula is not an easy endeavour (Belz & Thorne, 2006; Guth & Helm, 2010), as pedagogical, organizational and technical issues have to be addressed before cross-cultural interaction sessions can be carried out (O'Dowd & Ritter, 2006; O'Dowd, 2011). These issues make many teaching practitioners reluctant to try to integrate telecollaboration in their teaching, as they are more aware of the burden such initiatives might impose than of the benefits they might have for language learners.

Within the European project NIFLAR1 we have tried to study the added value that integrating synchronous collaboration projects through video-web communication or Second Life might have in language learning. The study presented in this paper measures the oral communicative growth of language students, who were allocated at random to one of three research conditions: (1) the VC experimental group carried out interactions with native peers through video-web communication; (2) the SL experimental group carried out the same tasks with native peers in Second Life and (3) the control group performed the tasks face to face with classroom peers and had no opportunity to interact with native experts. Communicative growth was measured by comparing oral pre- and post-tests across conditions. Results show significant differences, the experimental groups outperforming the control group.

Keywords

NIFLARvideo-web communicationvirtual worldsSecond Lifeadded valuecomputer mediated communication.
Type
Research Article
Information
ReCALL , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , January 2013 , pp. 105 - 121
Copyright
Copyright © European Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning 2013

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