MexCo
An Intercultural International Online
Project
CU, Warwick and FESZ-UNAM
(Mexico City)
Marina Orsini-Jones, Elwyn Lloyd, Zoe
Gazeley, Gwenola Bescond, Felipe Bustos
and Beatriz Vera Lόpez
Applied Research Group Pedagogical
Innovation in Languages and Literature
What is MexCo?
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VLE (Moodle)-supported International intercultural
knowledge-transfer exchange project
Students and staff from Coventry University (Department
of English and Languages)
Students and staff at the Facultad de Estudios
Superiores Zaragoza – FESZ (Universidad Nacional
Autónoma de México)
Staff from the University of Warwick (Languages
Centre).
Funded by the Higher Education Academy (TDG)
Pedagogical Innovation in Languages and Literature
Applied Research Group – Seminar Series 2012-2013
Moodle supported (dedicated ARC area),
three languages (E, S, F)
Pedagogical Innovation in Languages and Literature
Applied Research Group – Seminar Series 2012-2013
Aim 1: to develop intercultural communicative
competence with learner-centred collaborative
online learning
The study of Modern Languages and Cultures should
include the agentification of the learner to enable them to
make sense of their experience in a foreign language
and culture (Vera Lόpez 2012:8)
Post-modern post-method approach adopted
(Kumaravadivelu 2001): local contexts, local needs,
transformational learning experience for all agents
involved, metareflections
Pedagogical Innovation in Languages and Literature
Applied Research Group – Seminar Series 2012-2013
Aim 2
• To enhance all participants’ intercultural
awareness and transferable graduate
employment skills in a global context, while
taking part in an online CMC exchange - or
should we say Global Networked Learning?
(Rubin 2012). Or Telecollaboration exchange?
(O’Dowd 2010; Polisca 2011; Guth and Helm
2010; MacKinnon 2012)
Pedagogical Innovation in Languages and Literature
Applied Research Group – Seminar Series 2012-2013
Aim 2 – linked hypotheses
Is intercultural awareness a threshold
concept?
Does the engagement with multilingual
multiliteracies (digital and other) enhance
intercultural awareness?
AND can the exchange help with embedding
internationalisation in the DEL curriculum and
support our students in becoming...
Pedagogical Innovation in Languages and Literature
Applied Research Group – Seminar Series 2012-2013
A vision of ‘graduate-ness’?
The ‘global graduate’
Able to recognise
and value
cultural difference
CU Mission Statement
We aspire to be a dynamic, global,
enterprising university. We will work in
partnership with external organisations
through our research and engage our
students as partners in a community of
learning.
Pedagogical Innovation in Languages and Literature
Applied Research Group – Seminar Series 2012-2013
Underlying Principles for the Project
• Council of Europe: Developing the Intercultural
Dimension in Language Teaching (Byram,
Gribkova and Starkey 2002)
• Developing Intercultural Communicative
Competence (ICC)
• Developing digital literacies
• Developing graduate competencies
Pedagogical Innovation in Languages and Literature
Applied Research Group – Seminar Series 2012-2013
Byram’s ICC components
• Knowledge (savoirs)
• Intercultural attitudes (savoir être)
• Skills of interpreting and relating (savoir
comprendre)
• Skills of discovery and interaction (savoir
apprendre/faire)
• Critical cultural awareness (savoir s’engager)
Pedagogical Innovation in Languages and Literature
Applied Research Group – Seminar Series 2012-2013
Critique of Byram’s model
• Created in the 90s, does not contemplate global
networked ICC (Guth and Helm 2010)
• It would appear to assume a ‘given’ underlying
conceptualization of ‘culture’ that is EU-centric
• Initial reflections when studying exchanges in
the MexCo forum: what is culture, whose
culture?
Pedagogical Innovation in Languages and Literature
Applied Research Group – Seminar Series 2012-2013
Pilot: sample feedback 1
cultural perceptions (cultural ‘frames’)
Es muy bueno poder hablar con personas de un
pais tan importante como Inglaterra y que esto
me ayude a mi formación en el idioma es otro
incentivo para hacerlo.
Cultural ‘frames’ (Gumperz and Roberts 1991)
Pedagogical Innovation in Languages and Literature
Applied Research Group – Seminar Series 2012-2013
Pilot: sample feedback 2
yo no soy una persona que dedique mucho tiempo a estudiar ingles y
realmentge yo aprendo casi por imitacion asi como aprendi mi mal español
asi apredi buenas matematicas esntonces lo que se o pienzo que se son
cosas que he escuhado de peliculas o canciones o series en ingles con los
que he tenido contacto, reconocuer y poder traducir esto en mi mente con
ayuda de lo que he aprendido en clases es lo que me ayuda a aprender
ingle por eso el intercambio MexCo es un exlelente ambiente para que yo
pueda tener contacto con el verdadero ingles y no solo abtracto como en
clace(ese es mi personal punto de vista)
Pedagogical Innovation in Languages and Literature
Applied Research Group – Seminar Series 2012-2013
Phase 1 (post pilot)
• First Year students in DEL (E&L degree)
• University-wide beginners and post-beginners
students at FESZ/UNAM
• Some from pilot/some new
• More shared themes/same shared themes
emerging: horror (novels and film); linguistic
awareness (e.g. American English/British
English- Mexican Spanish/Castillian spoken in
Spain); culture in Britain and in Mexico; music
Pedagogical Innovation in Languages and Literature
Applied Research Group – Seminar Series 2012-2013
Assessed task at CU (50% module mark): module 100DEL
Introduction to studying English and Languages at
University
• The aims of this module are to prepare you for academic
study at degree level by discussing and practising
academic writing, group project work, digital and
presentation skills.
• The module aims at enhancing your awareness of how
these academic skills can develop into professional
competencies and also provide information on how to
maximise your university experience for future graduate
employment.
Pedagogical Innovation in Languages and Literature
Applied Research Group – Seminar Series 2012-2013
Assessed task at CU (50% module mark): module 100DEL
Introduction to studying English and Languages at
University
Some students from our partner University in Mexico (FESZ/UNAM)
are planning to come to Coventry. Create a web-based
Spanish/English (or French/English) guide (a learning object) to
Coventry for them using the Mahara e-portfolio. The guide must
include both academic and non-academic information. You need to
consult the students from FESZ/UNAM on its design via Moodle
(international exchange) and provide examples of how their input
informed your project. You may include jointly created blogs in the
project and discuss what you learnt from the experience. You will
also need to keep an individual reflective record of your intercultural
exchange (in terms of personal feelings, new knowledge and actions
that stemmed from it) using the Mahara Project Journal tool.
Pedagogical Innovation in Languages and Literature
Applied Research Group – Seminar Series 2012-2013
Student-driven intercultural collaborative digital object
design with Mahara – Sample 1
Pedagogical Innovation in Languages and Literature
Applied Research Group – Seminar Series 2012-2013
Sample 2
Pedagogical Innovation in Languages and Literature
Applied Research Group – Seminar Series 2012-2013
Sample 3
Pedagogical Innovation in Languages and Literature
Applied Research Group – Seminar Series 2012-2013
Sample 4
Pedagogical Innovation in Languages and Literature
Applied Research Group – Seminar Series 2012-2013
Sample 5
Pedagogical Innovation in Languages and Literature
Applied Research Group – Seminar Series 2012-2013
Intercultural critical incident G1
Pedagogical Innovation in Languages and Literature
Applied Research Group – Seminar Series 2012-2013
Threshold Concepts are
Transformative
‘Threshold concepts lead not only to
transformed thought but to a transfiguration of
identity and adoption of an extended
discourse’ (Meyer and Land 2005:375, cited
in Orsini-Jones 2012).
Pedagogical Innovation in Languages and Literature
Applied Research Group – Seminar Series 2012-2013
Transforming identities? G2
HI
Whats the culture like in Mexico? What tourist attractions do you have
there? Do you like football? I Love it!
Some of my friends here at coventry university and I have created a
website about coventry and the tourist attractions.
We made it especially for you, the students in Mexico:
http://mahara.coventry.ac.uk/view/view.php?t=jaeJi1Ug6HG7XcmkEhZI
Let me know if you like it
Enjoy!
Pedagogical Innovation in Languages and Literature
Applied Research Group – Seminar Series 2012-2013
Positive development: TEFL/Spanish online
classes student to student
Pedagogical Innovation in Languages and Literature
Applied Research Group – Seminar Series 2012-2013
Issues arising
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Intercultural critical incidents (different approach to T&L)
Need to set ‘ground rules’? But then whose rules?
VLE(N)etiquette
Technology misunderstanding issues
Lack of time (all parties concerned)
Time difference
Pedagogical Innovation in Languages and Literature
Applied Research Group – Seminar Series 2012-2013
What is culture?
• Is the conceptualisation of culture a
threshold concept per se?
Pedagogical Innovation in Languages and Literature
Applied Research Group – Seminar Series 2012-2013
Value-added – positive note
Felipe Bustos’s viewpoint
Promoting these types of intercultural communication helps
students to overcome stereotypes about the cultures where
the language they are studying is spoken as a native
language and about the people who speak that language. In
the case of my students they seem to be more confident using
English, they seem to be more motivated because they want to
be more fluent so that they can communicate with their new
friends in England and in the same way they are happy that
they have helped some Spanish students with problems in
Spanish. Now learning English has a new meaning for my
students because they can see a real purpose in learning this
language. They have learned that people in general have
similar needs (Email communication, 7/12/2012)
Pedagogical Innovation in Languages and Literature
Applied Research Group – Seminar Series 2012-2013
Final reflections
• Students (and staff) from FEZS – have posted a lot about the
geography, history and traditions of Mexico/ Mexico City, and have
asked for similar information about Britain/Coventry.
• Importance of contextualisation
• From their interlocutors at CU they may have got more and less
culture than they bargained for.
• Byram et al. (2002): “How do I deal with learners’ stereotypes and
prejudices?” “How do I overcome my own stereotypes and
misconceptions?”
• Towards a post-ICC for a globalised world?
Pedagogical Innovation in Languages and Literature
Applied Research Group – Seminar Series 2012-2013
Selected Bibliographical References
Agar, M. (1996) Language Shock: Understanding the Culture of Conversation. New York: William
Morrow.
Barro, A., Jordan, S., and Roberts, C. (1998) ‘Cultural practice in everyday life: the language learner
as ethnographer’. In Byram, M. And Fleming, M. Language Learning in Intercultural Perspective.
Cambridge UP.
Byram, M. (1997) Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence. Clevedon:
Multilingual Matters.
Byram, M. Gribkova, B. and Starkey, H. (2002) Developing the Intercultural Dimension in Language
Teaching: A practical introduction for teachers. Strasbourg: Council of Europe
Cousin, G. (2009). Researching Learning in Higher Education: An Introduction to Contemporary
Methods and Approaches. London: Routledge
Gumperz, J. J. and Roberts, C. (1991). Understanding in intercultural encounters. In J.
•
Blommaert and J. Verschueren (Eds.) The Pragmatics of Intercultural Communication. (p.51-90).
Amsterdam: John Benjamins
Guth,S.and Helm, F. (2010)Telecollaboration 2.0: Language, Literacies, and Intercultural Learning in
the 21st Century. NY: Peter Lang
Legutke, M. And Thomas, M. (1991) Process and Experience in the Language Classroom. Harlow:
Longman.
Kumaravadivelu, B. (2001) ‘Towards a Postmethod Pedagogy’. TESOL Quarterly Vol.35:4.pp.537-560
Pedagogical Innovation in Languages and Literature
Applied Research Group – Seminar Series 2012-2013
More references
Lloyd, E. (2012) Language Learners’ 'Willingness to Communicate' through Livemocha.com. ALSIC Apprentissage des Langues et Systèmes d'Information et de Communication 15 (1). Available
from http://alsic.revues.org/2399
Meyer, J.H.F. and Land, R. (2006). Overcoming barriers to student understanding: Threshold concepts
and troublesome knowledge. London: Routledge/Falmer.
O’Dowd, R. (2010) Online foreign language interaction: Moving from the periphery to the core of
foreign language education? Language Teaching Journal 1-13. Available from:
http://www3.unileon.es/personal/wwdfmrod/LTJ.pdf
Orsini-Jones, M. (2010) Task-Based Development of Languages Students’ Critical Digital
Multiliteracies and Cybergenre Awareness. In M.J. Luzon, N. Ruiz and L. Villanueva (Eds.) Digital
Genres, New Literacies and Autonomy in Language Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholar
(pp. 197-224).
Polisca, E. (2011) ‘Language learning and the raising of cultural awareness through Internet
telephony: a case study’ The Language Learning Journal, 39 (3)
Sercu, L. (2004) ‘Assessing intercultural competence: a framework for systematic test development in
foreign language education and beyond’. Intercultural Education, 15, (1): 74-88
Vera-Lόpez, H.B. (2012) The Scholarship of Learning Modern Languages and Cultures: Integrating
Education, Research and Human Development. PhD Dissertation, University of Nottingham, June
2012.
Ware, P., Liaw, M-L, and Warschauer, M.2012 ‘The use of digital media in teaching English as an
international language’. In Alsagoff et el (eds) Principles and Practices for teaching English as an
International Language. London: Routledge.
Pedagogical Innovation in Languages and Literature
Applied Research Group – Seminar Series 2012-2013