International Conference
Telecollaboration in University
Foreign Language Education
Focusing on culture-related episodes in
a teletandem interaction between a
Brazilian and an American student
Maisa de Alcântara Zakir
Graduate Program in Language Studies – UNESP
CAPES Foundation, Ministry of Education of Brazil
Brasília-DF 70.040-020, Brazil
Universidad de León
Spain, February 12-14 2014
The Teletandem Project
UNESP – Universidade Estadual Paulista, Brazil
Coordinator: Dr. João Antonio Telles
Campi Assis, Araraquara and São José do Rio Preto
The Teletandem Project
2006-2010
Teletandem Brasil: foreign languages for all
www.teletandembrasil.org
2011 – Currently
Teletandem and transculturality in on-line
foreign language interactions via webcam
http://teletandemetransculturalidade.weebly.com/inde
x.html
Current phase:
– Institutionalization: Portuguese classes in the
foreign universities;
– Mediation sessions: A
professor/researcher/graduate student coordinates
a reflective talk on the teletandem sessions;
– Virtual platforms: writing activities and discussion
forums in Teleduc, Facebook, Blackboard, Moodle
etc.;
– General research question: How can the cultural
dimension of teletandem interactions in foreign
languages be described?
Research topics (Telles, 2011)
(1) Ways of understanding the study, the learning and the
social use of foreign languages;
(2) Ways of representing the culture of the teletandem
partner and the impact of such understanding on the
process of learning a foreign language and on the
relationship with the partner;
(3) the contribution of the cultural dimension of teletandem
to the education of the learner to relate to other cultures;
(4) The impact of the cultural dimension of teletandem on
the different views of institutional implementation in the
curriculum
Some partner universities
EUROPE
ASIA
- University of Southampton
- UNESP
- University of Bonn
- University of Miami
- Universidade de
- Georgetown University - Universitè Lille 3
Chulalongkorn
- Virginia Commonwealth - Università del Salento (Thailand)
- Università di Bologna - University of
University
- Università di Roma 3
- University of Georgia
Yamaguchi (Japan)
- Truman State University
- University of Hawaii
- University of Washington
- Seattle University
- Universidad Nacional
Autónoma de México
AMERICA
Research paper (Zakir, Funo & Telles,
forthcoming)
• Introduction: Teletandem as a context to research culture;
• Theoretical framework: Culture definition and dimensions
(Kramsch, 1998; Levy, 2007);
• Research participants: a female Brazilian undergraduate
student and a male American undergraduate student;
• Data analysis: three out of seven Culture-related Episodes –
adapted from LRE (Swain & Lapkin, 1995, 1998; Zhu, 2012) in
a teletandem interaction;
• Final remarks: CRE grounded on the personal experiences of
the teletandem participants; teletandem interactions as a
context to understand culture and its dimensions (mediation
sessions).
A definition of culture
• “In summary, culture can be defined as membership in a
discourse community that shares a common social space
and history, and common imaginings.” (Kramsch, 1998, p. 10)
• “Moreover, any one individual’s experience of culture will
be affected by the multiple aspects of their identity—race,
gender, sex, age, sexuality, class, caste position, religion,
geography, and so forth—and it is likely to alter in various
circumstances.” (Skelton & Allen, 1999, p. 4).
• “Thus, culture is both a manifestation of a group, or a
community, and of an individual’s experience within it, or
apart from it. As a group, members engage with one another
in a shared social space. […] Recognising the perspective
of the individual in relation to the group is key in
developing a pedagogical approach. (Levy, 2007, p. 105)
LRE – Language Related Episodes
• LRE – Language Related Episodes are
“any part of a dialogue in which
language students talk about the
language they are producing, question
their language use, or correct
themselves or others.” (Swain &
Lapkin, 1995, 1998).
CRE – Culture Related Episodes
• CRE – Culture-Related Episodes: “moments
when the spoken classroom discourse focuses on
the collaborative construction of cultural
understanding and cultural knowledge among the
participants.” (ZHU, 2012, p. 7).
• CRE - “Any part of a dialogue produced in the
teletandem sessions in which the students focus
on any interest, explanation or inquisitiveness
about their own culture or the partner’s” (Zakir,
Funo & Telles, forthcoming)
LEVY (2007) – Culture dimensions
1. Culture as elemental;
2. Culture as relative;
3. Culture as group membership;
4. Culture as contested;
5. Culture as individual (variable and multiple).
1. Culture as elemental: the learner is no more a "blank slate"
Sysoyev (2002, p. 510): “learning of foreign culture does not start from ‘an
absolute zero’ By the time learners begin the study of a L2 context and its
culture, they have already formed certain concepts, stereotypes, and
expectations about L2 cultural realities. These expectations are not fixed and
immutable. But they will influence the way learners comprehend and interpret a
L2 culture (C2).”
Willis (1979, p. 186): “We are therefore most deeply embedded in our culture
(…) we are in a very important sense, already, one step away from our real and
living culture.”
Levy (2007): “Pedagogical approaches and techniques that help learners to
reflect objectively on their own culture are especially important because
language teachers and learners need to be sharply aware of their point of
departure in culture learning.” (p. 107)
2. Culture as relative: “culture is, fundamentally, a relative
concept, not an absolute one.”
Lo Bianco e Crozet (2003)  Making generalisations is central in this
approach: in other words the belief that what we do and what they do is
common to all, across the two respective cultures being compared.
Guest (2002, p. 154)  identifies a number of problems associated with a
contrastive approach in learning and teaching the second culture (C2), and
a paraphrased list of problems such as “oversimplification” which leads to
"caricature" rather than a deeper understanding.
Levy (2007, p. 108)  “In essence Guest is recommending a move away
from the learner as detached observer towards the learner as active
participant in culture learning, and from a view of culture which is static and
distant, to a view which is more dynamic and directly engaged. This level
and kind of contact becomes more feasible and practical with new
technologies, especially synchronous forms of communication such as
chat”.
3. Culture as group membership:
Lindsay, Robins and Terrell (1999, p. 26-27): “Culture is everything
you believe and everything you do that enables you to identify with
people who are like you and that distinguishes you from people who
differ from you. Culture is about groupness”.
Baldwin, Faulkner & Hecht (2006, p. 17): A group perspective on
culture draws attention to the idea of membership and community and
leads to questions such as how people identify with groups, how
others identify people with groups and how different groups relate and
interact with one another.
3. Culture as group membership:
Hymes (1974, p. 51): “Culture is understood as a "speech
community": a group ‘sharing knowledge of rules for the
conduct and interpretation of speech’.”
Levy (2007): “Online groups, and the ‘digital cultures’ that
result provide new venues for groups and communities to
be created and maintained (see Kim, 2000). Online groups
require us to revisit questions of identity, membership and
community and the ways in which individuals become
members of such groups, and how their messages
contribute to the group’s identity and culture (p. 109).
4. Culture as contested:
Culture is contested at many levels: from individual (cultural shock
when someone goes abroad) to a broader scale (media).
Giroux (1988, p. 171) : “the representation of lived experiences,
material artefacts, and practices forged within the unequal and
dialectical relations that different groups establish in a given society at
a particular historical point. In this case, culture is closely related to the
dynamics of power and produces asymmetries in the ability of
individuals and groups to define and achieve their goals. Furthermore
culture is also an arena of struggle and contradiction, and there is no
one culture in the homogeneous sense. On the contrary, there are
dominant and subordinate cultures that express different interests and
operate from different and unequal terrains of power”. (p. 110)
5. Culture as individual (variable and multiple)
Robins, 2005; Terracciano et al., 2005: “What we call our ‘own’ culture
is incomplete and fragmentary” (p. 111)
“The teacher’s and the learner ‘s understanding of their own culture
(C1) will inevitably be an individual interpretation, modified by such
factors as world knowledge, experience living abroad, political
awareness and so forth” (p. 111)
“If we can say nothing with any certainty about cultures as whole and
have to rely on helping the learner develop individual perceptions, the
individual is going to acquire a very incomplete and idyosincratic view
of the C2.
“What one learner will come to understand or learn when observing or
engaging in a cultural exchange, another may not” (p. 111).
CRE 1 “Do you like football?”
Will: I will! World Cup, I will come back!
Gabi: Yes, World Cup?
Will: Copa do Mundo, yeah!
Gabi: Oh, yes. Ok. So, it's very good. Do you like football?
Will: Yeah, I do. I definitely like to watch it. I really... I mean, I like watching it in
South America, because it's so much... more intense... everybody is... huh... more
into it! They're excited about it. Yeah...
Gabi: Yes, I love football!
Will: That's great!
Gabi: Yes, but... but I don't understand anything.
Will: (Laughs)
Gabi: but I love...
CRE 2 ““They say that you like [música]
sertaneja, too, right?”
Gabi: No, I don't like sertanejo (laughs embarrasedly). I study Literature and Letters.
Will: Oh, ok. So sertaneja is not good. (laughs)
Gabi: So sertaneja is not good.
Will: (laughs)
Gabi: It's not poetry. (laughs)_
Will: That's right. It's a little different.
Gabi: Yes. I like poet, good songs. (laughs)
Will: We have something like sertaneja here. Huh... it's called "country music".
Gabi: Country Music, yes....
Will: And, it's kind of like that. Yeah, it's not yeah, it’s poetry by any means. But, it's huh... it's very popular in
like... some areas of the country.
Gabi: Yes, I know. I think it's very similar.
Will: Yeah.
Gabi: I've heard some things of country music and... yes... it's very similar.
Will: (laughs) That's so funny. (laughs)
Gabi: And, do you like country music?
Will: I like it more now than I used to. Huh... I think that hum... it...you know... it grows on you. When you...
when you listen to it a lot... it's because I have some friends who like it, you start to like it a little more. So...
yeah, I guess
Gabi: Yes, it's the same here. I listen a lot of sertanejo. So... sometimes, I can hear, but I don't like (laughs)
Data analysis
• Culture as elemental:
– Will’s assumption about soccer and “sertaneja” music
• Culture as relative:
– Watching soccer in North America X Watching soccer in South America
– “Caipiras” like “sertaneja” music
• Culture as group membership:
–
–
–
–
Will shares with Gabi the “passion” for soccer
“Sertaneja” is similar to country music
Will’s friends like country music and influenced him to like it as well
Gabi’s collegues (language students) don’t like “sertaneja” music
• Culture as contested:
– “‘Sertaneja’ is not poetry”
• Culture as individual:
– Will’s interpretation of the importance of soccer in South America;
– Gabi dislikes “sertaneja” music
Final remarks
• Culture dimensions: variable and dynamic;
• Teletandem interaction(s): a context to reflect
about culture and CALL;
• Mediation sessions after teletandem
interactions: a context to rethink language
teachers’ education and the role of foreign
language and culture exchanges.
References
KRAMSCH, C. Context and culture in language teaching. Oxford: OYP, 1993.
______. Language and Culture. Oxford University Press Oxford, 1998
LEVY, M. Culture, Culture Learning and New Technologies: Towards a pedagogical framework. Language Learning &
Technology, v. 11, n. 2, 2007, p. 104-127. Disponível em: <http://llt.msu.edu/vol11num2/levy/>. Acesso em: 13 julho 2011.
SWAIN, M.; LAPKIN, S. Interaction and second language learning: Two adolescent French immersion students working
together. Modern Language Journal, v. 82, 1998, p. 320-337.
TELLES, J.A. Projeto Teletandem Brasil: Línguas Estrangeiras para Todos – Ensinando e Aprendendo línguas estrangeiras
in-tandem via MSN Messenger. Faculdade de Ciências e Letras de Assis, UNESP. 2006. Disponível em:
<http://www.teletandembrasil.org/site/docs/TELETANDEM_BRASIL_completo.pdf>. Acesso em: 02 setembro 2010.
______. Teletandem: A transculturalidade das interações on-line em línguas estrangeiras via teleconferência. Trabalho
apresentado no IX CBLA – Congresso Brasileiro de Linguística Aplicada, Rio de Janeiro, UFRJ – Universidade Federal do
Rio de Janeiro, 2011.
WELSCH, W. Transculturality: the puzzling form of cultures today. California Sociologist, 17 & 18, 1999, p. 19-39. Disponível
em: <http://www2.uni-jena.de/welsch/Papers/transcultSociety.html> Acesso em 08 julho 2011.
ZHU, J. Weaving language and culture together: the process of culture learning in a chinese as a foreign language
classroom. 2012. 456 f. Tese (Doutorado em Second Language Acquisiton), Graduate College of the University of Iowa,
Iowa City, 2012.
ZAKIR, M. A.; FUNO, L. B. A.; TELLES, J. A. Episódios relacionados a cultura em teletandem: uma análise de interação
entre uma aluna brasileira e um aluno estadunidense. (em preparação).