Integrating telecollaborative language learning into Higher Education: a study on teletandem practice

Abstract

Telecollaborative learning can be implemented at higher education institutions as an independent practice or as a blended setting integrated into classroom activities. Considering telecollaborative practices in European universities, some researchers proposed categories and levels of classroom and institutional integration. Teletandem, a model of telecollaboration implemented at UNESP (Universidade Estadual Paulista), involves two speakers of different languages who use the text, voice, and webcam image resources of VOIP technology to help each other learn their native language (or language of proficiency). This paper aims at describing and discussing the different teletandem learning set-ups implemented at the Brazilian university in relation to the levels of integration described by Brammerts (2002; 2003) and Lewis & O’Dowd (2016). The discussion is based on the data collected by means of a questionnaire answered by teletandem practitioners (teachers and researchers) at UNESP. Results revealed low levels of integration both into classroom and into institutional practices.

Telecollaborative practice in Brazil

“…According to Cavalari (2018, p. 418), "over the years, several studies (...) investigated different pedagogical, linguistic and cultural aspects of teletandem learning". Even though some researchers recognize there is a diversity of aspects of teletandem learning that are being studied (Aranha & Cavalari, 2014;Cavalari & Aranha, 2016;Cavalari, 2018), there is not -to this date and the best of our knowledge -any paper that offers a general description of what has been published about teletandem practice in Brazil.…”

“…The most recent account of teletandem practice at UNESP is Cavalari's (2018) paper, which mentions that the implementation of teletandem has followed the specificities of each campus where it occurs. Among these specificities are the teletandem modalities, which are named according to the involvement of educational institutions in the project and to the nature of the support the institution provides (Cavalari, 2018). Therefore, teletandem may be institutional, semi-institutional, or non-institutional.…”

“…The institutional category is composed of the subcategories integrated, semiintegrated, and non-integrated. Table 1, proposed by Cavalari (2018), illustrates this classification is integrated to a foreign language course in only one of the institutions involved is supported by the institutions, which may offer some resources (means to find a partner, a laboratory for oral sessions etc. )…”

“…Although the specificities of the modalities determine the characteristics of the practice and the tasks that are carried out, Cavalari (2018) identified that, at UNESP campuses in which teletandem practice is implemented, the following occur: (1) a preparation meeting, (2) teletandem oral sessions, (3) mediation sessions, (4) writing of learners' diaries, (5) filling of questionnaires, and (6) writing of collaborative texts.…”

Telecollaboration and genres: a new perspective to understand language learning

“…Associated to the mediation sessions, there are the learning diaries, also named 'reflective diaries' in other papers (Aranha & Cavalari, 2014;Aranha, Luvizari-Murad, & Moreno, 2015;Cavalari & regularly held with participants (usually every other week), in which students and their professor talk about their learning process and difficulties during iTOS and share any other issues arisen in the diaries. The learning diary is a reflective practice in which students write about their experience, the obstacles they have been encountering, the achievements they have had, and the learning strategies they have been using.…”