1. Models of Telecollaboration:The Increasing Prevalence of ELF (and other Lingua Francas)Sarah Guth University of Padova, Italy1 ELF5, Istanbul, Turkey 13/08/2012

2. Outline Brief overview of the dominant models oftelecollaboration used in the past decade INTENT survey: telecollaboration in Europe today New models of telecollaboration Challenges for teachers, affordances for learners ELF beyond English as a lingua franca?2 ELF5, Istanbul, Turkey 13/08/2012 3. Telecollaboration and ELF The majority of ELF research has focused on F2Fcommunication. The use of ELF (and other languages as a lingua franca)in online communication, not only written, butincreasingly spoken, is becoming ever morepredominant. Telecollaboration is the activity of collaborative projectwork between groups of learners across time zones andgeographical distance through the use of commonlyavailable social networking tools, and encompasses thedevelopment of language proficiency, interculturalcommunicative competence, and multiliteracies.3 ELF5, Istanbul, Turkey 13/08/2012 Telecollaboration is an institutionalized form of this 4. Traditional models Culturainstitutioinstitution n Communication in L1eTandemindividua individua l lReciprocation: 50% in L1 50% in L2 University telecollaborationinstitutioinstitution nMix of L1 and L2 based oninstitutional requirements4 ELF5, Istanbul, Turkey 13/08/2012 5. New needs, new opportunitiesFL teacher traineesDifficulty finding classes ofNSsOutgoing Erasmus studentsTelecollaboration 2.0 Lingua Francasgreater Interent access more familiarity with tools5 ELF5, Istanbul, Turkey 13/08/2012 6. An Erasmus Multilateral Project promotingvirtual intercultural exchange betweenuniversity classrooms in Europe and beyond.Universities across Europe are increasingly turningtheir attention to the themes of internationalisation,student mobility and the development of studentsforeign language and intercultural competencies.The INTENT project (Integrating TelecollaborativeNetworks into Foreign Language HigherEducation) aims to support university educators andpolicy makers in these areas by developing anetwork of telecollaboration for universities in6 ELF5, Istanbul, Turkey 13/08/2012Europe and beyond. 7. What are our Aims Establish a clear overview of the levels of use oftelecollaboration, explore attitudes to the activity amongkey stake holders across European Higher EducationInstitutions, and identify practical barriers to the take-upof telecollaboration. Develop a set of tools, telecollaborative models andpartner networks to overcome barriers and facilitatetelecollaboration practice. Develop a set of workable solutions to address the lackof academic recognition which telecollaboration receivesat Higher Education level. Publish an online training manual with models oftelecollaborative exchange which enable a closerintegration of virtual and physical mobility. Engage decision makers at institutional, regional and7 national levels in a collaborative dialogue as to howELF5, Istanbul, Turkey13/08/2012telecollaboration can be effectively employed as a tool for 8. Main Activities Survey of online intercultural exchange projects whichare currently being carried out across Europe 6 case studies describing telecollaboration in universitycontexts Virtual platform (www.uni-collaboration.eu) whereeducators can find partner classes as well as informationand training for their telecollaborative projects. Tools for telecollaborative teachers including an e-portfolio to evaluate students projects, databanks oftelecollaborative tasks, and case studies which teacherscan use to help them set up their own exchanges. Regional workshops and an international conference onthe theme of telecollaboration for university education.8ELF5, Istanbul, Turkey 13/08/2012 9. The survey4 versions: English version: November 17 French version: December 4, 2011 German version: December 4, 2011 Italian version: December 7, 2011 All versions were closed on January 21, 20129ELF5, Istanbul, Turkey13/08/2012 10. Respondents Questionnaires completed: 210 teachers, primarily FL teachers and FL teacher education teachers 142 universities/HEIs 22 European countries 102 teachers with experience of telecollaboration 108 with no experience of telecollaboration 131 students who had participated in at least one telecollaboration project10ELF5, Istanbul, Turkey13/08/2012 11. Sts: configurations Telecollaboration models or configurations based on open answers: bilingual exchanges involving discussion of topics in both bilingual languagesprimarily monolingal translation projectsMonolingual (often notEnglish) teacher trainees and foreign language learners a multi-disciplinary project focusing on conflict resolutionELF11ELF5, Istanbul, Turkey13/08/2012 12. Teacher s Bilingual - two languages are used 56% Monolingual - only one language is33%used Lingua Franca - foreign language for all20%partnersMultilingual - more than two languages10%are used0%10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% StudentA foreign language that we could all s speak 31% A combination of our native languages24% Only my partners native language28% Only my native language8% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%12 ELF5, Istanbul, Turkey 13/08/2012 13. Partners: how many and where13 ELF5, Istanbul, Turkey13/08/2012 14. New Trends in Telecollaboration Soliya & Exchange 2.0 (US Europe Middle East Asia) COIL Institute (US Belize, US North Korea, US Japan, US Canary Islands, etc.) Teacher training Netherlands-Chile using Spanish, France-USA using French, Spain-USA using English Erasmus (pre, during, post) Padova-Boston, Bilingual Padova-various countries, multilingual & ELF into the wild gaming (e.g. Thorne & Black, learning Russian to game) blogging (e.g. Guth, using English to blog) online discussion forums (e.g. Hanna & de Nooy, French)14 ELF5, Istanbul, Turkey 13/08/2012 15. Challenges for teachers, affordances for learners But opportunities to move beyond cultural comparison of two countries and discuss culture at more profound level colleagues, heads of a difficulties convincing department and to focus on subject-related content opportunities decision-makers that lingua franca exchanges are valid learning experiencesnature of opportunities to focus on the authentic assessmentcommunication, e.g. code-switching lingua franca (what? how?) difficulties providing and/or how to manage (empowering the NNS) recognition (credits) for participation miscommunication with words such as student belief that only NSor culturally-based education, individualism are valid partners concepts15 ELF5, Istanbul, Turkey13/08/2012 16. Discussion Arguments from the socio-cultural, cultural, ecological, etc. points of view regarding English as a Lingua Franca should not only play a greater role in field of ELF, but be expanded to any use of a language as a lingua franca. The definition of a linguathen, is a mismatch betweenthe mainThe problem, franca as a context where[] has happened of the (only) English in objective whatis to make use to the role of language shared by all interactants, [] in orderthe achieve the fullest it isthe world on to one hand and how communication possible (Seidlhofer, as thought of 2011, p. 18) should include a languagesa language and all used as a lingua franca. subject on the other.language English is undoubtedly the most2011, p. 9)(Seidlhofer, widespread language currently, but other languages are gaining weight in international communication, e.g. Spanish, Arabic, and Chinese. To conclude, the research into ELF from a socio-cultural and ecological standpoint should invite and welcome research into other lingua francas if we want to not necessarily transform, but increase the variety of FL teaching in todays globalized context.16 ELF5, Istanbul, Turkey 13/08/2012 17. Questions? Discussion?17 ELF5, Istanbul, Turkey13/08/2012 18. contactssarah.guth@unipd.it INTENT: intent-project.eu COIL Institute: http://coilcenter.purchase.edu/page/about-coil-institute-globally-networked-learning-humanities18 ELF5, Istanbul, Turkey 13/08/2012 19. Thank you.Teekkr ederim.Grazie.19 ELF5, Istanbul, Turkey13/08/2012