Researching Telecollaboration Processes in Foreign Language Education: Challenges and Achievements

Abstract

In an increasingly globalized and digitalised society, the integration of ICT, and particularly, computer mediated communication, offer opportunities to innovate and enrich foreign language curricula, while adapting to the specific needs of the twenty-first century students who use digital social media every day to communicate and collaborate with others. Digital social applications may have enormous potential to support innovation in foreign language education, while following social constructivist pedagogies (Vygotsky 1978; Lantolf 2000; Lantolf and Thorne 2006) cooperation, communication and the learner are put in the centre of the learning process. However, research suggests that teachers and students do not use digital applications extensively for pedagogical purposes. Despite the efforts made by some scholars to give a boost to pedagogical digital innovation, the reality proves how difficult it is to introduce changes in traditional educational settings (Howard 2013; Eetmer and Otterbreit-Leftwich 2010).

Appendix: Assessment Grid for Pre- and Post-tests

	Range	Accuracy	Fluency	Thematic development	Coherence
1	Has a very basic repertoire of words and simple phrases related to personal details and particular concrete situations	Shows only limited control of a few simple grammatical structures and sentence patterns in a memorised repertoire	Can manage very short, isolated, mainly pre-packaged utterances, with much pausing to search for expressions, to articulate less familiar words, and to repair communication		Can link words or groups of words with very basic linear connectors like “and” or “then”
3	Uses basic sentence patterns with memorised phrases, groups of a few words and formulae in order to communicate limited information in simple everyday situations	Uses some simple structures correctly, but still systematically makes basic mistakes	Can make him/herself understood in very short utterances, even though pauses, false starts and reformulation are very evident	Can tell a story or describe something in a simple list of points	Can link groups of words with simple connectors like “and”, “but” and “because”.
					Can use the most frequently occurring connectors to link simple sentences in order to tell a story or describe something as a simple list of points
5	Has enough language to get by, with sufficient vocabulary to express him /herself with some hesitation and circum locutions on topics such as family, hobbies and interests, work, travel, and current events	Uses reasonably accurately a repertoire of frequently used “routines” and patterns associated with more predictable situations	Can keep going comprehensibly, even though pausing for grammatical and lexical planning and repair is very evident, especially in longer stretches of free production	Can reasonably fluently relate a straightforward narrative or description as a linear sequence of points	Can link a series of shorter, discrete simple elements into a connected, linear sequence of points
7	Has a sufficient range of language to be able to give clear descriptions, express viewpoints on most general topics, without much conspicuous searching for words, using some complex sentence forms to do so	Shows a relatively high degree of grammatical control. Does not make errors which cause misunderstanding, and can correct most of his/her mistakes	Can produce stretches of language with a fairly even tempo; although he/she can be hesitant as he or she searches for patterns and expressions, there are few noticeably long pauses	Can develop a clear description or narrative, expanding and supporting his/her main points with relevant supporting detail and examples	Can use a limited number of cohesive devices to link his/her utterances into clear, coherent discourse, though there may be some “jumpiness” in a long contribution
					Can use a variety of linking words efficiently to mark clearly the relationships between ideas
10	Has a good command of a broad range of language allowing him/her to select a formulation to express him/herself clearly in an appropriate style on a wide range of general, academic, professional or leisure topics without having to restrict what he/she wants to say	Consistently maintains a high degree of grammatical accuracy; errors are rare, difficult to spot and generally corrected when they do occur	Can express him/herself fluently and spontaneously, almost effortlessly. Only a conceptually difficult subject can hinder a natural, smooth flow of language	Can give elaborate descriptions and narratives, integrating sub-themes, developing particular points and rounding off with an appropriate conclusion	Can produce clear, smoothly-flowing, well-structured speech, showing controlled use of organisational patterns, connectors and cohesive devices