1. Russian-English Workshop:
Research in task-based telecollaboration
and strategic competence acquisition
KONSTANTIN SHESTAKOV, OMSK LAW ACADEMY
LONNY HARRISON, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON

2. Intercultural Strategic Competence
(ISC)
A set of techniques that are consciously
employed by a speaker to overcome
linguistic and cultural breakdowns in
intercultural communication.

3. Intercultural strategic competence (ISC)
Metacognitive strategies
 planning, monitoring and evaluation of language learning activities
Cognitive strategies
 identification, retention, or retrieval of elements of the target language
Social strategies
 interacting with other learners, a teacher, or with native speakers
Affective strategies
 regulation of learner motivation, emotions, and attitudes
Compensation (modification) strategies
 verbal and nonverbal actions taken to compensate for the gap of
knowledge of the target language

4. SLA Interaction hypothesis
Input is provided by an expert, the learner’s output as a
learning trigger is not taken into account. The learner’s
role is passive at the ‘input stage’.

5. Initial
input &
output
LC1 & LC2
mismatch
awareness
intake
LC2 native
Strategies
Modified
input &
output
New output,
new input
expectations
Meaning negotiation
Rich
points
Active learner (LC1 native)
Strategic competence in NS-active learner communication
Metacognitive
Cognitive
Social-affective
Compensation

6. TBL as a condition to ‘activate’ the learner
Authentic (real-world related) language learning tasks
encourage the learner not to focus explicitly on the structure
and the rules of the new language but rather on the meaning
and context of communicated messages.

7. Traditional Communicative Approach
vs. Task-Based Language Learning
Learning stages Teacher-centered approach Learner-centered approach
Production Focus on form Focus on meaning
Input salience Highlighting
structures
Becoming aware
of rich points
Comprehension Input adaptation Compensation
strategies

8. Categories and structure of telecollaboration tasks
Information exchange
Comparison and analysis
Collaboration and product creation (O’Dowd & Waire 2009)
planning
Asynchronous
contact with the
partner
Cognitive, metac
ognitive
strategies
collaboration
Synchronous
meeting with the
partner
Social, affective
strategies
production
Post meeting
work on the task
Cognitive, metac
ognitive
strategies
presentation
Presentation of
the outcome
Social, affective
strategies
reflection
Reflection on
task
accomplishment
Metacognitive
strategies

9. Research on telecollaboration
Previous research shows that online telecollaboration contributes to
development of:
 Learner autonomy (Kessler and Bikowski, 2010)
 Linguistic competence (Ware and O’Dowd, 2008)
 Intercultural and sociocultural competence (Furstenberg et al., 2001, J.Belz, 2004)
 Online literacy skills (Guth and Helm 2011)
 Teachers' awareness about online project management (Dooly, 2008)
 Translation skills (Chen, N.-S., & Ko, L. (2010)
 Confidence and motivation (Wu et al, 2011)
 Compensation and communicative strategies (Tavakoli et al. 2011, Íñigo Yanguas
2010, Ahari et al. 2012, Lam 2006, Oxford, R.L. (1989)

10. Media richness theory (Daft & Lengel 1986)
Decrease in effectiveness of
communication
• Ability to handle multiple
information cues simultaneously
• Ability to facilitate rapid feedback
• Ability to establish a personal focus
• Ability to utilize natural language
Face to Face Communication
Video
For
um
Synchronous Audio
Video Conference
Face-to-Face Communication
Text Chat
Email
Forum

11. Media naturalness theory (Kock 2005)

12. WebiLang.com Project

13. Student interactions on the Webilang site
Student
Native
speaker
instructor
Autonomous
activities
Native
speaker
student
Projects
Courses
Exercises

14. The Webilang Site Architecture
Blogs
LMS
Virtual
classroom

15. Synchronous communication in a virtual classroom

16. Asynchronous communication in blogs

17. Blog instructions on the use of communication strategies

18. Learning Management System

19. Interactive exercises on communication strategies
Request to
repeat/paraphrase
Express/evoke
personal interest

20. Omsk Law Academy/Drake University
Communicating Abroad Project
 2-3 synchronous carefully planned meetings per semester
 12 Russian students, 8 American students
 3-4 meetings per semester, 60 min each
 Information exchange tasks: talk about your university, your city;
ask your partner questions about the same topics.
 Presentations: «My city» «Education», «Power distance», «Russian fatalism»

21. Conversations in a virtual classroom
Triads
Pairs

22. Research into the effect of international collaboration on students'
metacognitive strategies
Experimental group (Omsk
Law Academy students)
Control group (students of
other Omsk universities)
Language proficiency intermediate intermediate
Year of studying 2nd 2nd
Learning environment Blended
(classroom + virtual)
Traditional classroom
Previous experience of
communication with native
speakers in a virtual
environment
Yes (2 semesters) No
Number of participants in the
experiment
13 8
Virtual environment Moodle, email, Webex
Meeting Centre
email, Webex Meeting Centre

23. Research Question 1:
focus on metacognitive strategies
Query: How do metacognitive strategies affect students’ performance in
communication with a native speaker?
Method
Students were given the following tasks:
1) Write an email to your native speaker partner; suggest a topic you would like to discuss,
◦ and schedule a meeting in WebEx.
2) Converse with your partner in WebEx.
3) Write a report about your conversation to a MOODLE forum.

24. Communicative strategies & online literacy skills used by students
e- experimental, c- control group e c
Explanation of cultural realia + +
Code switching (use of the native language) + +
Simplification and/or generalization + +
Paraphrasing + +
Checking comprehension + +
Repeat and request to repeat + +
Asking partner for clarification + +
Evoking partner's personal interest + +
Establishing common interests + +
Use of pre-planned presentations, videos, pictures + -
Use of the chat box (and other online literacy skills) + -
Use of online resources (dictionaries, links, web pages) + -
compensation social-affective metacognitive cognitive

25. Discussion
Experimental Group (EG)
 used metacognitive strategies (planning the
meeting, preparing materials)
 90% of students reported feeling confident and comfortable
while communicating with a NS
Control Group (CG)
o no direct evidence of students using metacognitive strategies
o only 30% of students felt comfortable while talking to a NS
o 70% felt anxiety, fear, lack of confidence

26. Conclusions
Factors that made a positive impact:
 students’ familiarity with technology
 previous experience in collaboration with native speakers
 use of metacognitive strategies
Strategic competence and online literacy skills decrease
difficulties in communication in the target language.
Regular collaboration with NS’s in a virtual environment
decreases anxiety and fear during intercultural communication.
Students who have experience in communicating with NS’s
use a wider range of communication strategies.

27. UTA-Omsk Law Academy Translation
Workshop Description
 8 Russian and 7 American students
 12 group meetings and 3 individual meetings during
interpretation classes
 Met in virtual classroom and Second Life
 Role play translating tasks
 Students played roles of:
1) situational dialogue—in a souvenir shop, business meetings, virtual
excursions etc.
2) interpreters for these negotiations

28. Role play in Second Life
Oral translation classes
in a video conference

29. Query: Is there a correlation between students’ use of social and collaboration
strategies and the quality of translation output?
Method
EG: 13 participants (2 semesters of translation studies)
CG1: 7 participants (6 semesters)
СG2: 8 participants (2 semesters)
1) students of EG and CGs translated a Wikipedia article, Russian to English
2) EG students contacted NS partners, received corrective feedback
3) EG also worked collaboratively in Google Translator Toolkit
Students of CGs translated on their own; neither had contact with NS’s
Research Question 2:
focus on social strategies

30. Research data
Groups Number of language &
translation study hours
before the experiment
Average score of
translation quality in
each group
EG 366 59
CG 1 1058 55
CG 2 366 21

31. Discussion
 EG outperformed CG2
 EG achieved similar results to CG1
Explanation
o EG students discussed translations with NS’s
asynchronously and synchronously
o NS’s pointed out linguistic mistakes and provided clarifications
EG students shared translation memory in Google Translator Toolkit

32. Conclusions
 Translations by the EG were not better than those of CG2
Thus:
The collaborative project does not lead to significant gains in linguistic
competences in the short term.
However, students acquired social strategies that were used
to accomplish the linguistic task effectively.

33. UTA-Omsk joint course description
Students enrolled in separate courses:
at OLA a class studying English
at UTA a class studying Russian
One hour-long session per week consisted of a professor-led
virtual meeting via videoconference between students at OLA
and UTA to practice spoken Russian and English and to share in
cultural experience. Two other synchronous classes were spent
at each school preparing for the virtual meeting.

34. Asynchronous meetings between partner pairs were assigned for
cross-linguistic and cross-cultural practice.
Partners conversed in a virtual meeting space and shared
multimedia technology to work on assigned translations and other
active learning tasks.
UTA-Omsk joint course description

35. 15 Group meetings
3-4 Individual
meetings

36. Students’ products

37. Research Question 3:
focus on the affective component
Query: How does regular collaboration with native speakers affect
students’ motivation as part of their social affective strategy?
Method
A survey was distributed, which included the following questions:
1) On a scale of 1 - 10 how likely are you to
a) take a similar language course in the future?
b) recommend this course to others?

40. Survey results, cont.
2) Did you feel that you had more or less opportunity to practice your language
skills in this course, compared to other language courses you’ve taken?
3) How did you feel about interactions with your classmates and overseas
partners during group and private meetings
a) at the beginning of the course; b) at the end of the course?
4) What was the most challenging aspect of the course and how did you cope
with it?
5) What were the most and the least usefu----l assignments?

41. Were the course expectations met?
How did you feel about interactions with your classmates and
overseas partners during group and private meetings
a) at the beginning of the course; b) at the end of the course?

42. Challenges reported by students
• Connecting with partners (time difference)
• Communication (undeveloped language skills)
• Technology (connectivity problems)
• Homework (preparation time)
• Motivation mismatch (different educational
standards in organization and evaluation)

43. Tasks and opportunity to practice language skills
What were the most usefu----l assignments ?
 55% students reported communicating with native speakers
 45% mentioned presentations (especially on ‘History’ and ‘Student life’)
Wh--at were the least useful and why?
o the chapters in the book and writing in the blog received the most controversial
evaluations, for example:
‘The Wordpress blog was the most effective because everyone was able to use it
and you could read their blogs to see what they talked about with their partners. I
liked that the most, but it was also the least effective because not everyone posted
on their blog, thus making it pointless.’
Did you feel that you had more or less opportunity to practice your language skills
in this course, compared to other language courses you’ve taken?
 85% reported they had more opportunity to practice language skills in this
course than in other language courses.

44. Online affective strategies
Online affective strategies included:
• using humor for topic discussions and in presentations (reducing anxiety)
• structured tasks (reducing anxiety)
• choosing topics relevant to students' life (relevance/motivation)
• getting in contact with a NS partner via email and videoconference
(self-confidence, motivation)
• blogging, reporting on communication with a NS partner (self-confidence)
• collaborating with overseas partner in a shared multimedia workplace—
blog, whiteboard, chat (attention/motivation)
• goal orientation through creating a product (relevance/motivation)

45. Discussion
 40% of students felt anxious and nervous before the group meetings
started; at the end of the course all of them overcame their fear
 80% of students were very excited before one-to-one meetings and about
 40% felt frustration at the end of the course
Explanation
o The main obstacle for one-to-one meeting was matching students’
schedules, while group meetings had a fixed meeting time.
o Second, students were able to prepare better for group discussions (usually
presentations).
o Third, group meetings were better structured than one-to-one meetings, which
seemed a safer format for low-language-proficiency students.
o Finally, group meetings had more potential for ‘psychological arousal’. There were
more opportunities for interaction: with the Russian and American teacher, the
groups, the one-to-one partner. This environment offered diverse and non-
standard emotional exchange.

46. Conclusions
The majority of students were satisfied with the course.
The essential components for students' satisfaction (and as a result,
motivation to learn the language) with the course were:
a) topic relevance to students' interests
b) opportunity to communicate with NS partners
c) opportunity to work and present a product

47. Conclusions, cont.
The collaborative project contributed to students'
self confidence but with limitations: more opportunities
should be afforded for creating an environment for
group work and a sense of belonging to a community.
Failure of one of the partners to cooperate
diminishes personal control and reduces confidence.
Level of anxiety decreases significantly when
students are afforded regular and fixed meetings with a
more structured task.

48. Research Question 4:
focus on cognitive strategies
Query: How does students’ employment of cognitive strategies in collaboration with native
speakers affect text interpretation?
Method
Students were given the following text interpretation task:
1. Translate the poem and describe the cultural references on your own or from consulting the
Web.
2. Hand in the preliminary work to your professor.
3. Meet with your partner(s) and ask them to help you with the translation and the cultural
references.
4. Complete the translation and fill in the missing cultural references with the help of your
partner.
5. Hand in or publish in the blog the edited version of your translation and cultural comments.

49. Preliminary results
Before the meeting After the meeting
Student 1 8 22
Student 2 9 24
Student 3 12 19
Student 4 8 15
Student 5 7 20
Student 6 8 20
Student 7 11 21
Student 8 15 19
Student 9 16 20
Student 10 15 20
mean 11 20
Number of culture references students were aware of before and after
meeting with a native speaker

50. Conclusions
Students who employed a set of cognitive and social strategies:
o experienced decrease in the cognitive load involved in referencing,
searching, and analyzing information necessary for text interpretation.
o provided significantly more cultural references than the students
who either didn’t meet with native speakers or than themselves,
before they met with their partners.