Slides from my keynote at the Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Fremdsprachenforschung: 28.09.2019 Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Germany

1. Robert O'Dowd
University of León, Spain
@robodowd
robert.odowd@unileon.es
Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft
für Fremdsprachenforschung
28.09.2019
Julius-Maximilians-UniversitätWürzburg

2. Reinhard Donath:
DasTransatlantische
Klassenzimmer (1997)
A quick bit of history- Can you name these German pioneers of
Virtual Exchange?
Andreas Müller-
Hartmann –TBL
in
telecollaboration
(2000)
Prof. Helmut Brammerts:
LINGUA project
"International E-Mail
Tandem Network" (1994-
96)

3. https://sites.google.com/unileon.es/evaluate2019/conference-outcomes

4. “I

5. In Europe the average is 5%...
Data fromWinter semester 2017/18: 1.5% of German students have taken part in
an Erasmus+ stay. Around 42,000 from a total of 2.8 million students. (Personal
correspondence with DAAD)

6. Sarah Richardson:
“…the espoused benefits from [physical]
mobility do not derive from the act of
crossing borders but instead from two other
factors.
First, the encounters that students have…
…and second, the influence of their
psychological make-up on how they respond
to these encounters”
(Cosmopolitan Learning for a Global Era, 2016,
p.54).
Simply getting students to study abroad is not necessarily the
solution to our problems anyway…

7. And what about the large majority of our students that will
never engage in physical mobility programmes?
European Commission Report (2013) “European Higher
Education in the world”:
“…internationalisation should ensure that the large
majority of learners who are not mobile… are nonetheless
able to acquire the international skills required in a
globalised world (2013:6)”
“Internationalisation at Home” (Beelen & Jones, 2015)
+
“Internationalisation of the curriculum” (Leask, 2015)

8. 2. Intercultural
conflict – the need
forWestern –
Arab/muslim
dialogue (Paris
Declaration, 2015)

9. This has led to an increased interest inTelecollaboration orVirtual
Exchange…
The engagement of groups of students in online intercultural interaction and
collaboration…
…with students from other cultural contexts or geographical locations….
…as an integrated part of course work….
…and under the guidance of educators and/or expert facilitators (O’Dowd & Lewis,
2016).

10. O’Dowd, R. (2018). From telecollaboration to virtual exchange: state-of-the-
art and the role of UNICollaboration in moving forward. Journal ofVirtual
Exchange, 1, 1-23. https://doi.org/10.14705/rpnet.2018.jve.1
Moving towards a common terminology….

11. Lamy and Goodfellow:
My plan:
• Look at the learning outcomes of the main approaches toVirtual
Exchange in foreign language education
• Identify some of the weaknesses and criticisms ofVirtual Exchange
• Make some suggestions as to howVirtual Exchange can develop in
the future

12. What do reviews ofVirtual Exchange research and practice tell us?
• Lewis,T. & O'Dowd, R. (2016). “Online Intercultural Exchange and Foreign Language
Learning: a Systematic Review.” In: Online Intercultural Exchange: Policy, Pedagogy,
Practice, pp. 21–66.
• O’Dowd, R. (2016) Emerging Trends and New Directions inTelecollaborative
Learning. Calico Journal, 13 (3), 291-310.
• The large majority ofVirtual Exchanges in Foreign Language
education are bilingual exchanges (e.g.American learners of
German + German learners of English)
• MostVE research studies are based learning outcomes of one
cohort of students over one semester
• Challenge: Look for learning outcomes emerging repeatedly from
different cohorts who are carrying out the same model ofVirtual
Exchange –
• Examples here taken from findings from EVALUATE (1000+
students in Lingua Franca ) and bilingual (200+ students) data sets

13. Repeated learning outcomes across Virtual Exchange
datasets
• Increased confidence in using the L2 with peers
• More nuanced intercultural awareness
due to exposure to ‘insider’ perspective
on cultural behaviour

14. However, what do you notice
about these students’ reactions
when asked about cultural
difference?
• Student 1: “I will say that I liked the exchange very much and that
American students looked like very nice people. I talked to them about
my city and about theirs and it was nice to see that there are little
differences but not as much as I thought.”
• Student 2: “…It has been such an exciting experience because we have
learned English while we have known a different culture.To my mind,
we aren’t too different, both of us like sports, music and spending time
with our friends.”
• “I have realized that my partner and I aren’t so different, in fact, we have
similar hobbies and ways to spend our free time. Like I have said, the
main differences I see between her country and mine are the timetable
and the weather.”

15. Critique no. 1: DoesVirtual Exchange allow learners to avoid
difference and engage in “the illusion of commonality”?
Kramsch andWare (2005, p200)

16. Hanna and de Nooy (2009):
What are the underlying tenets of
telecollaborative practice?
• Kramsch (2014): “…whereas
communicative language teaching used to
mean personal engagement with
interlocutors from different cultures in
negotiation of difference, through global
information technologies…it has become
a means of making contact and staying
in touch by surfing diversity not
engaging with difference” (p.302).

17. • A German student writes this opening message to her new partner in Ireland:
• Hello, how are you? I study English and history and I want to become a teacher. This term
we do some cultural studies concerning Ireland and I very interested in it because I actually
do not know much about it.
• Now I would like to ask you some questions.
Do you live in Northern or in Southern Ireland? How many people live in your town? Are you
a Catholic or a Protestant? I have heard that regular churchgoing declines more and more in
your country-is it true?
• What are you doing in your free time? Do you often go to pubs? What do you think about
Germans? Irish people have the reputation of being very indirect and polite in their speaking
style. I have read that there was an enormous economic change in Ireland.
• How have you or your parents experienced the social and economic change in the past 20
years?
• That's all for now. I am looking forward to hearing from you!
What do you think of this first message from a German student?
Virtual Exchanges can have other problems too…

18. …and what do you make of this message from a student in
Germany to her international partner in Israel?
…. I can understand that the rockets [that were fired at your campus]
are very scary and I'm very glad that we in Germany don´t have war like
you. And I think Israel isn't alone in charge for this conflict.
But can you understand the people in Gaza? Is it ok to keep these
people there like in prison?And why it isn't possible or why it´s so
complicated to find a solution for all the people in your region?And why
the people especially the young don't do something for the
international understanding between these cultures? So it´s time so sit
together, talk and finish this war.And both parties must grant facilities.

19. Critique no. 2: Educators are not providing sufficient training
and mentoring to their students in theirVirtual Exchanges

20. Liddicoat and Scarino (2013):

21. How can teachers mentor their students’ participation in Virtual
Exchange? (O’Dowd, Sauro & Spector-Cohen,TESOL Quarterly, 2019)

22. https://www.conversifi.com/
https://talkabroad.com/
https://www.linguameeting.com/

23. Critique no. 3: Are bilingual-bicultural models ofVirtual
Exchange in line with our current aims as language teachers?

24. What are the limitations of bilingual-bicultural models of
Virtual Exchange?
• Exchanges often position students as ‘ambassadors’ and ‘experts’ of
their own language and culture. Hanna and de Nooy (2009):
“telecollaborative exchange…predisposes the student to launching
conversations about the self that inevitably position him/her as the
exotic little foreigner/ the other” (2009: 195).
• Students are pushed towards a binary understanding of culture – we do
this, they do that - Kramsch (2006):
“It is no longer appropriate to give students a tourist-like competence
to exchange information with native speakers of national languages
within well-defined national cultures.They need a much more
sophisticated competence in the manipulation of symbolic systems.”
• They often limit students to the roles of ‘observers’ and ‘collectors of
information’- they observe, compare and analyse but “…there is no
suggestion that criticality should lead to action in the learners’ world or
communities” (Byram, Golubeva, Hui &Wagner, 2017).

26. propose/imagine possible alternatives and changes;
• (Political)
take action to instigate change in their
own society

27. A KA3 European Policy Experiment:
Evaluating the impact ofVirtual Exchange experiences on students of Initial
Teacher Education
2017-2018: 25Virtual Exchanges involving transnational teams of student
teachers using common task sequences and modes of communication
www.evaluateproject.eu

29. • 77% of experimental students had positive intercultural communicative
competence scores, in comparison to 69% of control students.
• At the post-test, 83% of students in the treatment condition had positive
intercultural communicative competence scores, in comparison to 73% of the
students in the control condition

30. Allport (1958!!!): “The nub of the matter seems to be that contact must reach below the
surface in order to be effective in altering prejudice. Only the type of contact that
leads people to do things together is likely to result in changed attitudes.”

31. • “One evening, a member of one of the other
classes closed out an interaction with one of my
students on whatsapp with a kiss emoji. Suddenly
my student was stressed because she was faced
with a difficult dilemma. Did she have to kiss her
back? My student says she only sends kisses to
close friends, but this was a group member and
this whatsapp chat was more professional.
However, if she didn't send a kiss back, what other
emoji could she send?”
“...the Spanish students gave a different suggestion [in the forum] and posted it
under the name "the Spanish group"....However, I think that using that name is
problematic from a couple of different reasons. 1. It sort of hints that they are a
group inside of our entire group. 2. It's not really a discussion, they always agree
with each other and they are 4 persons which is a majority.”
Cultural differences in digital practices…
A teacher in Sweden reports:
Linguistic issues influencing communication outcomes:
A student from Sweden reflects after the exchange:

32. Collaboration skills and adaptability:
[O]ther things that I have learnt were how
to be patient working in groups, how to
adapt myself to tricky situations and how
to use new innovative teaching
strategies.”
Time-management and empathy:
“The fact of working with people
from other countries prepares us
for the future problems that we
may have.That is to say, we learnt
how to face problems of timing or
agreement. I have also learnt that
we have to understand and
respect other people thoughts.”
Language learning: “I have not
learned new language but I have
learned to express my ideas more
accurately so there is not any
miscommunication. I have also learned
to be careful with the way I present
my viewpoints and communicate with
people from other cultures, because
there can be cases when what I say
may be misunderstood. So it is
necessary to select appropriate
language.“
Intercultural skills: “…Most of all, adaptability
and flexibility.Working with people from
different countries and with different
timetables teaches you how to be patient and
forces you to find a common (virtual) place and
time in order for your collaborative project to
succeed.”

33. To conclude- How can we moveVirtual Exchange forward?

34. EVALUATE teacher-trainer 1
EVALUATE teacher-trainer 2:
Regional government of Castilla y León: Working group to engage with faculties
ofTeacher Education onVirtual Exchange
University of León: Reduction in teaching load for teachers runningVirtual
Exchange
Erasmus+Virtual Exchange: ‘Badges’ forVE training programmes

35. Clear research to
demonstrate
impact to policy
makers and
university
management
Inclusion in educational
policy documents and
curricula to promoteVE
and finance initiatives
Increased
training and
practice to
spread the
activity bottom-
up

36. Thank you for listening!
• Contact:
robert.odowd@unileon.es
–Publications: http://unileon.academia.edu/RobertODowd
–References and this presentation are available from the author
–Join UNICollaboration: www.unicollaboration.org
–EVALUATE Project Homepage: http://www.evaluateproject.eu/