A Spanish-Finnish Telecollaboration: Extending Intercultural Competence via Videoconferencing

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Second Language Learning; Profiles; Communities of Practice; Videoconferencing; Cultural Awareness; Foreign Countries; Intercultural Communication; Learning Experience; Life Style; Cultural Traits; College Students; Second Language Instruction; Adult Students; Institutes (Training Programs); Spanish; English (Second Language); Program Descriptions; Questionnaires; Interviews; Student Attitudes

Spain; Finland

In language learning today, students from different geographical locations are able to interact online in a more authentic environment, share their views with their partners, create profiles as well as build online communities enjoying common interests. With this in mind, this paper examines and reports on a study about how students from two different countries, Finland and Spain, developed intercultural competence through the use of a videoconferencing platform, Adobe Connect, as a telecollaborative learning context. Eleven Spanish and seventeen Finnish participants were provided with the opportunity to interact with each other outside the classroom with a view to exploring the target culture and, consequently, experiencing intercultural learning. The findings suggest that the students' learning experience was positive and to some extent they had enhanced their knowledge of each other's cultural traits, such as their lifestyle, hobbies and traditions. [For the complete volume of short papers, see ED572005.]

As Provided

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2017

ED572149