The potential for computer-supported learning in educational contexts has opened up the possibilities for learners to interact in informal contexts outside the classroom. The context of the present research is a young American individual's vlog on YouTube sharing his experiences as a learner of French. This paper focuses on the potential use of vlogs for developing language speaking skills and intercultural exchanges between users. The aim of the study is to describe and analyse informal learning communication using a vlog between one American French Language learner posting his learning experiences on YouTube and his audience. We highlight learner's opportunities in terms of speaking and intercultural skills in a vlog environment. This study is based on an empirical method of collecting ecological data on the web. The qualitative data analysis method is based on the description of the online conversation (Develotte, Kern, & Lamy, 2011) in addition to interaction analysis and technodiscursive analysis (Paveau, 2015). We discuss the qualitative findings of the research conducted on this multimodal corpus in order to highlight the vlog's potential for supporting informal language learning, speaking and intercultural exchanges between YouTube users in a globalised world.
This paper describes the multimodal pedagogical communication of two groups of online teachers; trainee tutors (second year students of the Master of Arts in Teaching French as a Foreign Language at the University Lumie`re-Lyon 2) and experienced teachers based in different locations (France, Spain and Finland). They all taught French as a Foreign Language to a group of students from UC Berkeley in 2010. They participated in a project using a desktop videoconferencing platform (VISU 1 ) designed for delivering online courses. The study focuses on the webcam's effects on teaching and learning and tries to answer the following question: how does multimodal interaction affect interactive learning? Our hypothesis is that experienced teachers channel information through the webcam more efficiently and effectively in order to engage learners in knowledge construction. This paper presents the results of research based on an empirical method of collecting ecological data.
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