Intercultural competence in synchronous communication between native and non-native speakers of Spanish

Abstract

This paper discusses to what extent synchronous communication via Skype by Argentine university students of History and Danish university students of Spanish contributed to fostering intercultural competence in the two groups of participants. Intercultural gains are considered both as part of the planned tasks to be solved by the participants (intentional learning) and in the spontaneous communication that arose in the course of the Skype conversations (incidental learning). The overall objective of this telecollaboration project has been the promotion of intercultural competence, with particular focus on the learning and teaching of Argentine regional history. Several tools, synchronous and asynchronous, were used for this purpose. The focus of the present paper will be the analysis of instances of intercultural awareness observed in Skype conversations, and of the affordances and obstacles that this modality of communication seems to pose for the native and non-native participants.

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