Research into practice: Virtual exchange in language teaching and learning

Dooly, Melinda; Vinagre, Margarita

doi:10.1017/s0261444821000069

Cited by 63 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…However, there are some disciplines in which VE seems to have emerged earlier and stronger than in others. The Language Learning discipline (Dooly & Vinagre, 2021) is one of them, with multiple examples identified in the scenarios presented in the previous section (i.e., Scenario 1, e.g., eTandem and iTell PREP). Despite VE being present in other disciplines such as Business (Koris et al, 2021), STEM (McCollum, 2020), or Education (Guidry at al., 2020), there are fewer of identifiable practices in other disciplines.…”

Section: Potential Disciplines and Future Scenarios For The Developme...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Scenarios for the Integration of Virtual Exchange in Higher Education

Giralt

Guido

Pittarello³

et al. 2022

jis

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This paper describes the results of the analysis carried out within the Erasmus+ FRAMES project (https://frames-project.eu/) which collected and analysed Virtual Exchange (VE) case studies building upon desk research and through an open survey, so as to identify and describe various scenarios of accredited VEs. By using a qualitative methodology based on pattern matching analysis, collected cases were aggregated into four scenarios to be potentially used by a variety of European Higher Education Institutions (HEIs): VE as a preparatory or follow-up activity to physical mobility (blended mobility); VE as an intertwined component of physical mobility (blended mobility); VE as a stand-alone learning activity; VE as a component of a course. The main conclusions and recommendations revolve around the need to expand the number of potential scenarios across all disciplines and contexts and the urge to train academic as well as administrative staff to facilitate the integration of VE in HEIs.

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Section: Potential Disciplines and Future Scenarios For The Developme...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Scenarios for the Integration of Virtual Exchange in Higher Education

Giralt

Guido

Pittarello³

et al. 2022

jis

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…didactic, technology, and organizational barriers, Alvarez & Steiner, 2019;Chun, 2015;Çiftçi & Savaş, 2018;Helm, 2015;Luo & Gui, 2019;Zak, 2021). Some consider trends and developments in VE practice, such as increased use of a lingua franca in transnational exchanges instead of bilateral exchanges (O'Dowd, 2016), the development of VE networks for identifying possible partners and exchanges of best practices (Luo & Yang, 2018), and the evolution of VE course design and pedagogy (Chun, 2015;Dooly & Vinagre, 2021;Zak, 2021). Criticisms of current VE practice include the potential of superficial or failed intercultural interactions due to poorly designed tasks (Çiftçi & Savaş, 2018;Luo & Yang, 2018), and the superficial assessment of intercultural competences (Dooly & Vinagre, 2021).…”

Section: Ve Literature Reviewsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Intercultural competencies was the largest by far of these three underpinning categories, echoing the literature on the central role of intercultural competencies as a research trend and learning outcome for VEs (Barbosa & Ferreira-Lopes, 2021;Zak, 2021). The number of various theoretical underpinnings used to describe or measure intercultural competencies demonstrates the complexity of this skill and the difficulty in effectively and accurately measuring it (Deardorff, 2006;Dooly & Vinagre, 2021).…”

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confidence: 97%

Systematic literature review on the utilization of theoretical underpinnings in virtual exchange research

Dovrat

2022

JVE

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Virtual Exchange (VE) research is a subset of the technology enhanced learning field that has grown exponentially in the last decade. A critical step in the growth of an emerging academic field is to reflect on past research to understand what has been done well and what can be improved. This Systematic Literature Review (SLR) contributes to this reflective process by examining if a common criticism of technology enhanced learning research in Higher Education (HE) – the under-utilization of theoretical underpinnings in research – extends to the niche field of VE research. Using a qualitative meta-synthesis methodology, 42 qualitative and mixed method articles on VE were analyzed for theoretical underpinning usage, application, and advancement. Almost half of the articles explicitly used theoretical underpinnings in the conceptualization, data collection and analysis, and discussion of results. About a third of the articles explicitly used theoretical underpinnings in the design of the VE, but not necessarily in the research design. No articles reported adding to or advancing current theoretical underpinnings nor creating new ones. The results of this study show VE research is maturing but is not yet fully mature in the application of theoretical underpinnings in research. Also, this study contributes to analysis of theoretical underpinning usage by demonstrating that theoretical underpinnings are utilized also in course design, not just research design.

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“…Interaction with people from different cultures has been shown to spur critical engagement with otherness (Byram, 1997). In online collaborations, participants of different cultural and linguistic backgrounds (Dooly & Vinagre, 2021) come together in the virtual intercultural borderlands (Minett, Dietrich, & Ekici, 2022). In virtual exchange, the development of digital literacy skills and intercultural communicative competence have been found to be interdependent (Fuchs, Hauck, & Müller-Hartmann, 2012;Hauck & Kurek, 2017).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unexpected affordances of virtual exchange as teacher education: learning about, with, and from students in a conflict country

Dietrich¹

2022

JVE

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Virtual exchange projects with participants in countries in conflict can challenge future teachers to examine previous assumptions and prepare them to better meet the needs of others whose daily lives may be punctuated by violence. Through virtual exchange, participants are pushed out of their comfort zones through interactions with others whose geographic, sociocultural, and sociolinguistic backgrounds are different from their own. Through such projects, future teachers can gain both techno-semio-pedagogic knowledge and intercultural knowledge needed to take an asset-based approach toward cultural and linguistic difference. This article explores the perspectives of graduate students in TESOL who were paired with adult learners of English in Afghanistan for ten 90-minute synchronous online tutoring sessions. Data, in the form of written reflections submitted by the graduate students as a part of their coursework, offer evidence of shifts in participants’ descriptions of cultural difference, knowledge about Afghanistan, content knowledge, and teaching online. These data suggest that through virtual exchange with participants in conflict countries future teachers can gain invaluable professional experience needed to support students who live in places where they do not feel safe, students who have been forced to leave their homes, and students have witnessed or experienced violence themselves.

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Research into practice: Virtual exchange in language teaching and learning

Cited by 63 publications

References 65 publications

Scenarios for the Integration of Virtual Exchange in Higher Education

Scenarios for the Integration of Virtual Exchange in Higher Education

Systematic literature review on the utilization of theoretical underpinnings in virtual exchange research

Unexpected affordances of virtual exchange as teacher education: learning about, with, and from students in a conflict country

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