Research methods in teletandem context: approaches and possibilities

Abstract

The purposes of this paper are to (i) show how research in teletandem has been carried out over the years since the beginning of the Project Teletandem Brasil: Foreign Languages for All; (ii) relate the context to the possibilities of data collection; (iii) discuss methodological approaches applicable to teletandem; (iv) introduce MulTeC (Multimodal Teletandem Corpus) as an alternative for diverse types of research. We empirically demonstrate data from theses, dissertations, and papers related to methodology; present approaches of methodological research from quantitative and qualitative perspectives, presenting characteristics of each; discuss how viable individual data collection is; demonstrate how MulTeC (Multimodal Teletandem Corpus) may help researchers and be used as a model for future data collection. Finally, we share some current research using the mentioned corpus in an attempt to show an array of possibilities both from the qualitative and quantitative perspectives.

Managing Inter-University Digital Collaboration from a Bottom-Up Approach: Lessons from Organizational, Pedagogical, and Technological Dimensions

“…Related to the former point, the creation of innovative and appealing collaborative modules or sessions sometimes faces the problem of 'institutional recognition'. Such is the case the eTandem project at FUB, which is 'institutional-non-integrated' ( [66], p. 187), which means that, although it is organized and run by an institution, and the matching of tandem partners, and the support and technical resources, materials, and the advice service are provided, the eTandem project is not integrated into a formal course (a language course, in this case). As reported by FUB, 'They are open to any interested student of each institution, the prerequisite being that they are native speakers (or very competent speakers) and that they have at least some knowledge of the target language'.…”