Telepresent Agency: Remote Participation in Hybrid Language Classrooms via a Telepresence Robot

Abstract

Videoconferencing technologies have become increasingly common in different sectors of life as a means to enable real-time interaction between people who are located in different places. In this chapter, we explore interactional data from synchronous hybrid university-level foreign language classrooms in which one student participates via a telepresence robot, a remote-controlled videoconferencing tool. In contrast to many other forms of video-mediated interaction, the user of a telepresence robot can move the robot and thereby (re-)orient to the space, the other participants and material objects that might be outside his immediate video screen. We employ an ethnomethodological and conversation analytic (EMCA) perspective to explore Barad’s (Quantum physics and the entanglement of matter and meaning. Durham: Duke University Press: 2007) notion of agency as a distributed phenomenon that emerges from assemblages of humans and materials. We demonstrate the complex nature of telepresent agency by investigating where agential cuts lie in three short episodes that involve mediated perception, touch and movement. Based on the analyses, we discuss how the telepresence technology configures learning environments by making new kinds of competences and forms of adaptation relevant for teachers and students.

Meaning-focused foreign language instruction via telepresence robots: A geosemiotic analysis

“…However, different from mobile videoconferencing tools, the telepresence robot allows the local participant to better support the learner's understanding of the cultural meanings of new words and expressions by using both hands to gesture or perform actions. Additionally, the telepresence robot affords telepresence agency (Jakonen & Jauni, 2022) to the learners by allowing them to control the viewing angle of the camera and the movement of the robot, as shown in Tables 5 and 6. In terms of place semiotics, this study summarized the conversational patterns for the three space types proposed by Scollon and Scollon (2003).…”

“…In exhibit/display spaces, the telepresence robot used in the current robot provided basic support for learners' telepresence agency (Jakonen & Jauni, 2022), allowing the learner to adjust the view angle to obtain a better view of the focused objects or social activities by turning the robot around or tilting the camera on the robot head up and down (see the learner view in Tables 3 and 4). However, for special-use spaces, one limitation of the robot regarding its mobility is its inability to walk on grass.…”

Muuttuva ja moninainen kielenoppiminen

“…Hansell ym. 2021;Jakonen & Jauni 2023). Digitalisaatio ja multimodaalisissa ympäristöissä toimiminen huomioidaan myös 2000-luvun opetussuunnitelmissa: ne muodostavat yhden laaja-alaisen osaamisen alueista, jota opetetaan osana monilukutaitoa (OPH 2014b).…”