The development of intercultural communicative competence through a telecollaborative exchange between Chinese and Spanish students

Abstract

The prominent use of new technologies in and out of the foreign language classroom has resulted in the integration of internet as an inexhaustible source of materials for the classroom. In addition to that, computers have become an essential tool for foreign language learners who can not only access online resources but also establish contact with native speakers of the language they are learning. The present study lies at an intersection of two major fields of research: the use of new technologies in the teaching and learning of Spanish as a foreign language and the development of Intercultural Communicative Competence (Byram, 1997; 2000). The study presents the results of a telecollaborative exchange between a group of Hong Kong Chinese learners of Spanish, and a group of Spanish learners of Chinese using email as the method of communication. The study had three main objectives: first, to discover whether and how new technologies contributed to the development of intercultural communicative competence of participants. Second, the study investigated the participants’ perceptions about this type of learning exchange and its role as a tool for acquiring cultural knowledge. Third, the study explored the viability of introducing such learning exchanges into the Spanish as a Foreign Language classroom in Hong Kong. These objectives were the origin of the research questions in the study. To answer the research questions, qualitative methodology was employed to study the behaviour and perceptions of seven pairs of students participating in the telecollaborative exchange. Participants used either English or Spanish as the language of communication. Data was collected through a triangulation of instruments which included the contents of the emails exchanged by the pairs, their learning journals and by three questionnaire surveys completed by all participants . A qualitative analysis of the results demonstrates that telecollaborative exchanges via email are effective in developing students’ intercultural communicative competence. The study also shows that students considered email was a useful tool for acquiring cultural knowledge. Lastly, this study confirms that this type of activity, although valued and enjoyed by students, is difficult to implement in language classes due to high demands on time and effort for both teachers and students.