From Teletandem to usage based tasks:

learning after doing

Paola LeoneUniversità del Salento, Italy

Topics:How telecollaboration is implemented at

University of Salento, Italy;Research topics on telecollaboration ;Research and teaching: Usage

based/corpora based tasks.

Telecollaboration

face to face tandem version (Brammerts, 2003), Teletandem• Reciprocity same time for L1 and L2;• Learning in collaboration (e.g. Telles 2009)• Learning autonomously students must plan their

activity on their own (Telles & Vassallo 2006)

Oral interaction Teletandem

Written Interaction

Blog, forum, etc.

Teletandem network

Europe

Universidade Estadual PaulistaUniversity of HawaiiUniversity of MiamiUniversity of WashingtonSeattle UniversityVirginia Commonwealth University (VCU)Truman State UniversityGeorgetown UniversityUniversidad Nacional Autonoma de México

• University of Southampton

• University of Bonn• University of Lille 3• University of Salento• University of Bologna

AsiaUniversidade de Chulalongkorn (Thailand)University of Yamaguchi

North, Central and South America

Teletandem- (Tele)collaboration

• Interistitutional – international collaboration

Positive: effective collaboration with colleagues working abroad.It can be a first step towards internationalizationProblems: Two institutions, two different institutionalization forms, different students’ motivation and involvement

• Intra-istitutional collaboration

Teletandem at Università del Salento (unisalento):Positive: Professors/Language Instructors of different languages work together.Problems: different level of familiarity with ICT, workload, shortage of financing

Institutionalization

- Teletandem is combined with workshops on different topics (e.g. open resources on the web for autonomous learning, webcef, intercultural communication)

- Teletandem can be combined with written telecollaboration

- It is part of an optional exam;- It lasts usually 12 sessions (1 hr each);- It is based either on free conversation or on

topic oriented discussions

(Tele)collaboration at unisalentoTelecollaboration (Teletandem and/or written interaction)

Aims Professors and/or language instructorsInvolved

Italian- English(University of Southampton)

To develop:- oral skills;- oral and written

computer mediated interaction

Professors (e.g. English Literature) language instructors Italian/English language

Italian – German(University of Bonn)

To develop oral computer mediated interaction

Professors and language instructors

IntercomprehensionRomance languages(Universidade Estadual Paulista)MIRIADI

To develop:- oral

intercomprehension- written

intercomprehension

Professors and language instructors

Research

• Corpus: COMETE (COrpus Multilingue di E-learning and TElecollaboration

• E-learning: Tasks employing digital technolgies (e.g. clouds)

Corpus include (in progress):- Data for research purposes- Data as pedagogycal

resource for authonomous language learning (e.g. tasks but also videoclips)

Experience

Empirical Approach

Video-recordings

Transcription

Research topics:

- Discourse structure (e.g. focus on form and focus on meaning sequences; Leone 2009; Leone 2013)- Interactional dominance (i.e. role of participants in interaction in relation to content expertize- Pragmatic –interactional dimension (i.e. the use of discourse markers: De Marco & Leone 2012; forthcoming)

Future research (march 2014)-Unisalento-UNESP

Intercomprehension among Romance languages (intercomprensione tra le lingue romanze)- Formal instruction effects over communication (i.e. Communicative Strategies before and after formal instruction on intercomprehension)

Research and Teaching

Corpus- based language pedagogy (e.g. Tognini Bonelli 2001; Belz, Vyatkina 2008)Form-focused instruction during classroom activitiesData-driven learning (John 1986)Learners: participants and observers (Aston, Gavioli 2001; Belz, Vyatkina 2008)

Learning scenario: Collaboration and troubleshooting

Phase Contents1. L2 language level.

Interlanguage and cognition

2. We learn interacting

Interactionist theory, sociocostructivism

3. Troubleshooting clips (COMETE)

Negotiation of meaning

Objectives. To strenghten- Metacommunicative

abilities- An interationist

conception of language learning (Long 1981; Gass, Varonis 1985) change believes and attitudes

- Motivation

Resources: Video-recordings of Teletandem sessions