REXE 20(42) (2021), 401-416
__________________________________________ Revista de Estudios y Experiencias en Educación REXE
journal homepage: http://www.rexe.cl/ojournal/index.php/rexe/
__________________________________________ Breaking language and cultural barriers: A case study in telecollaboration at an EFL class in higher education Rocío Knipp Silvaa y Nicholas Bozhidar Scarlotab
Universidad Mayor, Santiagoa. Universidad de Tarapacá, Aricab, Chile.
Recibido: 06 de mayo 2020 - Revisado: 18 de agosto 2020 - Aceptado: 24 de agosto 2020 _______________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT _______________________________________________________________________________ This paper presents a case study of a telecollaboration program with students of an English Pedagogy Program at a private university in Chile. The aim is to analyze this experience through the opinions of the Chilean participants between the years 2016-2017. To do so, a post-course survey was applied to a group of 54 students. The analysis of the qualitative data shows that students reported two main benefits: a raise in intercultural awareness and an increase in their linguistic abilities in the target language. Virtual exchanges through information and communication technologies (ICT) provided learners with authentic linguistic input and authentic situations, which in turn increased their motivation to engage in second language conversations. Despite certain limitations discussed in the paper, the telecollaboration experience was highly valued by the students. Keywords: Telecollaboration; virtual exchange; intercultural competence; higher education; EFL. _______________________________________________________________________________
_____________________ * Correspondencia: rocio.knipp@mayor.cl (R. Knipp). a
b
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2426-2518 (rocio.knipp@mayor.cl). https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9679-4903 (nscarlota@uta.cl).
https://doi.org/10.21703/rexe.20212042knipp23
ISSN en línea 0718-5162
401
