Google Hangouts – A Tool for Intercultural Communication in the EFL Classroom
openly available online technologies that allow creation, editing and sharing of digital content between (often large) groups via a web-browser (Bower, 2016, p. 162).
Additionally,
Bower’s typographical analysis of Web 2.0 technologies (2015)
builds a helpful framework to get an overview and decide on which
technologies might be the best fit for the next teaching project.
Since
it benefits me a lot educationally, especially linguistically and
culturally to be studying in an English-speaking country, I wondered
how I could facilitate similar experiences for my future primary EFL
students in Germany.
To
begin with, the German Conference of Ministers of Education
(‘Kultusminsterkonferenz’) (2016) developed a strategy for
‘education in the digital world’. Digital media, tools and
communication platforms do not only change ways of communication but
also allow new creative processes and new realities. Hereby, the
objective is to design learning processes that foster self-directed
learning and students’ individual potentials through the use of
digital technologies (ibid.). With particular reference to teaching
English as a foreign language (EFL) in primary school, teachers have
to provide authentic, meaningful and challenging situations for the
students to enhance their L2 language proficiency. Moreover, the
students have to feel comfortable to experiment with language and to
make mistakes. An overall objective is the ability to use both
language and intercultural knowledge in real-life situations
(Kultusministerium, 2018).
So
while looking at Bower’s typology (2016) I came across the category
‘synchronous collaboration tools’ (p. 12). Although it might be
very difficult to organise an actual exchange programme for students
in primary school, web-based video-conferencing could be used as an
ideal substitute as it is easily accessible via the internet. Hsu
(2019) refers to as synchronous video-conferencing sub-category of
Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) which is a form of
Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL). A tool that allows
interacting with each other through a webcam in real time is Google
Hangouts (https://hangouts.google.com). All that is required is a
Google Account.
The
idea is to cooperate with another primary school class from an
English-speaking country and communicate via Hangouts about specific
topics, for example about each other’s hobbies or town/city. In the
best case, this would comply with what was mentioned before:
Intercultural exchange would be taking place so far that students
could encounter intercultural differences or similarities. What is
more, the German students would be able to improve on their (L2)
language proficiency in a very authentic and challenging way that is
meaningful to them since it is related to their everyday life
context. Furthermore, the students could learn both collaboratively
and vicariously through peer tutoring (Hsu, 2019). For example, the
synchronous CMC enables ‘visual and verbal clues’, i.e. gestures
can be used to ‘convey meaning’ (ibid, p. 282). Self-directed
learning with a focus on individual strengths could take place. Hsu
(2019) indicates that the overall learning design is very important
since ‘concept mapping’ as a pre-task before the actual CMC
lessons improve students motivation, attention, relevance,
confidence, and satisfaction (p. 282). All these factors can
contribute to an enhanced learning outcome. If well implemented,
Google Hangouts seems to be a useful Web 2.0 tool to build a learning
community among young learners.
References
Bower,
M. (2015). A Typology of Web 2.0 Enhanced Learning Technologies.
EDUCAUSE digital library. Retrieved from
https://library.educause.edu/resources/2015/2/a-typology-of-web-20-learning-technologies.
Bower,
M. (2016). Deriving a typology of Web 2.0 learning
technologies. British Journal of Educational
Technology, 47(4), 763-777.
Hsu,
T. (2019). Using a concept mapping strategy to improve the motivation
of EFL students in Google Hangouts Peer-Tutoring Sessions with native
speakers. Interactive Learning Environments, 27(2), 272-285.
der
Kultusministerkonferenz, S. (2016). Bildung in der digitalen Welt.
Strategie der Kultusministerkonferenz. Berlin. Retrieved from
https://www.kmk.org/fileadmin/Dateien/veroeffentlichungen_beschluesse/2018/Strategie_Bildung_in_der_digitalen_Welt_idF._vom_07.12.2017.pdf.
Kultusministerium,
N. (2018). Kerncurriculum für die Grundschule Schuljahrgänge 1-4.
Englisch. Hannover. Retrieved from
http://www.db2.nibis.de/1db/cuvo/datei/2018-06-25_kc_englisch_gs_druckfassung.pdf.
Hi Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your post. I am really interested in the idea of connecting students across cultures using Web 2.0 tools like web-based video-conferencing. I, too, believe that there can be great learning gains made through ‘encounter[ing] intercultural differences or similarities’. Coming from a Prep – Year 12 private school in the outer suburbs of Sydney, our students can sometimes be perceived as narrow minded when it comes to understanding and accepting other cultures, and so connecting across cultures (and countries) would be of great benefit to them!
I was wondering how this might work in a logistical sense, and whether or not you would need to extend the possible connection outside of the classroom? It seems that the process and the 2.0 platform would lend itself to being implemented at times that were not locked in, thus allowing for the students to ‘undertake the learning activities whether or not they are in the classroom’ (Bower, 2017 p. 175).
This indeed would be a rich learning experience for all parties involved. Certainly worth looking into. Though I think that there would need to be further thought given to how the connection might work in a logistical sense. I would be interested in trying to connect you to staff in our Junior School if you were interested in trying to build a connection.
Cheers,
Dave