Developing intercultural competence has been an important focal point of university education especially in the area of foreign language instruction. In order to incorporate intercultural competence in our Japanese language instruction, we have brought together students studying Japanese from the U.S., Korea and China to join our students studying Japanese in Sweden for online exchanges. In order to create an ideal virtual classroom environment in an international setting, we have examined how students from different countries interact during the online exchanges in Japanese. In this presentation, we will discuss the process, strength, difficulties and potential of such exchanges.
NGL-projekt vid Högskolan Dalarna inom språkavdelningen som handlar om pedagogiska metoder i nätbaserad språkundervisning.
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a joint research project, which was carried out during 2012 (Spring and Autumn) in collaboration between four universities in China, South Korea and Sweden. This joint research project was established to investigate ways to raise the socio-cultural competence of students who learn Japanese at each university through interactions in their common language, Japanese. This paper also aims to discuss the further possibilities of Japanese language education which are not only limited to learning the language.
This paper analyzes Japanese language classes at Dalarna University in Sweden that are held through a web conferencing system. It discusses how students’ learning and language acquisition can be supported by making better use of the available features of using a web conferencing system for language lessons. Of particular interest is the existence of an “information gap” among students, created because of the limits posed by distance communication. Students who take Japanese courses at Dalarna University usually access classes from their home, which are located all over Sweden or even abroad. This fact can be utilized in language classes because the “information gap” can lead to interactions that are essential for language learning. In order to make use of this natural “information gap” and turn it into an opportunity for communication, our classes used a teaching method called “personalization” [Kawaguchi, 2004]. “Personalization” aims to persuade students to express their own ideas, opinions, feelings and preferences. The present analysis suggests that “personalization” in web-based language classes is a surprisingly effective teaching method. By making students explain about things at home (why they have them, what they use them for, or why they are important), students become motivated to express themselves in Japanese. This makes communication meaningful and enhances students’ interest in improving their vocabulary. Furthermore, by knowing each other, it becomes easier to create a ”supportive classroom environment” [Nuibe, 2001] in which students feel able to express themselves. The analysis suggests that that web-based education can be seen not simply as a supplement to traditional face-to face classroom education, but as a unique and effective educational platform in itself.
筆者らは、スウェーデン・韓国・中国の大学に通う日本語学習者（中級～上級）を対象に2012年の春学期より遠隔日本語交流を行っている。目的は、母語の異なる色々な学習者との交流を通して、互いの文化を学び、歩みよることである。筆者らは、交流会を通して、学習者が多様な場面に柔軟に対応し、文化間の仲介者となる力を育成したいと考えた。本稿では、この交流会が留学経験のない学習者に異文化接触の機会を提供しているかどうかに焦点を当て、彼らがどのように交流会を体験し、何を学んだか、作文、アンケート、フォローアップインタビューから明らかにする。また、日本語を母語としない人々が日本に多数移住する昨今、日本語母語話者が、交流会を通してこの異文化接触の機会をどう受け止めたのかについても検証する。
This paper presents a research project that is being conducted at Dalarna University in Sweden. The aim is to study the following: 1) The quality of online language education compared with that of campus education, and 2) Advantages and disadvantages of online language education and how the disadvantages might be overcome. The project consists of two parts: pedagogical methods in online language education from the teachers’ point of view and from the students’ point of view. The first part was conducted in 2012 and various characteristics (benefits and difficulties) of online language education were identified. Flexibility and wider opportunities were general benefits, while lack of physical co-presence, difficulty in having lively debates/discussions, and high dropout rates were among the problems. The second part of the project (being conducted in 2014) aims to investigate how students experience online language learning. The goal is to explore alignments and misalignments between teachers’ perspectives and students’ perspectives, and to develop methods to enhance the quality of online education.
Raising students’ intercultural competence has been one of the major issues in language education (Byram 2000, Kramsch, Léby & Zarate 2008, etc). Byram (2000) defines intercultural competence as: “the ability to see relationships between different cultures – both internal and external to a society – and to mediate, that is, to interpret each in terms of the other, either for themselves or for other people.” It also covers the ability “to critically and analytically understand that one’s own and the other culture’s perspectives are culturally determined rather than natural.” (Byram 2000) Kramsch (2010) claims that educators therefore should provide students with opportunities to help them define and design for themselves their “third place” or “third culture”, a sphere of interculturality that enables language students to take an insider’s view as well as an outsider’s view on both their first and second cultures. It is this ability to find/establish/adopt this third place that is at the very core of intercultural competence. The purpose of this presentation is to introduce the joint research project which was carried out during the years of 2012 and 2013 in collaboration with four universities: Pusan National University (South Korea), Busan University of Foreign Studies (South Korea), Donghua University (China) and Dalarna University (Sweden). This joint research project was established to investigate ways to raise the intercultural competence of students who learn Japanese at each university. The main goal of this research is to design a learning environment where students can actively interact with each other in their target language (Japanese) and develop their intercultural competence through these interactions. Other than developing their communicative competence, we aim at developing the following of the students’ competences: • The ability to deepen their self-reflection. • The awareness of the presuppositions they hold and the cultural basis of many of these (Byram2011).This research is based on three studies (carried out in the spring term 2012, the autumn term 2012, and the spring term 2013). Five Japanese language teachers, one or two from each university, participated in the project. 17 students participated in the first term, 21 in the second term and 41 in the third term. The students from each university interacted online outside of the ordinary classes.In our presentation we will describe the challenges we have met and what we have learnt thus far by organising this kind of international study (how the environment was prepared, how topics were chosen, what kind of tools we chose, how we made the students deepen their thoughts, etc). We will also present the learning results obtained by the students.
Raising students' intercultural competence has been one of the major issues in language education (Byram 2000, Coste, Moore, Zarate 2009, Kramsch 2010, etc). Byram (2000) defines intercultural competence as: "the ability to see relationships between different cultures - both internal and external to a society - and to mediate, that is, to interpret each in terms of the other, either for themselves or for other people." It also covers the ability "to critically and analytically understand that one's own and the other culture's perspectives are culturally determined rather than natural" (Byram 2000). Kramsch (1993) also claims that language learners need to define and design for themselves their "third place" or "third culture" through language learning. This ability to find/establish/adopt such a third place is at the very core of intercultural competence. The purpose of this presentation is to introduce a joint research project, which was carried out during 2012 and 2013 in collaboration between four universities: Pusan National University (South Korea), Busan University of Foreign Studies (South Korea), Donghua University (China) and Dalarna University (Sweden). This joint research project was established to investigate ways to raise the intercultural competence of students who learn Japanese at each university. The main goal of the project is to design a learning environment where students can actively engage with each other in the target language (Japanese) and develop their intercultural competence through these interactions. Other than developing communicative competence, we aim to support the development of the following student competences: An increased ability for self-reflection. An awareness of the presuppositions they hold and their cultural basis (Byram 2011). The research is based on three studies (carried out in the spring term 2012, the autumn term 2012, and the spring term 2013). Five Japanese language teachers, representing each of the collaborating universities, participated in the project. 17 students participated in the first term, 21 in the second term and 41 in the third term. Students from each university also interacted online outside of the ordinary classes. In this presentation, we outline the challenges we have met and what we have so far learned by organizing this kind of study. Among other things, we describe how the learning environment was prepared, how topics were chosen, the kinds of tools we chose, and our efforts to increase students' abilities for self-reflection. We will also discuss the learning results obtained by students.
The purpose of this presentation is to introduce the research project progress in “the mapping of pedagogical methods in web-based language teaching" by Högskolan Dalarna (Dalarna University). This project will identify the differences in pedagogical methods that are used for online language classes. The pedagogical method defined in this project is what the teachers do to ensure students attain the learning outcomes, for example, planning, designing courses, leading students, knowing students' abilities, implementing activities, etc. So far the members of this project have analyzed the course plans (in the language department at Dalarna University) and categorized the learning outcomes. A questionnaire was constructed based on the learning outcomes and then either sent out remotely to teachers or completed face to face through interviews. The answers provided to the questionnaires enabled the project to identify many differences in how language teachers interact with their students but also, the way of giving feedback, motivating and helping students, types of class activities and materials used. This presentation introduces the progress of the project and identifies the challenges at the language department at Dalarna University. Finally, the advantages and problems of online language proficiency courses will be discussed and suggestions made for future improvement.