Free telecollaboration 2.0 tools and activities for enhancing intercultural communicative competence

Problem Statement and Background In today’s global context, with the rapid developments in information and communication technologies (ICT), the thirst for knowledge access and mutual understanding transcends the limitation of geographical boundaries and the different educational and administrative systems between the superpowers and less influential countries. In education, this pressing demand, in turn, draws on an establishment of a networking system that can help people share knowledge and information as well as deliver different types of educational services. Recent developments in ICT have heightened the need for using computers and the Internet in today''s classes in general and in language classes in particular. Information overload, rapid changes in communication technology, globalization, and new knowledge-acquisition modalities make a computer- based learning environment more important than ever. Referring to the chaos of information and texts on the Internet, Kol and Schcolnik (2000) state, “The profession is witnessing increased availability of academic and professional texts (both books and articles) on the Internet” (p. 67). Understandably, rapid evolution of communication technologies has changed the instruction and use of a target language, enabling new forms of interaction and ways to participate in academic communities (Kern, 2006). Likewise, James (1996) points out, “Educational technology is often presented as a potential means for making the students’ learning experiences richer and the teacher’s job easier” (p. 20). With more online opportunities, learners can surely reach out to the world and hence create better chances for language and culture exchanging and learning. According to Warschauer (2000), globalization and the increasing advent of new information technologies further the spread of English and change English language in use. In other words, technology contributes to transforming or at least to changing the teaching and learning methods, and eventually empowering learners and teachers with more flexibility. Along the same line, technological tools should be used in a context such as the one in Vietnam because technology can “offer students a venue for additional interesting and engaging activities, ensure student-centeredness and autonomy as well as interaction and connectivity” (Pop, 2010, p. 1186). To fill the gap in using technologies for teaching and learning in general and in language education in particular, the administrators of the education sectors in countries where English is a foreign language (EFL) have called for practical applications of technology in curriculum reform and pedagogical innovation. In Vietnam, for example, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) invested significantly in computers in schools and encouraged teachers to use computers in their teaching. The MOET created the Directive on Promoting Teaching, Training and Applying ICT in Education – Period 2008-2012 (MOET, 2008) for all schools across the country to improve the education system in general and the teaching of EFL in particular through the application of computer technology in education between 2008 and 2012. Learning Management Systems (LMS) are also available at higher education institutions. However, questions have been raised about the appropriate use of technologies in language education because it is generally limited to teachers’ use of PowerPoint presentations to partly replace chalk and blackboards in language classrooms. Unfortunately, not many language educators can fully explore the available technological tools to connect different language learners across boundaries due to the high cost of educational software and technologies, the moderate technological skills of the users, and the lack of task management skills by teachers (Perren, 2001). There are many contexts for the best e-lessons using MS PowerPoint, but not many language teachers know how to explore the free technologies online, especially to connect learners across countries. In these EFL countries, it is obvious that the classroom is the only environment for English language acquisition and practice; thus the fact that the teaching and learning of EFL has become extremely significant resulted in the mushrooming and extensive proliferation of many English-language classes. Nevertheless, the quantity of English classes and importance of EFL education do not guarantee a compatible level of teaching quality because of some existing problems. For instance, in Vietnam, one of these challenges is how to teach learners to use English effectively in communication with other people in real-world situations (Le, 1999). Many institutions and foreign language centers are willing to pay high salaries to recruit native speakers of English for teaching positions, even those without proper education or teaching training in English for speakers of other languages (ESOL). In this context, however, cultural teaching in English language classes is ignored, and intercultural exchange programs are mainly used as study-abroad tours, which reach only wealthy learners or high-paid private foreign language centers. With the aforementioned issues, simply providing access to ICT will not completely make educational systems better, but exploring their full potential in online exchanges for specific situations and educational goals may. In fact, it is urgent to focus on the meaningful integration of inexpensive ICT into intercultural exchanges in order to fill the gaps of learners’ different ethnic backgrounds, socio-economic statuses, ages, educational backgrounds and geographical locations. Many intercultural exchanges have tried to link the native speakers of English (NS) and the non-native speakers of English (NNS) using study-abroad tours and online tools; however, free Web 2.0 tools which have many dominant features to Web 1.0 have not been explored effectively, especially in developing countries. Therefore, this research study focused on examining the possibility of using free telecollaboration 2.0 tools and relevant intercultural exchange activities to effectively enhance language learners’ intercultural communicative competence. Figure 1 can best illustrate this purpose in using telecollaboration 2.0 tools to connect NS and NNS in online exchange: