A META-SYNTHESIS OF

CULTURA-BASED PROJECTS

Dorothy Chun

UC Santa Barbara

INTENT Conference, Léon

Different Goals & Models of Telecollaboration

Goals: global and localInternationalization of educationDigital literaciesLinguistic, intercultural communicative

competence (ICC)

ModelsClass to classTandem learning

Cultura Model’s Creators & Goals

Furstenberg, Levet & Waryn @ MIT in 1997

Goals:to make culture (“the silent language,” the

“hidden dimension”) visible to help students understand the values,

attitudes, beliefs and concepts of another culture

Reasons for Meta Synthesis Why?

To document many different adaptationsTo provide advice for future exchanges

How?Extensive survey sent to 30 known project

leadersResponse from 18 (60% return rate)

Research Questions

RQ1: What were the

goals that led to the

adoption of the Cultura

model?

RQ 2: What were the

processes in the

implementation of the project that

built towards to

goals?

RQ 3: What kind

of data was

gathered in order to

determine whether the goals

were achieved?

RQ 1

What were the goals that led to the adoption of the Cultura model?

Participant Information

Program setting L2 taught4-year university 15 (83%) English 8

High school 2 (11 %) French 2

2-year comm coll 1 (6 %) Samoan 2

Spanish 2

Chinese 2

Filipino 1

German 1

Japanese 1

Prior Experience with Cultura

Twice (28%)

Four times (28%)

Six times (17%)

10 or more times (10%)

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

Students’ Proficiency Levels

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

2

A2 (14%)

B1 (43%)

B2 (14%)

C1 (29%)

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

Reasons for Choosing Cultura

External:1. Opportunity to learn

about Cultura

2. Opportunity to

participate in a project

Internal:1. Belief or interest

2. Innovation to language program

3. Additional intercultural learning opportunity

Expected Learning Outcomes

Language: skills,

attitudes

Other: sense of learning

community

Culture: skills,

knowledge, attitudes

Language skills (15)Language attitudes (2)

Culture skills (7)Cultural knowledge (6)Cultural attitudes (13)

Language vs. Culture Learning

Language learn-ing more impor-tant (5.6%)Cultural learning more important (61.1%)Language and cultural learning equally important (33.3%)

Summary: RQ1 (Goals)

External & internal motivationsBelieved in the modelLanguage skills, confidence,

motivationImprovement in cultural knowledge,

skills, awareness, and openness to another culture

RQ 2

What were the processes in the implementation of the project that built towards the goals?

Cultura One of Course Activities

Your c

ours

e

Partn

er 1

’s co

urse

Partn

er 2

’s co

urse

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Main course ac-tivityOne of course activitiesExtracurricular or optional activ-ity

Features/Activities Used

Questi

onna

ires

Forum

s

Imag

es

Videoc

onfe

renc

esFilm

s

Newss

tand

Data

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Modes of Interaction

Text-b

ased

chat

Text-b

ased

foru

ms

Video-

chat

Other

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

L1 and L2 in Interactions

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Little Teacher Involvement Online

Not at all (44.4%)A little (16.7%)Somewhat (33.3%)A lot (5.6%)

Roles of the Teacher Online

Discussion facilita-tor (56.3%)Model provider (43.8%)Language feedback (68.8%)Content feedback (56.3%)Monitor (18.8%)

Summary: RQ 2 (Implementation) Great variability Only part of curriculum, sometimes

extracurricular Text-based questionnaires & forums

most popular; video chats too Mixture of L1 & L2 used Teachers’ participation minimal Exchanges ranged from 3-24 weeks

RQ 3

What kind of data was gathered in order to determine whether the goals (learning outcomes) were achieved?

Data Gathered for Assessment

Online (9) Written homework (6) Survey, interviews (5) Reflective reports, self-

assessment (4) In class activities (4)

Student Learning Gains Reported

Language Culture

Skill

Knowled

ge

Attitud

es0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Skill

Knowled

ge

Attitud

es0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Mixed Teachers’ Impressions Positive (10):

Culture learningInstructional integration

Negative (2):Student motivation/interestInstructional alignment & integration

Mixed (3) or Neutral (4)

Positive Students’ Reactions Positive (11):

Motivation/interestLearning communityLanguage learning

Negative (1):Lack of partners’ responsiveness

Mixed (3)

Challenges Encountered

Management and logistics (22) Instructional alignment and

integration with curriculum (14) Student motivation/interest (5) Technology (4)

Summary: RQ3 Data & LO Wide variety of data gathered,

both online and offline Learning outcomes: almost as

many gains in linguistic areas as in cultural areas

Overall teacher and student satisfaction

Common challenges

Recommendations

1. Set realistic goalsKnow your learners and their

abilities/proficiencyMost successful with intermediate

and advanced L2 learnersConsider both linguistic and cultural

gains

Recommendations

2. Planning, planning, planningClose communicationCommon goals, curricular

commitmentsModel adaptationAppropriate tools and activitiesFlexibilityBuy-in at all levels

Recommendations

3. Follow up on online activitiesOnline interaction does not ensure

learning or understandingMisunderstandings could have

linguistic or cultural origins (or both)In-depth classroom discussions are

essential

Muchas gracias y buena suerte con sus proyectos de futuro!