Presentation held at Eurocall 2015

1. EUROCALL Conference, Padova, 26-29 August 2015
Kristi Jauregi1 2, Leena Kuure3, Pim Bastian1, Dennis Reinhardt1 &Tuomo Koivisto3
Utrecht University, Netherlands
Fontys University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands
University of Oulu, Finland
Cross-cultural discussions in a 3D virtual environment
and their affordances for learners’ motivation and
foreign language discussion skills

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• Research context (TILA, Open Sims)
• Participants
• Tasks
• Data collection
• Focus of analysis
• Findings
• Conclusion
Structure of the presentation

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Research context

4. © 2015 TILA
TILA 2013-2015
4
Telecollaboration
Intercultural
Language
Acquisition

5. © 2015 TILA
(1) to innovate, enrich and make FLT more meaningful
by integrating telecollaboration activities in secondary
schools across Europe;
(2) to empower (student) teachers and assist them in
developing ICT literacy skills as well as organisational,
pedagogical and intercultural competences to guarantee
adequate integration of telecollaboration practices; and
(3) to study the added value of telecollaboration
Project goals
5

6. (A)synchronous communication in TILA
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environment
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Case study

8. GROUP C
6 Dutch pupils
GROUP A
3 Dutch pupils
3 Finnish pupils
GROUP B
3 Dutch pupils
3 Finnish pupils
18 participants from the Netherlands and Finland
15–18 years of age
roughly on level B2 (CEFR)
Participants

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All pupils participated in a specifically designed
discussion task series, with 5 tasks in total and
a tutorial at the start.
Tasks

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All pupils participated in a specifically designed
discussion task series, with 5 tasks in total and
a tutorial at the start.
Tasks

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• Pre- and post- tests on discussion ability
• Surveys
• Recorded interactions
• Interviews
Diverse types of data

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Focus of analysis
• The impact of the role tasks
(González Lloret & Ortega, 2014; Jauregi et al., 2011)
• The presence of peers from another culture
on the pupils’ discussion skills, engagement
and motivation
(Geer, 2002; Deutschmann et al., 2009; Jauregi et al., 2012)
• Multimodal aspects of actions and
interactions in the virtual environment were
examined
(Jones, 2005; Norris, 2011)

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The development of discussion skills
Findings
+0.3
+0.7
+0.7

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The pupils’ engagement and motivation
Virtual worlds
Findings
Items Finnish Dutch Dutch C
M SD M SD M SD
OpenSim is useful as a tool. 3.8 0.4 3.8 0.8 4.0 0.0
OpenSim worked well during the experiment. 3.0 1.1 3.2 1.0 3.2 0.8
The audio worked during all the sessions: I
could hear other people well. 2.8 0.8 2.5 1.4 2.6 0.5
I felt comfortable in OpenSim: I could move
and act the way I wanted. 3.8 0.8 4.7 0.5 4.2 0.4
If you had had the possibility to carry out the
tasks face-to-face, would you have preferred
this option to using OpenSim? 1.7 1.8 1.8 0.8 2.8 0.4
5 point Likert-scale (1 strongly disagree … 5 strongly agree)

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The pupils’ engagement and motivation
Self-Efficacy (1)
Findings
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
Pre Post
Finnish Dutch Dutch Control
+ 0,3
+0,6
I am confident about my English speaking skills.
- 0,5
Dutch pupils communicating with Finnish peers and the Dutch control group
become more confident on their speaking skills, while the Finnish pupils
become less confident after the TC sessions. (5 point Likert-scale)

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The pupils’ engagement and motivation
Self-Efficacy (2)
Findings
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
Pre Post
Finnish Dutch Dutch Control
+0,3
I am confident about my English discussion skills.
-0,4
+ 1
Dutch pupils communicating with Finnish peers become much more
confident on their discussion skills, than the control Dutch group, while the
Finnish pupils become less confident after the TC sessions. (5 point Likert-
scale)

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The pupils’ engagement and motivation
Anxiety (1)
Findings
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
Pre Post
I feel uneasy whenever I have to speak English.
Finnish Dutch Dutch Control
+0.7
-1.3
-1.2
Anxiety to speak English diminishes significantly for the Dutch pupils
communicating with the Finnish peers and for the control Dutch group, while
anxiety increases for the Finnish pupils after the TC sessions.
(5 point Likert-scale)

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The pupils’ engagement and motivation
Anxiety (2)
Findings
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
Pre Post
Finnish Dutch Dutch Control
I feel very uneasy whenever I make a mistake while speaking English.
The anxiety for making mistakes while speaking English diminishes for the
Dutch pupils communicating with the Finnish peers and for the control Dutch
group, while anxiety increases a little bit for the Finnish pupils.
(5 point Likert-scale)
+0.2
-0.6
-0.5

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The pupils’ engagement and motivation
Anxiety (3)
Findings
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
Pre Post
Finnish Dutch Dutch Control
I feel very uneasy whenever I do not understand what is being said in English
The anxiety for not being able to understand what is being said in English
diminishes for all pupils, but particularly for the Dutch pupils communicating
with the Finnish peers.
(5 point Likert-scale)
-0.5
-0.1
-0.2

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The pupils’ engagement and motivation
Tasks
Findings
Items Finnish Dutch Dutch (C)
I enjoyed participating in the following tasks: M SD M SD M SD
Task 1: Campsite 3.8 0.4 3.3 1.5 3.4 0.9
Task 2: Church 3.8 0.4 2.7 1.2 3.8 0.4
Task 3: Airport/Vacation 3.7 0.5 3.3 0.8 2.6 0.9
Task 4: Police station 3.3 0.5 4.2 0.4 4.0 0.7
Task 5: Courthouse 3.2 1.2 4.0 0.9 4.6 0.5
The tasks were harder than assignments in
my English class. 4.0 1.1 2.0 0.6 2.0 1.0
5 point Likert-scale (1 strongly disagree … 5 strongly agree)

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The pupils’ engagement and motivation
Project
Findings
Items Finnish Dutch Dutch (C)
How do you value the project? M SD M SD M SD
I would like to participate in a
similar project again in the future 3.2 1.0 4.0 0.0 4.6 0.5
I would recommend other pupils to
participate in a similar project. 3.2 1.0 4.0 0.0 4.8 0.4
5 point Likert-scale (1 strongly disagree … 5 strongly agree)

22. EuroCALL 2015 – Padua, Italy
Multimodality
In everyday (inter)actions, social actors orchestrate a
range of multiple modes of communication to
accomplish various higher-level actions simultaneously,
whereby they (co)produce their identities.
(Norris, 2011)

23. EuroCALL 2015 – Padua, Italy
Identities, multimodal resources
The pupils
• Members of their local classroom
• ”Players” in the assigned OS events
• Team members
• Language learners
• Tutors (support to
other pupils and
troubleshooting)
• Peers
The organising students
• Student teachers
• Teachers
• Tutors
• Technical support
• Colleagues
• Project members
• Actors taking roles in the project
Multimodal resources
• 3D design/place
e.g., layout; signs
• Avatars
e.g., clothing; appearance
• Technology
e.g., indicating quality problems
of the connection or voice;
application functionalities
• (Inter)action
e.g., movement, pointing, posture,
position, gesture, gaze, talk

24. EuroCALL 2015 – Padua, Italy
Multimodality
The project involves a complex
configuration of aspects that the
participants need to attend to
Participation
Survival
Learning
Growing expertise
• Technology (3D environment)
• New meeting/project/learning practices
• Encounters with distant participants
• English learning (NofM about the "task"
• Living OS (immersion in the activities)
• Learning OS (meta-level activities)
• Identity work (blurring of roles)

25. Layered simultaneity in situ
WORKING IN A
PROJECT
LEARNING
ENGLISH IN THE
CLASSROOM
USING SOCIAL
MEDIA AND
GAMING
(Blommaert, 2005, Scollon & Scollon, 2004)
DOING THINGS IN A
3D ENVIRONMENT
STUDYING
ENGLISH WITH
NON-FINNISH-
SPEAKERS
DEALING WITH
TECHNOLOGY
BEING
INVOLVED IN
ROLE-TAKING
SPEAKING WITH
INTERNATIONAL
INTERLOCUTORS

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• The discussion experience in 3D virtual worlds was
experienced as enjoyable (even if there was no partner
from abroad)
• Open Sims collaboration seemed to provide a fruitful
environment for improving discussion skills
• In Lingua Franca telecollaboration, participants with
lower proficiency levels may benefit from the
opportunity to work with peers with a similar proficiency
level (in the case of a project that requires constant
negotiation of meaning)
Conclusions

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