1. Fences and Fatalism: Developing Intercultural
Communicative Competence in a Digital Age
Pete Smith and Konstantin Shestakov
TCC 2011 Worldwide Online Conference
Arlington, Texas & Omsk, Russia
April, 2011

2. VLS Beginning Russian: Schedule
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
communicative language communicative interactive communicative
language learning language language language
practice: strategies: practice: seminar: practice:
4 students & 12 students 4 students & 12 students 4 students &
native speaker & faculty mentor native speaker & professor native speaker

4. Virtual Language Studies Beginning Russian
Cultural Blog:
Tues class:
Russian for the
becoming a Syllabus Internet Age
reflective
networked
learner
MWF: classes
with native
Thurs: speaker
faculty
seminar

5. VLS Beginning Russian: Russia And Russian Today

6. Drake University Virtual
Language Studies

8. Communicating Abroad Project

9. VLS Beginning Russian: Communicating Abroad Project
9

10. VLS Beginning Russian: Communicating Abroad Project
10

11. Cultural Theme:
Uncertainty
Avoidance

12. Plan: Communicating Abroad Project
12

13. Questionnaire: “Power Distance”
13

14. Questionnaire: “Power Distance”
14

15. Participant Email Exchange
15

16. Student Chat
16

17. Student-Prepared Slides
Support Interaction

18. Student-Prepared Slides
(con’t.)

19. Video Presentation in Student
Exchange

20. VLS-Omsk Law
“Communicating Abroad
Project”

21. Student Reports
21

22. Compensating Strategies in Virtual Exchanges
22

23. Causes of Communication Breakdown
23

24. Strategies for Language Learners to Co-Create Meaning
24

25. Student Attitudes
25

27. U.S. Contact
Pete Smith
University of Texas—Arlington
psmith@uta.edu
Russia Contact
Konstantin Shestakov
Omsk Law University
konstantin73@yandex.ru