Enhancing German language learners' intercultural communicative competence through the on-line exchange project ICE.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The acquisition of intercultural communicative competence (ICC) has become a primary goal in foreign language education (Byram, 1997; Kramsch, 1993) and is based on the underlying assumption that language and culture are strongly intertwined. It has been suggested that telecollaborative exchanges with native speakers in the target culture can enhance the development of ICC (Furstenberg et al., 2001). However, studies have shown that on-line exchanges alone might reinforce existing stereotypes or cause erroneous generalizations to be made (Itakura, 2004; Chun & Wade, 2004). At present, not enough is known about how on-line exchanges can effectively be integrated into the foreign language classroom in order to maximize the educational outcomes of intercultural projects (O'Dowd & Eberbach, 2004).
This study sought to fill this gap by examining the oral classroom interactions that took place as a follow-up to the learners' on-line interactions with native speakers in the target country. Twenty-three intermediate German students at a university in the U.S. and 45 students at a university in Germany participated in an on-line exchange over the course of an academic year. Each U.S. student was required to lead a classroom discussion on those aspects of the on-line exchange that were of particular interest to him/her. Seven discussions were audio recorded, transcribed, and examined for evidence of the different components of intercultural communicative competence.
The analysis of the data revealed that the learners displayed attitudes of curiosity about the target culture as they constructed cultural knowledge based on the on-line forum entries. However, when comparing their findings about the target culture with their own culture, they often expressed preference for their own culture and were not always able to establish a "sphere of interculturality," i.e., looking at both cultures from an insider's and an outsider's perspective. Rather, they interpreted their findings from the point of view of their own culture. This reinforces the notion that on-line exchanges in and of themselves are not sufficient to help learners develop ICC. Follow-up discussions and critical reflections in the classroom are of crucial importance to ensure that ICC is enhanced.