34.2970, Review: Second Language Teaching and Learning through Virtual Exchange: Hilliker (ed.) (2023)

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Subject: 34.2970, Review: Second Language Teaching and Learning through Virtual Exchange: Hilliker (ed.) (2023)

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Date: 04-Feb-2023
From: Alexandra Galani [algalani at uoi.gr]
Subject: Applied Linguistics: Hilliker (ed.) (2023)


Book announced at https://linguistlist.org/issues/33.2326

EDITOR: Shannon M. Hilliker
TITLE: Second Language Teaching and Learning through Virtual Exchange
SERIES TITLE: Trends in Applied Linguistics
PUBLISHER: De Gruyter Mouton
YEAR: 2022

REVIEWER: Alexandra Galani

Summary

“Second language teaching and learning through virtual exchange” is
edited by Shannon M. Hilliker. The book is divided into three parts
and includes a preface, an introduction, thirteen chapters, a
conclusion and an index. In Introduction (pp. 1-5), Shannon M.
Hilliker offers an overview of each chapter.

Language and virtual exchange: in Chapter 1, “Learning-oriented
assessment in an international virtual exchange” (pp. 9-33), Paul
Wicking presents the principles of learning-orientated assessment
(creation of authentic and cognitive complex tasks, clarification of
goals and criteria for success, activation of students as
instructional resources for one another, development of students’
abilities to evaluate their own learning, feedback provision for
ongoing learning enhancement (p.18)). These principles were adopted
for the implementation of an eight-week long international virtual
exchange aiming at language learning. Business-major students--who
were attending a Japanese language course--in a New York college
collaborated with English-major students in two universities in Japan.
The programme’s design, the tasks, the assessment scheme, data
collection and analysis as well as the results are discussed. It is
shown that, when students act as instructional resources for one
another, when they evaluate their own learning and when they engage in
peer assessment, there are benefits to their learning.

Eucharia Donnery, in Chapter 2 “From demotivation to Intercultural
Communicative Competence (ICC): Japanese university learner journeys
in the International Virtual ExchangeProject (IVEProject) (pp.
35-48)”, first provides background information on intercultural
communicative competence, process drama, telecollaboration and the
IVEProject. The chapter reports on the participation of three Japanese
Computer Science-major students in the elective course “Team Project
Learning”. In the first semester, students completed writing-in-role
activities as part of process drama projects, whereas, in the second
and third semester, they collaborated with students from Colombia in
English within the IVEProject (blogs on the following topics: food
culture, events in our lives, what I learned, daily life, communities
and relationships, countries and culture, reflecting for a better
future (pp. 39-40)). Students’ writings reveal benefits in terms of
the enhancement of their intercultural communicative competence as a
result from their participation in the IVEProject.

In Chapter 3, “Annotating appraisal in a mobile telecollaboration
project: A linguistic analysis of students’ engagement” (pp. 49-72),
Alberto Andujar and Paloma Mármol Trapote examine engagement and
attitude in the framework of a collaboration exchange project
implemented via the mobile instant messaging platform WhatsApp. L1
English-speaking students from a university in the U.S.A. who took a
course on Spanish culture and civilisation and L1 Spanish-speaking
students in a Spanish university who attended an English phonetics
course participated in a month and a half-long project. Students’
engagement and attitude were examined in terms of their own culture,
the second culture and the topics under discussion (e.g., each
country’s traditions, habits, education, contemporary issues (i.e.,
anorexia)). Once previous studies are discussed, a detailed
presentation of the project, the methodology followed and the results
are provided. Indicatively, heteroglossic and expanding statements are
of higher frequency; there is strong preference for topic and, as far
as attitude is concerned, the majority of attitudinal markers
concerned topic.

“Learner appropriation of genre in a US-China virtual exchange” (pp.
73-95) is discussed in Chapter 4 by Carolin Fuchs, Bruce Tung and Bill
Snyder. An international virtual exchange was set between student
teachers in the U.S.A. and Chinese English as a Foreign Language
learners in China who were taking an Intercultural Communications
course. Student teachers were asked to design writing tasks (academic
statements of purpose (SOP), business letter) and provide pedagogical
support to the Chinese students. In line with the findings, the
writing tasks were successfully implemented by the Chinese students.
The authors also discuss factors which might have influenced the
tasks’ expected outcomes (i.e., time constraints, pedagogical
approach, experience, technological considerations). Finally, detailed
appendices are provided (c.f., guidelines for the SOP assignment, peer
feedback, handout about the business letter task, grading rubric,
summative feedback on the business letter).

In Chapter 5, ““Zoom” in and speak out: Virtual exchange in language
learning” (pp. 97-114), Kaishan Kong first provides background
information on virtual exchange in foreign language classrooms and on
the theoretical approaches to virtual exchange (interactionalist,
sociocultural), as well as on its benefits and characteristics. The
study sheds light on language development and learner autonomy on the
basis of “Intercultural Talk”, a 10-week long virtual exchange
programme. It reports on the findings of the telecollaboration between
two American college students--who attended a Chinese as a Foreign
Language class--with two international students who were native
Chinese speakers. The students collaborated in pairs. Based on
recorded meetings, weekly students’ reflections and video
presentations, positive results were noted as far as the increase of
the vocabulary and lexical richness are concerned. Students also
reported that they improved their pronunciation, grammatical knowledge
and vocabulary, and their motivation and confidence.

Culture and virtual exchange: Anna Nicolaou and Ana Sevilla-Pavón, in
Chapter 6, entitled “Developing intercultural communicative competence
in ESP contexts through virtual exchange: An ecological perspective”
(pp. 117-144), first discuss virtual exchange in relation to
content-based instruction in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and
then present the Business English Intercultural (BEGIN) virtual
exchange project in detail. Students who attended ESP courses
(international business, management, entrepreneurship, innovation) at
a university in Cyprus and at a university in Spain participated in
the programme, the duration of which was one semester. The study aimed
to investigate  the integration of virtual exchange projects in
content-based instruction in ESP courses, assessing the benefits for
the development of the students’ intercultural communicative
competence and the enhancement of their discipline-specific knowledge
in higher education. Based on data from pre/post-intervention
questionnaires, focus group interviews and students’ reflection
papers, it is shown that the hypothesis is confirmed.

In Chapter 7 “Video exchange telecollaboration: Towards developing
interculturality in EFL environments” (pp. 145-160), Martin Parsons,
Mikel Garant and Elizaveta Shikhova sketch an asynchronous project in
which participants included undergraduate students from a university
in China (English immersion programme, majors in business-related
disciplines and Computer Science), a university in Japan (various
disciplines) and a university in Russia (majors in Information
Technology, Computer Programming). The students--who were all
attending EFL courses--were asked to create and share video podcasts
on “a topic of historical significance related to their own country’s
culture, art, poetry, or popular culture that they felt may be of
interest to a person in a foreign country” (p. 150). The aim of the
study was to examine whether students’ attitudes towards the other two
countries improved as a result of the telecollaboration. According to
the results of the pre-/post-surveys, it was found that this was
indeed the case.

Eduardo Viana da Silva and Ana Cristina Biondo Salomão, in Chapter 8
“Taking action in a virtual exchange with Brazilian and U.S. students”
(pp. 161-188), first review global competence and the Global
Competence Matrix (Boix Mansilla & Jackson 2011) (p. 162). The study
looks at the application of the “take action” item of the Global
Competence Matrix by university students and highlights the item’s
contribution to the shaping of globally competent students. Students
from a university in Brazil--who were participating in the “project to
improve their English and their cultural understanding of the United
States” (p. 167)--and students from various disciplines in a
university in U.S.A.--who were attending a Portuguese course--
interacted four times online (pre-task surveys, discussion of videos
as part of collaborative tasks, post-survey) on issues related to
climate change and, more specifically, to the Indigenous populations
in Brazil and the U.S. as well as the preservation of forests.

In Chapter 9 “Tackling problems, finding solutions: Creativity and
collaboration in cross-cultural virtual exchange during a pandemic”
(pp. 189-206), Clara Bauler, Devin Thornburg, Óscar Ceballos, Carlos
Pineda, Esther Kogan and Pirjo Sorri evaluate the design and the
implementation of a 12-week long virtual exchange programme between
multilingual students in a high school in Spain and freshman students
in a university in New York. The exchange was carried out during the
COVID-19 pandemic and focused on “identity development,
multilingualism and multiculturalism” (p. 190). “The importance of
faculty collaboration” and “the resourcefulness of the students’
creativity” (pp. 202-203) to overcome the challenges which emerged and
to achieve the programme’s aim are highlighted. Finally, the following
points should be taken into account when developing similar
programmes: scaffold, combining different media, support use of
students’ content and skill expertise in the development of the
exchange, tap and utilise all students’ linguistic repertoires (pp.
203-204).

Teacher education and virtual exchange: In Chapter 10 “Integrating the
United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals into a teacher
preparation program: Developing content for virtual exchanges” (pp.
209-223), Chesla Ann Lenkaitis outlines previous research on teacher
candidates’ virtual exchange programmes as well as the seventeen
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (United Nations, 2019). The study
examines the contribution of a six-week long virtual exchange--based
on the incorporation of the SDGs--to the development of the teaching
methods of four second language teacher candidates (one from the
United States, two from Colombia and one from Poland). Student
teachers’ top four SGDs included quality education (goal 4), gender
equality (goal 5), responsible consumption and production (goal 12)
and life below water (goal 14). The participants also discussed
actions to reach each SDG and felt positively about their
participation in the exchange. The author proposes that SDG-orientated
virtual exchange should be part of teacher preparation programmes.

In Chapter 11 “Enhancing ELLs’ understanding through the use of
examples, questions, and native language connections during virtual
exchange” (pp. 225-244), Shannon M. Hilliker and Devindi Samarakkody
first outline the benefits of virtual exchange for second/foreign
language learning and for language teacher education. In the six-week
long virtual exchange programme, English language learners who study
International Business in a university in Colombia collaborated with
Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) students and
undergraduate students in Linguistics in a U.S. university. The study
explored the strategies and the ways these were used by the
participants to co-construct their knowledge (p. 238) when making
business pitches. The strategies included the use of examples and
questions as well as making connections with the language learners’
first language (p. 237).

Alexandra Laletina, Anna Zhiganova and Elena Gritsenko, in Chapter 12
“Developing linguistically responsive pedagogy among K-12 mainstream
teacher candidates through virtual exchange” (pp. 245-261), outline a
five-week virtual exchange between American university
students--registered in a teacher training programme- and Russian
International Relations-major university students--who were also
“learning English for professional purposes” (p. 248). The study,
which aimed to examine how virtual exchange contributes to the
development of “mainstream teacher candidates’ linguistically and
culturally responsive pedagogy” (p. 255), shows that student teachers
benefited, as their sensitivity in language and culture increased and
their perceptions of the intercultural interaction were positive.
Virtual exchange could be incorporated in teacher education as it
provides opportunities for trainees to gain teaching experience.

In Chapter 13 “Virtual exchange to enhance English language teacher
trainees’ professional development – insights from a Czech-Polish
project” (pp. 263-279), Blanka Babická, Barbara Loranc-Paszylk and
Josef Nevařil first sketch previous work on virtual exchange in
language teacher development, communities of practice and peer
assessment and then discuss the programme they implemented. It is the
first study on the telecollaboration between language teacher trainees
in Czech Republic and Poland. It investigates “language teacher
trainees’ perceptions of peer assessment in intercultural settings”
(p. 266) as well as their evaluation of the virtual exchange
experience in terms of its contribution to the development of their
teaching expertise (p. 266). In “Conclusion” (p. 281-283), the editor
offers concluding remarks on the basis of the discussion in each
section of the book.

Evaluation

The book describes thirteen virtual exchange projects which have been
implemented worldwide and it consequently addresses a great number of
theoretical and practical issues as far as virtual exchange is
concerned and more specifically in terms of its relation to language,
culture and teacher education. In each chapter, the theoretical
discussion is brief but nonetheless well-referenced and to the point,
something which enables the reader to acquire the necessary amount of
information in a clearly-presented way. The projects are also
discussed in detail (i.e., design, participants, materials, topics,
data collection and analysis), providing useful ideas to language
professionals and researchers for the implementation of future
projects/research studies. The reference made to the challenges faced,
and to any limitations and directions for future research, could also
be of help. The research findings support the book’s aim, namely to
highlight the role of virtual exchange in second language and
learning.

Some indicative typos are the following--which do not lead to any
confusion nevertheless: p. 3 “…focuses on the conversations was on
multilingualism…”, p.26: “less than half the written reflections (40
comments) addressed interpersonal and linguistic areas, instead
focusing on other competencies…”, p.39: “while the Columbian students
did likewise… for the Colombian students to read”, p. 44: “and
Columbian student Antonio’s… Most of the Colombian students”, p.45:
“the Colombians’ shared the view that the major role of a government
with to maintain order in the nation… valuing the Colombian Other…”,
p.54: “is not acceptable(i.e. the assignment is graded with the lower
score in the rubric);learn…”, p. 145: E-mail: … (whereas in the
remaining chapters e-mail, p. 230: “Furthermore, Furthermore, Budash
(2009) emphasized…”/ Budash is not included in the references, p. 231:
“Before their first participants were asked to…”, p. 232: “during the
virtual exchange”lso demonstrates…”. Overall, the volume is
well-written and coherent. It serves its purpose and is a valuable
reference source.

References
Boix Mansilla, V. & Jackson, A. 2011. “Educating for global
competence: Preparing our youth to engage the world”. CCSSO and Asia
Society. New York: Asia Society.
https://asiasociety.org/files/book-globalcompetence.pdf
United Nations. 2019. “The sustainable development goals report”. http
s://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2019/The-Sustainable-Development-Goals-
Report-2019.pdf

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Alexandra Galani is a Senior Teaching Fellow in the Department of
Primary Education at the University of Ioannina (Greece). Her main
research interests are in morphology, its interfaces and language
teaching and learning.



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