Hostname: page-component-f554764f5-rj9fg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-08T19:49:17.733Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Exploring teachers’ professional development through participation in virtual exchange

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2021

Robert O’Dowd Open the ORCID record for Robert O’Dowd [Opens in a new window]  and
Melinda Dooly Open the ORCID record for Melinda Dooly [Opens in a new window]
Robert O’Dowd
Affiliation:
University of León, Spain ([email protected])
Melinda Dooly
Affiliation:
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain ([email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Virtual exchange (VE) is an umbrella term used to refer to the engagement of groups of students in sustained online intercultural interaction and collaboration with international partners under the guidance of their teachers. In the computer-assisted language learning literature, telecollaboration and eTandem approaches to VE have been researched extensively. However, this research has principally focused to date on learner gains and the impact on teachers has been much less explored. This paper identifies the impact of VE on foreign language teachers’ practices and their professional development by examining the results of a qualitative study of 31 teacher trainers who engaged their classes in VE projects as part of a large-scale European project. The findings of the study suggest that participation in VE projects provides teachers with valuable experience in continued professional development and methodological innovation. In particular, VE was seen to open up opportunities for teachers to develop new professional partnerships, collaborative academic initiatives, to develop their own online collaboration skills, and also to introduce more innovative approaches in their current teaching practice.

Keywords

virtual exchangetelecollaborationinnovationonline teachinginitial teacher education
Type
Research Article
Information
ReCALL , Volume 34 , Issue 1 , January 2022 , pp. 21 - 36
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of European Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Akiyama, Y. & Cunningham, D. J. (2018) Synthesizing the practice of SCMC-based telecollaboration: A scoping review. CALICO Journal, 35(1): 49–76. https://doi.org/10.1558/cj.33156 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Androutsopoulos, J. (2010) Localizing the global on the participatory web. In Coupland, N. (ed.), The handbook of language and globalization. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell, 203–231.Google Scholar
Avgousti, M. I. (2018) Intercultural communicative competence and online exchanges: A systematic review. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 31(8): 819–853. https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2018.1455713 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baroni, A., Dooly, M., Garcés García, P., Guth, S., Hauck, M., Helm, F., Lewis, T., Mueller-Hartmann, A., O’Dowd, R., Rienties, R. & Rogaten, J. (2019) Evaluating the impact of virtual exchange on initial teacher education: A European policy experiment. Research-publishing.net. https://doi.org/10.14705/rpnet.2019.29.9782490057337 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Belz, J. A. (2002) Social dimensions of telecollaborative foreign language study. Language Learning & Technology, 6(1): 60–81.Google Scholar
Belz, J. A. & Kinginger, C. (2003) Discourse options and the development of pragmatic competence by classroom learners of German: The case of address forms. Language Learning, 53(4): 591–647. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1467-9922.2003.00238.x CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blake, R. J. & Zyzik, E. C. (2003) Who’s helping whom?: Learner/heritage-speakers’ networked discussions in Spanish. Applied Linguistics, 24(4): 519–544. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/24.4.519 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brody, D. L. & Hadar, L. L. (2018) Critical moments in the process of educational change: Understanding the dynamics of change among teacher educators. European Journal of Teacher Education, 41(1): 50–65. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2017.1372741 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, A. L. & Campione, J. C. (1994) Guided discovery in a community of learners. In McGilly, K. (ed.), Classroom lessons: Integrating cognitive theory and classroom practice. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 229–270.Google Scholar
Cachia, R. & Punie, Y. (2012) Teacher collaboration in the context of networked learning. Current eTwinning practices and future perspectives. In Hodgson, V., Jones, C., de Laat, M., McConnell, D., Ryberg, T. & Sloep, P. (eds.), Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Networked Learning 2012. Lancaster: Lancaster University, 429–436.Google Scholar
Caluianu, D. (2019) When more is less: Unexpected challenges and benefits of telecollaboration. In Turula, A., Kurek, M. & Lewis, T. (eds.), Telecollaboration and virtual exchange across disciplines: In service of social inclusion and global citizenship. Voillans: Research-publishing.net, 7–13. https://doi.org/10.14705/rpnet.2019.35.934 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caroll, T. & Resta, P. (2010) Redefining teacher education for digital-age learners: A call to action: The summary report from the Invitational Summit on Redefining Teacher Education for Digital-Age Learners. http://redefineteachered.org/sites/default/files/SummitReport.pdf?q=summitreport Google Scholar
Chan, C. K. K. & Pang, M. F. (2006) Teacher collaboration in learning communities [Editorial]. Teaching Education, 17(1): 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1080/10476210500527899 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cho, J. Y. & Lee, E.-H. (2014) Reducing confusion about grounded theory and qualitative content analysis: Similarities and differences. The Qualitative Report, 19: 1–20. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2014.1028 Google Scholar
Christianakis, M. (2010) Collaborative research and teacher education. Issues in Teacher Education, 19(2): 109–126. https://www.itejournal.org/issues/fall-2010/Fall_10_TOC.html Google Scholar
Çiftçi, E. Y. & Savaş, P. (2018) The role of telecollaboration in language and intercultural learning: A synthesis of studies published between 2010 and 2015. ReCALL, 30(3): 278–298. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0958344017000313 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cochran-Smith, M. & Donnell, K. (2006) Practitioner inquiry: Blurring the boundaries of research and practice. In Green, J. L., Camilli, G., Elmore, P. B., Skukauskaiti, A. & Grace, E. (eds.), Handbook of complementary methods in education research. Mahwah: Erlbaum, 503–518.Google Scholar
Cochran-Smith, M. & Lytle, S. L. (1999) Relationships of knowledge and practice: Teacher learning in communities. Review of Research in Education, 24(1): 249–305. https://doi.org/10.3102/0091732X024001249 Google Scholar
Cochran-Smith, M. & Lytle, S. L. (2009) Inquiry as stance: Practitioner research for the next generation. New York: Teachers College Press.Google Scholar
Cochran-Smith, M. & Lytle, S. L. (2020) Inquiry as stance. Practitioner research for the next generation (2nd ed.). New York: Teachers College Press.Google Scholar
Creelman, A. & Löwe, C. (2019) Mainstreaming virtual mobility – helping teachers to get onboard. In Turula, A., Kurek, M. & Lewis, T. (eds.), Telecollaboration and virtual exchange across disciplines: In service of social inclusion and global citizenship. Voillans: Research-publishing.net, 15–22. https://doi.org/10.14705/rpnet.2019.35.935 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cunningham, D. J. & Vyatkina, N. (2012) Telecollaboration for professional purposes: Towards developing a formal register in the foreign language classroom. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 68(4): 422–450. https://doi.org/10.3138/cmlr.1279 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darling-Hammond, L. (2006) Constructing 21st-century teacher education. Journal of Teacher Education, 57(3): 300–314. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487105285962 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Díez-Bedmar, M. B. & Pérez-Paredes, P. (2012) The types and effects of peer native speakers’ feedback on CMC. Language Learning & Technology, 16(1): 62–90. https://www.lltjournal.org/item/2761 Google Scholar
Dooly, M. (2013) Speaking like a ‘glocal’: Using computer-mediated communication in language teacher education to promote network learning. In Ben Said, S. & Jun Zhang, L. (eds.), Language teachers and teaching: Global perspectives, local initiatives. New York: Routledge, 237–255.Google Scholar
Dooly, M. (2015) Networked classrooms and networked minds: Language teaching in a brave new world. In Jenks, C. J. & Seedhouse, P. (eds.), International perspectives on ELT classroom interaction. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 84–109. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137340733_6 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dooly, M. (2016) ‘Please remove your avatar from my personal space’: Competences of the telecollaboratively efficient person. In O’Dowd, R. & Lewis, T. (eds.), Online intercultural exchange: Policy, pedagogy, practice. New York: Routledge, 192–208.Google Scholar
Dooly, M. & Masats, D. (2020) ‘What do you zinc about the project?’: Examples of technology-enhanced project-based language learning. In Beckett, G. H. & Slater, T. (eds.), Global perspectives on project-based language learning, teaching, and assessment: Key approaches, technology tools, and frameworks. New York: Routledge, 126–145. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429435096-7 Google Scholar
Drent, M. & Meelissen, M. (2008) Which factors obstruct or stimulate teacher educators to use ICT innovatively? Computers & Education, 51(1): 187–199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2007.05.001 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drever, E. (2003) Using semi-structured interviews in small-scale research: A teacher’s guide. Glasgow: Scottish Council for Research in Education Centre.Google Scholar
Eck, A., Legenhausen, L. and Wolff, D. (1995) Telekommunikation und Fremdsprachenunterricht: Informationen, Projekte, Ergebnisse. AKS-Verlag.Google Scholar
Grau, M. K. & Turula, A. (2019) Experiential learning of telecollaborative competences in pre-service teacher education. Language Learning & Technology, 23(3): 98–115. http://hdl.handle.net/10125/44698 Google Scholar
Hagaman, A. K. & Wutich, A. (2017) How many interviews are enough to identify metathemes in multisited and cross-cultural research? Another perspective on Guest, Bunce, and Johnson’s (2006) landmark study. Field Methods, 29(1): 23–41. https://doi.org/10.1177/1525822x16640447 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hsieh, H.-F. & Shannon, S. E. (2005) Three approaches to qualitative content analysis. Qualitative Health Research, 15(9): 1277–1288. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732305276687 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jager, S., Nissen, E., Helm, F., Baroni, A. & Rousset, I. (2019) Virtual exchange as innovative practice across Europe: Awareness and use in higher education: EVOLVE Project Baseline Study March 2019. https://evolve-erasmus.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Baseline-study-report-Final_Published_Incl_Survey.pdf Google Scholar
Johnson, K. E. (2009) Second language teacher education: A sociocultural perspective. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203878033 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kecskes, I. (2014) Intercultural pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199892655.001.0001 Google Scholar
Keffer, A., Wood, D., Carr, S., Mattison, L. & Lanier, B. (1998) Ownership and the well-planned study. In Bisplinghoff, B. S. & Allen, J. (eds.), Engaging teachers: Creating teaching/researching relationships. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 27–34.Google Scholar
Knight, S. W. P. (2020) Establishing professional online communities for world language educators. Foreign Language Annals, 53(2): 298–305. https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12458 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kurek, M. & Müller-Hartmann, A. (2019) The formative role of teaching presence in blended virtual exchange. Language Learning & Technology, 23(3): 52–73. https://doi.org/10125/44696 Google Scholar
Lambirth, A., Cabral, A., McDonald, R., Philpott, C., Brett, A. & Magaji, A. (2019) Teacher-led professional development through a model of action research, collaboration and facilitation. Professional Development in Education. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2019.1685565 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Little, D. & Ushioda, E. (1998) Designing, implementing and evaluating a project in tandem language learning via e-mail. ReCALL, 10(1): 95–101. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0958344000004304 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macià, M. & García, I. (2016) Informal online communities and networks as a source of teacher professional development: A review. Teaching and Teacher Education, 55: 291–307. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2016.01.021 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Masats, D., Dooly, M., Juanhuix, M., Moore, E. & Vallejo, C. (in press) Treballem junt(e)s per innovar: col·laboració entre professorat i investigador(e)s en entorns plurilingües. In Masats, D. & Pratginestós, C. (eds.), The classroom as a site for research on language teaching and learning. Bern: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Moolenaar, N. M., Sleegers, P. J. C. & Daly, A. J. (2012) Teaming up: Linking collaboration networks, collective efficacy, and student achievement. Teaching and Teacher Education, 28(2): 251–262. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2011.10.001 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murray, E. (2015) Improving teaching through collaborative reflective teaching cycles. Investigations in Mathematics Learning, 7(3): 23–29. https://doi.org/10.1080/24727466.2015.11790343 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Dowd, R. (2011) Online foreign language interaction: Moving from the periphery to the core of foreign language education? Language Teaching, 44(3): 368–380. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444810000194 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Dowd, R. (2016) Emerging trends and new directions in telecollaborative learning. CALICO Journal, 33(3): 291–310. https://doi.org/10.1558/cj.v33i3.30747 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Dowd, R. (2018) From telecollaboration to virtual exchange: State-of-the-art and the role of UNICollaboration in moving forward. Journal of Virtual Exchange, 1(1): 1–23. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.14705/rpnet.2018.jve.1 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Dowd, R. (2020) A transnational model of virtual exchange for global citizenship education. Language Teaching, 53(4): 477–490. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444819000077 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Dowd, R. & Dooly, M. (2020) Intercultural communicative competence development through telecollaboration and virtual exchange. In Jackson, J. (ed.), The Routledge handbook of language and intercultural communication (2nd ed.). Abingdon: Routledge, 361–375. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003036210-28 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Dowd, R., Sauro, S. & Spector-Cohen, E. (2020) The role of pedagogical mentoring in virtual exchange. TESOL Quarterly, 54(1): 146–172. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.543 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Dowd, R. & Waire, P. (2009) Critical issues in telecollaborative task design. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 22(2): 173–188. https://doi.org/10.1080/09588220902778369 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Rourke, B. (2007) Models of telecollaboration (1): e(Tandem). In O’Dowd, R. (ed.), Online intercultural exchange: An introduction for foreign language teachers. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 41–61. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781847690104-005 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
OECD. (2015) Students, computers and learning: Making the connection. Paris: OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264239555-en Google Scholar
Shadiev, R. & Sintawati, W. (2020) A review of research on intercultural learning supported by technology. Educational Research Review, 31: 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2020.100338 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Siergiejczyk, G. (2020) Virtual international exchange as a high-impact learning tool for more inclusive, equitable and diverse classrooms. European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning, 23(1): 1–17. https://doi.org/10.2478/eurodl-2020-0001 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sultana, S. (2019) Linguistic and multimodal resources within the local-global interface of the virtual space: Critically aware youths in Bangladesh. In Barrett, T. A. & Dovchin, S. (eds.), Critical inquiries in the sociolinguistics of globalization. Bristol: Multilingual Matters, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781788922852-004 Google Scholar
Tanghe, S. & Park, G. (2016). “Build[ing] something which alone we could not havedone”: International collaborative teaching and learning in language teacher education. System, 57: 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2016.01.002 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Amersfoort, D., Korenhof, M., Moolenaar, N. M. & de Laat, M. (2011) Exploring new horizons: Teacher professional development through networked learning. Paper presented at the conference of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI), Exeter, 30 August–3 September.Google Scholar
Ware, P. & Kessler, G. (2016) Telecollaboration in the secondary language classroom: Case study of adolescent interaction and pedagogical integration. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 29(3): 427–450. https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2014.961481 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warschauer, M. (ed.) (1995) Virtual connections: Online activities and projects for networking language learners. Honolulu: Second Language Teaching & Curriculum Center, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.Google Scholar
Zhang, Y. & Wildemuth, B. M. (2009) Qualitative analysis of content. In Wildemuth, B. M. (ed.), Applications of social research methods to questions in information and library science. Westport: Libraries Unlimited, 308–319.Google Scholar