Telecollaboration as a Way of Integrating Culture into EFL Instruction

Abstract

This paper explores a telecollaborative project implemented between Taiwanese and Armenian high school students. In the course of five weeks students were engaged in a variety of telecollaborative tasks. Though telecollaboration was realized as an out-of-class activity, all the topics and course materials covered in the Armenian class bore some cultural element so as to ensure the link between telecollaborative tasks and classroom activities. The piloted materials can be further used in a variety of EFL settings. The project revealed that though telecollaboration enriches both language and cultural knowledge, differences in grading systems of the partnering classes, mismatches in class sizes and students’ technological proficiency levels can create difficulties for both instructors and students. It was also revealed that classroom activities facilitated telecollaborative discussions.