Virtual exchange, a teaching practice that incorporates online communication technologies to link remotely located partner classes for interaction and collaboration, is a rich site for fostering second language development, intercultural competence, and digital skills (EVALUATE report, 2019). A crucial component in virtual exchange is the role of the teacher as a pedagogical mentor to support students’ learning during these rich and often complex intercultural projects (O’Dowd, Sauro & Spector-Cohen, under review) where the continually shifting nature of communication technologies mediates the linguistic and cultural competences demanded of learners, also referred to as langua-technocultural competence (Sauro & Chapelle, 2017). Accordingly, in this paper, we explore how pedagogical mentoring during a three-country virtual exchange for foreign language teacher candidates supported the langua-technocultural competence of participants by examining three incidents illustrative of the following themes: (1) resolving conflict around the selection of digital communication tools whose use and accessibility varied in the respective partner countries, (2) disambiguating the different culturally-situated meanings ascribed to emojis, (3) fostering awareness of different cultural norms regarding code-switching. References The EVALUATE Group (2019). Evaluating the Impact of Virtual Exchange on Initial Teacher Education: A European Policy Experiment. Available from: https://www.evaluateproject.eu/ O’Dowd, R., Sauro, S., & Spector-Cohen, E. (under review). The role of pedagogical mentoring in virtual exchange. Sauro, S., & Chapelle, C.A. (2017). Toward langua-technocultural competences. In C.A. Chapelle & S. Sauro (Eds.), The handbook of technology and second language teaching and learning (pp. 459-472). Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

1. Supporting Langua-
technocultural
Competence through
Virtual Exchange
Shannon Sauro, Elana Spector-
Cohen & Robert O'Dowd
Language and Society Conference
Tel Aviv
June 24, 2019

2. What is Virtual Exchange (VE)
"Virtual exchange, or telecollaboration, are terms used to
refer to the sustained engagement of groups of learners in
online intercultural interaction and collaboration projects with
partners from other cultural contexts or geographical
locations as an integrated part of their education
programmes"...under the guidance of teachers or facilitators.
(O’Dowd, Sauro & Spector-Cohen, under review)

3. For this Virtual Exchange

4. Why VE in Higher Education?
● VE develops students’ intercultural, digital-pedagogical, and
linguistic competences.
● Most effective when it forces learners/teachers to step away
from their accustomed learning/teaching approaches and
brings them to engage in...experiences which they would not
usually be confronted with in their day-to-day learning.
(EVALUATE Group, 2019)

5. Teacher Mentoring and Langua-Technocultural Competence
"...teachers of virtual exchanges must be
prepared to mentor students in the development
of what Sauro and Chapelle (2017) refer to as
langua-technocultural competence, the complex
intersection of linguistic and cultural
competences mediated by technology and the
digital spaces and platforms where contact and
interaction occur."
(O'Dowd, Sauro & Spector-Cohen, under review)

6. Langua-Technocultural Competence
● Languaculture, the inseparability
of language and culture (Agar,
1994)
● The necessary inclusion of
culture in the study of
languages (Diaz, 2013)
● The technology-mediated
nature of many learners' second
language learning experiences
Langua-Technocultural
Competence

7. Teacher Guidance: Langua-Technocultural Competence
● What digital tools and digital practices might best help
communicate intended meaning?
● How can digital tools and digital practices mediate (either enhance
or undermine) intended meaning?
● How does the preferred use of digital tools and digital practices vary
in different countries/contexts or among users of different
languages?

8. Pedagogical Mentoring in VE (O'Dowd, Sauro & Spector-Cohen, under review)

9. Methods: The Three Partners
Israel
● 17 students in
International MA
TESOL programme at
Tel Aviv University
(some are Israeli)
● Training to teach
English in diverse
settings around globe
● Data: Teacher emails
and reflection
portfolios from 4
students.
Spain
● 31 students in MA
programme in
Secondary School
Education at the
University of León
● Training to teach
English in Spanish
secondary schools
● Data: Teacher emails
and reflection portfolios
from 31 students.
Sweden
● 15 students in MA
programme at
Malmö University
● Training to teach
English at the
upper secondary
level in Sweden
● Data: Teacher
emails and
reflection portfolios
from 8 students.

10. Critical Incident
“...a communication situation, [in] which the
participants (or one participant) consider as
problematic and confusing, even amusing. Critical
incidents are occasions that stay in mind.
Typically, critical incidents consist of examples of
cultural clash events - situations where
unexpected behavior occurs - with suggestions on
how to solve these situations.”
(Work Group, University of Jyväskylä)
https://www.jyu.fi/viesti/verkkotuotanto/kp/ci/introduction.shtml

11. The Three Critical Incidents
1. The Tale of the Kiss Emoji
2. What's with All the Code-Switching
3. All Aboard the Hot Mess Express

12. 1. The Tale of the Kiss Emoji
"One evening, a member of one of the other classes
closed out an interaction with one of my students on
whatsapp with a kiss emoji. Suddenly my student was
stressed because she was faced with a difficult dilemma.
Did she have to kiss her back?
My student says she only sends kisses to close friends,
but this was a group member and this whatsapp chat
was more professional. However, if she didn't send a
kiss back, what other emoji could she send? A basic
smiley? What if that made her group member sad to get
just a basic smiley in response to a kiss?"
(email, instructor from Sweden to other instructors)

13. Languaculturally Situated Meanings Ascribed to Emojis
"Brilliant story. Spanish kiss
on WhatsApp all the time. It
comes from “un beso” which
is a common way of saying
goodbye."
(email reply, instructor from Spain)
"After she related this tale to
the whole class, one of the
other students exclaimed: 'I
only kiss after the third task!'"
(email, instructor from Sweden)
VS

14. 2. What's with all the codeswitching?
"This led to a
conversation about
language norms...I
asked if they had
considered that things
might be different in
Spain or Israel or the
other countries
students are from."
(email, instructor from Sweden)
"There isn’t much code
switching in León at all.
People are very
Spanish in the sense
that they use Spanish
all the time. There is
very little use of English
here on a day to day
basis."
(email, instructor from Spain)
"There’s a lot of [code
switching] going on in
Israel...When I think
about it being such a
multilingual country
it’s just not an issue to
hear different
languages around
you."
(email, instructor from Israel)

15. Culturally Embedded Norms for Code-Switching
“...there was a moment in which
him [Osama] and Marwan started
to talk in their own language during
a few minutes. We did not want to
be rude and tell them to change to
English, but maybe we should
have done it in a polite way.”
(portfolio, student from group 2 from Spain)
“They also spoke to each other
in Spanish quite a few times
during the call, which frankly
seemed unnecessary since they
all know English, and it is a little
bit rude since we could all hear
them speaking but were unable
to understand them.”
(portfolio, student from group 7 from
Sweden)

16. 3. When Pedagogical Mentoring Failed: The Beginning (sort of)
"I wake up every single day, since
Saturday, to find I have received one
or two emails from her, and I receive
more emails as each day goes by. I
feel like she has been putting too
much pressure on me….and she has
been saying that we have left the
Israeli group out of the activities, that
we do not want to count with them to
do the tasks, and that have made me
feel really bad."
(email from student from Spain, Group 1)

17. The Attempted Solution: A Technology Compromise
"From what I've gathered, members from Sweden and Spain are opposed to using
What'sApp because they dislike the idea of sharing their cellphone number….
Naturally, I also understand that the members from Israel are opposed to using
Facebook, due to Facebook being a personal social platform, etc, which is
completely understandable.
However, what I do, and I do so strongly, oppose myself to, is this tug-of-war,
instead of actually trying to find a solution together. "
(Discussion forum post, student from Group 1 from Sweden)

18. In Retrospect: More Details Emerge
"Our group felt left out and excluded.
The other 2 groups chose a time and
proceeded to meet without waiting to
hear if we could meet them. It would
have been understandable if one or
two of us couldn't make the zoom
call. However, they all spoke and set
a time, not caring if we were part of
the discussion or not."
(Portfolio, student from Group 1 from Israel)
(Portfolio, student from Group 1 from Spain)

19. Missing the Bigger Picture: Addressing other Aspects of LTC
"This [facilitated discussion] task was designed to show us that you cannot judge a
situation until you have all the facts .... We then began discussing the issues that
some groups were facing. It was a bit troubling to hear one of the individuals talk
about their group, without empathy or understanding, which was the topic of
conversation. He stated that at the beginning of the project everyone except for the
Tel Aviv students were communicating and that “they would join when they wanted
to”. He hadn’t seemed to consider that maybe there was a problem with the overall
communication if all three students from one university were not present and
instead based it on their personality."
(Portfolio, student from Group 8 from Israel)

20. In the End: Lessons Learned?
"From these experiences, I’ve also learnt that telecollaboration might be
far too demanding to be justified. The practical aspects of a
telecollaboration, at least in our case, might be somewhat unrealistic for
it to result in a truly meaningful learning experience. There was simply
too much frustration on many ends, that took away focus from what was
important."
(Portfolio, Student from Group 1 Sweden)

21. Where Pedagogical Mentoring Went Wrong
1. Lack of information on the origin of the conflict.
2. An over-emphasis on the technology - directing students to
understand and negotiate the different culturally mediated digital
practices of the group members.
○ Fear or uncertainty of how to introduce broader socio-political issues that
may have mediated the responses of different group members.
○ Down-playing one group's fear that they were being excluded
deliberately.

22. Recommendations for Pedagogical Mentoring during VE:
1. Greater attention must be paid to how teachers can promote not only their
students’ langua-technocultural competence but their own as well.
2. Teachers in VE need to push through their own reticence to delve into the
moments of greatest conflict.
3. Self-awareness, learning and langua-technocultural competence may emerge
well after the partnership has ended when distance is achieved.

23. References
Agar, M. (1994) Language shock: Understanding the culture of conversation. New York: William Morrow and Company.
Cunningham, J. (2016). Request modification in synchronous computer-mediated communication: The role of focused
instruction. The Modern Language Journal, 100(2), 484-507. DOI: 10.1111/modl.12332
Diaz, A. (2013). Developing critical languaculture pedagogies in higher education: Theory and practice. Bristol, UK:
Multilingual Matters.
EVALUATE Group. (2019). Evaluating the impact of virtual exchange on initial teacher education: A European policy
experiment. Research Publishing.Net. https://www.evaluateproject.eu/evlt-
data/uploads/2019/03/EVALUATE_EPE_2019.pdf
Furstenberg, G., Levet, S., English, K., & Maillet, K. (2001). Giving a virtual voice to the silent language of culture: the
culture project. Language Learning & Technology, 5(1), 55-102. http://www.lltjournal.org/item/2342
Helm, F. (2016). Facilitated dialogue in online intercultural exchange. In O'Dowd, R & Lewis, T. (Eds.), Online intercultural
exchange: Policy, pedagogy, practice (pp. 150–172). New York: Routledge.
Müller-Hartmann, A., & O’Dowd, R. (2017). A Training Manual on Telecollaboration for Teacher trainers.
https://www.evaluateproject.eu/evlt-data/uploads/2017/09/Training-Manual_EVALUATE.pdf

24. References continued...
O'Dowd, R., Sauro, S., & Spector-Cohen, E. (under review). The role of pedagogical mentoring in virtual exchange.
Sauro, S., & Chapelle, C. A. (2017). Toward langua-technocultural competence. In C. A. Chapelle & S. Sauro (Eds.), The
handbook of technology and second language teaching and learning (pp. 459-472). Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Vyatkina, N., & Belz, J.A. (2006). A learner corpus-driven intervention for the development of L2 pragmatic competence. In
K. Bardovi-Harlig, J.C. Fe´lix-Brasdefer, & A. Omar (Eds.), Pragmatics and language learning (pp. 315–357). Honolulu:
National Foreign Language Resource Center, University of Hawai’i.
Ware, P. (2013). Teaching comments: Intercultural communication skills in the digital age. Intercultural Education, 24(4),
315-326. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14675986.2013.809249
Work Group, University of Jyväskylä https://www.jyu.fi/viesti/verkkotuotanto/kp/ci/introduction.shtml