A META-SYNTHESIS OF
CULTURA-BASED PROJECTS
Dorothy ChunUC Santa Barbara
INTENT Conference, Léon
Different Goals & Models of Telecollaboration Goals: global and local
Internationalization of educationDigital literaciesLinguistic, intercultural communicative
competence (ICC) Models
Class to classTandem learning
Cultura Model’s Creators & Goals
Furstenberg, Levet & Waryn @ MIT in 1997
Goals:to make culture (“the silent language,” the
“hidden dimension”) visible to help students understand the values,
attitudes, beliefs and concepts of another culture
Reasons for Meta Synthesis Why?
To document many different adaptationsTo provide advice for future exchanges
How?Extensive survey sent to 30 known project
leadersResponse from 18 (60% return rate)
Research Questions
RQ1: What were the
goals that led to the
adoption of the Cultura
model?
RQ 2: What were the
processes in the
implementation of the project that
built towards to
goals?
RQ 3: What kind
of data was
gathered in order to
determine whether the goals
were achieved?
RQ 1What were the goals that led to the adoption of the Cultura model?
Participant InformationProgram settingL2 taught4-year university 15 (83%) English 8 High school 2 (11 %) French 22-year comm coll 1 (6 %) Samoan 2Spanish 2Chinese 2Filipino 1German 1Japanese 1
Prior Experience with Cultura
Twice (28%)
Four times (28%)
Six times (17%)
10 or more times (10%)
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
Students’ Proficiency Levels
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
2
A2 (14%)
B1 (43%)
B2 (14%)
C1 (29%)
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
Reasons for Choosing Cultura
External:1. Opportunity to learnabout Cultura2. Opportunity to participate in a project
Internal:1. Belief or interest2. Innovation to language program3. Additional intercultural learning opportunity
Expected Learning Outcomes
Language: skills,
attitudes
Other: sense of learning community
Culture: skills,
knowledge, attitudes
Language skills (15)Language attitudes (2)
Culture skills (7)Cultural knowledge (6)Cultural attitudes (13)
Language vs. Culture Learning
Language learn-ing more impor-tant (5.6%)Cultural learning more important (61.1%)Language and cultural learning equally important (33.3%)
Summary: RQ1 (Goals) External & internal motivations
Believed in the modelLanguage skills, confidence,
motivationImprovement in cultural knowledge,
skills, awareness, and openness to another culture
RQ 2What were the processes in the implementation of the project that built towards the goals?
Cultura One of Course Activities
Your c
ourse
Partne
r 1’s
cours
e
Partne
r 2’s
cours
e0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Main course ac-tivityOne of course activitiesExtracurricular or optional activ-ity
Features/Activities Used
Questi
onna
ires
Forum
s
Imag
es
Videoc
onfer
ence
sFilm
s
Newss
tand
Data0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Modes of Interaction
Text-b
ased
chat
Text-b
ased
forum
s
Video-c
hat
Other
0102030405060708090
L1 and L2 in Interactions
0102030405060
Little Teacher Involvement Online
Not at all (44.4%)A little (16.7%)Somewhat (33.3%)A lot (5.6%)
Roles of the Teacher Online
Discussion facilita-tor (56.3%)Model provider (43.8%)Language feedback (68.8%)Content feedback (56.3%)Monitor (18.8%)
Summary: RQ 2 (Implementation) Great variability Only part of curriculum, sometimes
extracurricular Text-based questionnaires & forums
most popular; video chats too Mixture of L1 & L2 used Teachers’ participation minimal Exchanges ranged from 3-24 weeks
RQ 3What kind of data was gathered in order to determine whether the goals (learning outcomes) were achieved?
Data Gathered for Assessment
Online (9) Written homework (6) Survey, interviews (5) Reflective reports, self-
assessment (4) In class activities (4)
Student Learning Gains Reported
Language Culture
Skill
Knowled
ge
Attitud
es01234567
Skill
Knowled
ge
Attitud
es0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Mixed Teachers’ Impressions Positive (10):
Culture learningInstructional integration
Negative (2):Student motivation/interestInstructional alignment & integration
Mixed (3) or Neutral (4)
Positive Students’ Reactions Positive (11):
Motivation/interestLearning communityLanguage learning
Negative (1):Lack of partners’ responsiveness
Mixed (3)
Challenges Encountered Management and logistics (22) Instructional alignment and
integration with curriculum (14) Student motivation/interest (5) Technology (4)
Summary: RQ3 Data & LO Wide variety of data gathered,
both online and offline Learning outcomes: almost as
many gains in linguistic areas as in cultural areas
Overall teacher and student satisfaction
Common challenges
Recommendations
1. Set realistic goalsKnow your learners and their
abilities/proficiencyMost successful with intermediate
and advanced L2 learnersConsider both linguistic and cultural
gains
Recommendations
2. Planning, planning, planningClose communicationCommon goals, curricular
commitmentsModel adaptationAppropriate tools and activitiesFlexibilityBuy-in at all levels
Recommendations
3. Follow up on online activitiesOnline interaction does not ensure
learning or understandingMisunderstandings could have
linguistic or cultural origins (or both)In-depth classroom discussions are
essential
Muchas gracias y buena suerte con sus proyectos de futuro!