Native/non-native speaker interactions through video-web communication: a clue for enhancing motivation?

Abstract

One of the main objectives of the European Networked Interaction in Foreign Language Acquisition and Research (NIFLAR) project is to make foreign language learning and teaching processes more relevant and rewarding for reaching intercultural communicative competence. This is realized by offering foreign language learners and pre-service teachers opportunities to engage in meaningful interaction with each other through video-web communication (VC), according to the requirements set by relevant interaction tasks. In this article, we present the actions taken in the project to enhance students' motivation and the effect VC sessions have on motivation, as measured by pre-, mid-, and post-questionnaires participants filled in prior and after virtual interaction sessions. Significant effects were found particularly for beginner level students on those dimensions measuring aspects related to willingness to interact with native speakers.

Keywords:

• motivation
• willingness to communicate
• synchronous computer-mediated communication
• video-web communication

Notes

1. NIFLAR consists of a partnership of seven universities (Valencia and Granada in Spain, Coimbra in Portugal, Palacky in Olomouc Czech Republic, Nevsky Institute and Novosibirsk in Russia, and Concepción in Chile), two Secondary Schools (in Spain and The Netherlands), an e-learning consultancy organization (TELLConsult in The Netherlands), under the coordination of Utrecht University (The Netherlands). They all share an interest in exploring the added value of introducing blended educational learning systems for the development of communicative and intercultural competence in L2. The project target languages in NIFLAR are Dutch, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

2. For more information on the experiences with Second Life see Jauregi et al. (2011).

3. More information can be found on www.niflar.ning.com and www.niflar.eu.

4. Authenticity in learning addresses the relationship between learning and life, the correspondence and applicability of learning to the world of experience or practice. For a definition of authenticity in language learning see Mishan (2005).

5. Authentic interaction contrasts with artificial interaction. The latter is often carried out in classroom settings where students might possibly share the same L1, (as is the case in many foreign language contexts), have to carry out (uncontextualized) activities to practice target language forms, but have no genuine objective or need to communicate in the target language. Authentic interaction, on the contrary, is co-constructed collaboratively with, in our case, native speech partners. The target language is used in this case to achieve both personal and pedagogical shared goals: to exchange information, opinions, to establish intersubjectivity, to reflect on intercultural patterns, etc. See Jauregi et al. (2011) for a description of criteria used for developing tasks that enhance authentic interaction.