Intercultural learning through Chinese-American telecollaboration: results of a song sharing project

Abstract

This study reports on the results of a semester-long Chinese-American telecollaborative exchange via WeChat, in which students from China and the U.S. shared thematically similar songs in their respective languages and discussed relevant cultural topics that were suggested by the students. Various types of qualitative data collected from the exchange (i.e. WeChat group discussion transcripts, videoconferencing audio recordings, final reflection journals, and end-of-semester interviews) showed that the students participated actively in the program and were able to engage in in-depth conversations on various topics with their partners through WeChat group discussion and one-on-one videoconferencing. Many students attributed their positive experience to the intrinsic ability of music to engage college students. In order to evaluate the students’ intercultural learning, Byram’s intercultural competence assessment model was adopted to guide the data analysis. Results showed that the students demonstrated evidence of developing four types of intercultural competences during the exchange: interest in knowing other people’s way of life and introducing one’s own culture to others, knowledge about one’s own and others’ culture for intercultural communication, ability to change perspective, and knowledge about the intercultural communication process, with particularly overwhelming evidence indicating the prominence of the first two types.

Keywords:

• Intercultural learning
• telecollaboration
• virtual exchange
• Chinese
• song

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Han Luo

Han Luo is currently an Assistant Professor of Chinese at Lafayette College, USA. She received a PhD in Foreign Language Education with a specialization in the teaching of Chinese from the University of Texas at Austin in 2011, and a PhD in Linguistics and Applied Linguistics from Beijing Foreign Studies University in 2007.

Pan Gao

Pan Gao is an associate professor of English at the East China University of Science and Technology in Shanghai, China.