Books in the Telecollaboration in Education series

Provides an accessible introduction to some of the methods and theoretical approaches for investigating foreign language interaction and exchange in online environments. This book presents an overview on issues in virtual, intercultural and multimodal research contexts. It includes overviews of varying approaches and extensive literature reviews.

This study has been carried out in institutional and non-institutional settings implementing online tandems and student recordings to analyze discourse patterns. The original studies on corpus data of the L3Task project reflect findings, research paradigms and instruments that consolidate teaching and methodology on online tandem practice.

How can these multilingual, multimodal, collaborative environments be used to promote language and intercultural learning? What are the implications for teachers and learners and what new literacies are required? Do they offer an added-value? This book seeks to answer these questions.

This book focuses on one area in the field of Computer-Mediated Communication that has recently exploded in popularity - Virtual Worlds. Virtual Worlds are online multiplayer three-dimensional environments where avatars represent their real world counterparts. In particular, this text explores the potential for these environments to be used for language learning and telecollaboration. After providing an introduction and history of the area, this volume examines learning theories - both old and new - that apply to the use of Virtual Worlds and language learning. The book also examines some of the most popular Virtual Worlds currently available, including a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of each. The Virtual World of Second Life is explored in depth, including research examining how users of this world are using language there, and how they are using it to enhance their second language skills.

This book explores both a contribution of telecollaboration to the democratic education, solidarity and social justice in the globalized world as well as the complexities and challenges that arise from attempts to align international collaborations and social justice.

This book provides a nexus between research and practice through teachers' narratives of their experiences with telecollaboration. The projects described in the volume serve as excellent examples for any teacher or education stakeholder interested in setting up their own telecollaborative exchange.