| Abstract: | 在世紀隨著全球化的潮流變得越來越國際化時,在教學領域中,跨文化知能 的重要性也越來越高。就台灣而言,教育部的官方數據顯示,過去十年來,當國小學童總人數下降時,外籍小學生(包含父母因跨國婚姻及工作機會來台的孩童) 人數卻大幅增加。不同學者強調了語言學習與跨文化知能之間的連結 (Byram, 1997; Ruben, 1989, van Ek, 1986);然而,當考慮到使學生在語言教室中具備跨文化知能時,焦點極少被放在正在師資培訓過程中的職前教師身上,教育者必須要熟悉並且擁有此項技能以面對及處理在未來多元文化教室教學中,可能發生的潛在議題。此外,視學習者為在社交互動中建構長久知識的主動角色,社會建構主義教育領域中的地位也愈發重要(Jones & Brader-Araje, 2002; Nyikos & Hashimoto, 1997),因此,本研究採納社會建構主義為基礎,以檢視職前英語教師之跨文化知能以及他們如何在網際網絡合作,使用富有不同分享意見功能的 VoiceThread 共同建構語言教學知識。本研究招募二十七位就讀於台灣、加拿大與美國研究所之職 前語言教師,而這些研究參與者參加 VoiceThread 網際網絡合作。研究途中,研究 參與者根據被給予的情境分享以及交換想法。為了解研究參與者共同建構知識的過程,研究者分析了研究參與者討論之逐字稿。職前英語教師跨文化知能問卷於研究開始與結束時發出給十位來自台灣學校職前英語教師,以獲得研究參與者的跨文化知能之相關資訊;本網際網絡合作計畫結束時,研究者發佈感想問卷給十位 台灣學校之職前英語教師調查以得知研究參與者對本計畫之想法。研究者辨別了認知協商模式與解決辦法協商模式以展示共同知識建構之過程, 統計之結果指出研究參與者於本網際網絡交流計畫前後的跨文化知能並無顯著差異,換句話說,跨文化知能並無明顯進步,多數研究參與者享受此次網際網絡交 ,並視 VoiceThread 為利於協商之工具,此外,研究參與者針對網際網絡交流計畫之顧慮,包含參與者之動機與交流平台之選擇,提出了建議。本研究之研究者建議,未來研究者可招募較多的職前英語教師、設計一份較長時間並搭配完善的網際網絡交流日程、納入量化與質化資料以研究參與者之跨文化知能,以及研究探究社群中社交呈現、教學呈現、認知呈現與學習呈現之變化關係,以對於學習社群之發展提供更深入之見解。
As the world becomes increasingly culturally diverse with the trend of globalization, intercultural competence also gains value in the field of education research. In Taiwan, official statistics from the Ministry of Education show that while the number of foreign elementary students (including children whose parents are in Taiwan due to inter-racial marriages or job opportunities) has greatly increased over the past decade while the total number of elementary school students has decreased. Connections between language learning and intercultural competence have been emphasized by different scholars (Byram, 1997; Ruben, 1989; van Ek, 1986). However, concerning the idea of equipping students with intercultural competence in language classrooms, little focus was placed on pre-service teachers during the teacher-training process. Instructors need to be familiar with and also own the knowledge or skills to cope with potential problems when teaching within multicultural classrooms.In addition, social constructivism has gained importance in the field of education, considering learners to be active participants who construct long-lasting knowledge during social interactions (Jones & Brader-Araje, 2002; Nyikos & Hashimoto, 1997). Hence, this study considered social constructivism as the foundation for examining pre-service English teachers’ intercultural competence and the manner in which they shared and co-constructed their knowledge of language teaching through telecollaboration via an online platform called VoiceThread (VT), which has useful various functions for expressing ideas. This study recruited twenty-seven graduate-level pre-service language teachers from Taiwan, Canada, and the United States. The participants were expected to participate in the VoiceThread-mediated telecollaboration. During the study, the participants expressed and exchanged thoughts according to the given scenarios. Transcripts of the one group of four participants’ discussions were coded and analyzed to investigate the process of knowledge co-construction. Pre- and post-tests of the Pre-service English Teachers’ Intercultural Competence Questionnaire (PETICQ) were distributed to the ten pre-service English teachers from Taiwanese institution before and after the telecollaboration to collect data on the participants’ intercultural competence. A Perception Survey was also distributed to the participants from Taiwanese side to gather the participating pre-service English teachers’ perceptions toward the project.Patterns of Understanding Negotiation (UN) and of Solution Negotiation (SN) were identified to demonstrate the knowledge co-construction process. The statistical results indicated no significant difference between the participants’ intercultural competence before and after the telecollaboration. That is, there was no noticeable improvement in their intercultural competence. Majority of the participants enjoyed the telecollaboration and regarded VT as a useful tool to negotiate meanings but also raised certain concerns such as participants’ motivation and tool selection. The participants proposed suggestions regarding telecollaborative projects. The researcher suggests that future studies could recruit a larger number of pre-service English teachers; design a longer and more coordinated telecollaborative schedule; include both quantitative and qualitative data to examine participants’ intercultural competence; and investigate the dynamics among social, teaching, and cognitive presences of the Community of Inquiry framework and learning presence to provide greater in-depth insight regarding the development of the learning community. |
