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Andreas Schober
Innovative school trips: E- and M-Learning and
Intercultural Communicative Competence
DIPLOMARBEIT
zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades
Magister der Philosophie
Lehramt Englisch/Geographie und Wirtschaftskunde
Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt
Fakultät für Kulturwissenschaften / Fakultät für Wirtschaftswissenschaften
Begutachter: Ao.Univ.-Prof. Dr. Werner Delanoy
Institut: Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik
November/2012
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Ehrenwörtliche Erklärung für Masterarbeiten, Diplomarbeiten und Dissertation en
Ich erkläre ehrenwörtlich, dass ich die vorliegende wissenschaftliche Arbeit selbstständig angefertigt und die mit ihr unmittelbar verbundenen Tätigkeiten selbst erbracht habe. Ich erkläre weiters, dass ich keine anderen als die angegebenen Hilfsmittel benutzt habe. Alle ausgedruckten, ungedruckten oder dem Internet im Wortlaut oder im wesentlichen Inhalt übernommenen Formulierungen und Konzepte sind gemäß den Regeln für wissenschaftliche Arbeiten zitiert und durch Fußnoten bzw. durch andere genaue Quellenangaben gekennzeichnet.
Die während des Arbeitsvorganges gewährte Unterstützung einschließlich signifikanter Betreuungshinweise ist vollständig angegeben.
Die wissenschaftliche Arbeit ist noch keiner anderen Prüfungsbehörde vorgelegt worden. Diese Arbeit wurde in gedruckter und elektronischer Form abgegeben. Ich bestätige, dass der Inhalt der digitalen Version vollständig mit dem der gedruckten Version übereinstimmt. Ich bin mir bewusst, dass eine falsche Erklärung rechtliche Folgen haben wird.
St.Andrä, 18.Dezember 2012
(Unterschrift) (Ort, Datum)
© Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt, Fachabteilung Studien- und Prüfungswesen version 2007-07-04 I:\UL-ADL\FA_STUD\Formulare_NEU_2011\Master- und Diplomarbeiten\ehrenwoertliche_erklaerung.doc
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Abbreviations
AHS = Allgemein bildende höhere Schule AIE = Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters BMUKK = Bundesministerium für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur CEFR = Common European Framework of reference for languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment CMS = Content Management System COE = Council of Europe ELP = European Language Portfolio FL = Foreign Language FLC = Foreign Language Classroom FLL = Foreign Language Learning FLT = Foreign Language Teaching GPS = Global Positioning System ICC = Intercultural Communicative Competence ICT = Information and communication technology IT = Information technology L1 = First language, mother tongue Learning Content Management System = LCMS LMS = Learning Management System MLE = Mobile Learning Engine OECD = Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development PC = Personal Computer PDA = Personal Digital Assistant RLO = Reusable Learning Objects USB = Universal Serial Bus WLAN = Wireless Local Area Network
Figures
Fig. 1.1 Scheme of Byram’s (1997) model ICC (Byram, 1997:34, edited)
Fig. 1.2 Byram’(1997) comprehensive model of ICC (Byram, 1997: 73)
Fig. 2.1 Kolb’s learning cycle. Available at:
http://www.ldu.leeds.ac.uk/ldu/sddu_multimedia/images/kolb_cycle.gif
Fig. 3.1. Scheme of LCMS. (Nichani, 2001 edited in Baumgartner et al. 2002a: 25)
Available at: http://winfwiki.wi-fom.de/images/thumb/e/ee/LCMS.jpg/600px-LCMS.jpg
Fig. 5.1 Make you laugh (telephone box)
Fig. 5.2 Smell (fish market)
Fig. 5.3 Have the color x (e.g. red - bus)
Fig. 5.4 Make a sound (cavalry)
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Fig. 5.5 Are new (the London Eye)
Fig. 5.6 Are old (sewing machines)
Fig. 5.7 School trip schedule
Tables Tab. 1.1 A record from my Intercultural Experiences (Byram, 2000: 11f.) Tab 1.2 A self-assessment of my Intercultural Experience (Byram, 2000: 12f.) Tab. 3.1 Comparision between e-learning 1.0 and e-learning 2.0, (Kerres, 2006: 6, edited) Tab.3.2 Traditional classroom learning vs. e-learning (Zhang, D. et al. 2004: 76)
Table of Content
Ehrenwörtliche Erklärung....................................................................................................... i
Abbreviations ........................................................................................................................ ii
Figures ................................................................................................................................... ii
Tables ................................................................................................................................... iii
Abstract .................................................................................................................................. 1
Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 2
1 Intercultural Communicative Competence ......................................................................... 6
1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 6
1.2 Byram’s model of ICC ................................................................................................ 6
1.3 Teaching culture ........................................................................................................ 11
1.4 Intercultural Competence .......................................................................................... 12
1.4.1 Tourist vs. Sojourner .......................................................................................... 13
1.5 Teaching Intercultural Communicative Competence ................................................ 14
1.5.1 Objectives of teaching ICC ................................................................................ 15
1.5.2 Intercultural speaker ........................................................................................... 16
1.5.3 Difficulties in teaching ICC ................................................................................ 17
1.5.4 ICC in the classroom .......................................................................................... 18
1.5.5 Assessment of ICC ............................................................................................. 19
1.5.6 The third place .................................................................................................... 22
1.5.7 Stereotypes ......................................................................................................... 24
1.6 ICC in the Curriculum ............................................................................................... 25
1.6.1 General Curriculum AHS in Austria .................................................................. 25
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1.6.2 Intercultural learning as an educational principle............................................... 26
1.6.3 Curriculum for Teaching Foreign Languages – AHS Oberstufe ........................ 27
2 School Trips ...................................................................................................................... 28
2.1 Encountering Reality ................................................................................................. 28
2.2 About School trips ..................................................................................................... 30
2.2.1 Types of school trips .......................................................................................... 30
2.2.2 Advantages of school trips ................................................................................. 31
2.2.3 Disadvantages of school trips ............................................................................. 33
2.2.4 Suggestions for teachers ..................................................................................... 36
2.3 Three stages of school trips ....................................................................................... 36
2.3.1 Kolb’s learning cycle .......................................................................................... 36
2.4 School trips and ICC ................................................................................................. 38
2.5 Curriculum and school trips ...................................................................................... 42
2.5.1 General Curriculum – Allgemein bildende höhere Schulen (AHS) ................... 43
2.5.2 Curriculum - foreign language AHS - Oberstufe ............................................... 44
3 E-Learning ........................................................................................................................ 46
3.1 E-Learning 2.0 ........................................................................................................... 48
3.2 Learning Content Management Systems (LCMS) .................................................... 50
3.3 Moodle ....................................................................................................................... 51
3.3.1 Moodle functions ................................................................................................ 52
3.4 Benefits and Drawbacks of E-learning ...................................................................... 53
3.5 E-Learning in Austria ................................................................................................ 55
3.5.1 Official Austrian e-learning websites ................................................................. 56
3.6 E-Learning and ICC................................................................................................... 57
3.6.1 E-learning to foster Intercultural Competence ................................................... 58
3.6.2 E-Mail projects ................................................................................................... 58
3.6.3 Blog projects ....................................................................................................... 61
3.7 Curriculum and E-Learning ....................................................................................... 62
3.8 From E-learning to M-learning ................................................................................. 64
4 M-Learning ....................................................................................................................... 64
4.1 Definitions ............................................................................................................ 64
4.2 Advantages of M-Learning ........................................................................................ 66
4.3 Disadvantages of M-Learning ................................................................................... 67
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4.4 Mobile devices ........................................................................................................... 68
4.5 Mobile learning in classrooms ................................................................................... 69
4.5.1 Smartphone ......................................................................................................... 70
4.5.2 Smartphone Apps ............................................................................................... 71
4.5.3 Ipad ..................................................................................................................... 74
4.5.4 Other mobile devices .......................................................................................... 75
4.6 M-learning with Moodle ............................................................................................ 76
4.7 M-learning and ICC ................................................................................................... 77
5 School trip to London ....................................................................................................... 77
5.1 The structure of the trip ............................................................................................. 78
5.1.1 Problem analysis ................................................................................................. 78
5.2 The Trip ..................................................................................................................... 81
5.3 The Preparatory Phase ............................................................................................... 81
5.3.1 Create a Moodle course ...................................................................................... 82
5.3.2 Moodle functions used for the school trip .......................................................... 82
5.3.3 Meaningful e- content ......................................................................................... 83
5.3.4 Using Internet sources ........................................................................................ 84
5.4 Preparation 1: Hometown - Klagenfurt ..................................................................... 85
5.4.1 Homework task ................................................................................................... 86
5.4.2 Group Task in class ............................................................................................ 87
5.4.3 Presentation about students’ topics .................................................................... 89
5.4.4 Foreignness in their own hometown ................................................................... 89
5.5 Preparation 2: E-mail project about Klagenfurt ........................................................ 90
5.6 Preparation 3: London ............................................................................................... 92
5.6.1 Students’ expectations – London in 20 words .................................................... 92
5.6.2 Virtual sightseeing in London ............................................................................ 93
5.7 Field-work phase ....................................................................................................... 94
5.7.1 Geocaching in London........................................................................................ 95
5.7.2 Assessing senses via pictures ............................................................................. 97
5.8 Blog project ............................................................................................................. 100
5.8.1 Interviews ......................................................................................................... 101
5.8.2 Intercultural Interviews .................................................................................... 103
5.8.3 Intercultural topics ............................................................................................ 104
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5.8.4 Ethnicities in London ....................................................................................... 106
5.8.5 Camden Markets ............................................................................................... 108
5.8.6 Food .................................................................................................................. 110
5.8.7 Cool Britannia and Youth culture in London ................................................... 113
5.9 Follow-up Phase ...................................................................................................... 116
5.9.1 Reflection ......................................................................................................... 116
5.9.2 Portfolio ............................................................................................................ 117
5.9.3 Presentation ...................................................................................................... 119
5.9.4 Project schedule ................................................................................................ 120
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 121
References ......................................................................................................................... 127
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Abstract
Language teachers are confronted with many challenges concerning students’ needs for
learning for their further lives. This paper discusses four important issues of Foreign
Language Teaching (FLT) and combines them with an innovative school trip. Intercultural
communicative competence, school trips, e-learning and m-learning are combined and
result in an innovative school trip to London. This trip aims at helping students to
understand different cultures and perspectives and at using modern technology as part of
the learning process.
In the first chapters of this paper, those four aforementioned issues are outlined. ICC
turned out to be the main challenge for language teachers. Because of this, all other
challenges are linked to it and they are discussed in theory as well. After giving a
theoretical overview about how e-learning, m-learning and school trips can be linked with
ICC, the school trip to London is described in detail. The school trip consists of three
phases. Every phase includes different tasks and achieves different objectives. All different
steps are supported by an online course on a learning platform. In the first phase of the
project, the students are exposed to their own culture in an alternative way, as they
experience that there are different perspectives about their own hometown. They have the
possibility to encounter foreignness in their own social environment. Subsequent to those
experiences, an e-mail project with native English speakers helps them to understand these
different perspectives. The new insights about their own culture enable the students to
become more open for new experiences in other cultures. This serves as a basis for practice
in London. In London the students full-fill tasks that force them to communicate with
individuals from other cultures. Their intercultural encounters are then gathered in a blog
on the Internet. Besides the main tasks, the students are also required to assess all their
senses via pictures. This helps them to observe the phenomena of different cultures. After
this intensive involvement with other cultures, the students reflect on their experiences.
“The Autobiography of intercultural encounters” by the COE serves as the main reflective
tool. The students describe one of their encounters with a representative of a different
culture during their school trip to London. As the final segment, the experiences,
reflections and other content are summarized in an online portfolio. Finally, the students
prepare a presentation about their experiences in London.
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This particular example underlines the importance of school trips in the process of
developing ICC. Further on, the advantages of e- and m-learning to support this process are
also highlighted as well as the challenges that teachers are faced with regardless of the
benefits to the students.
Introduction
Due to increasing internationalization and globalization, research in language teaching has
gained more and more importance. In modern language teaching, teachers have to face
many challenges to fulfill students’ needs. In this paper, four important issues for FLT are
covered in conjunction with a school trip. The four issues, intercultural communicative
competence, school trips, e-learning and m-learning are combined and result in an
innovative school trip to London. This trip is intended to develop ICC. Furthermore, it uses
modern technology to foster the learning process and to provide students with new
opportunities for language learning.
The first issue is not only the central topic of this paper, but also guides students in
developing intercultural communicative competences. When learning a language, it is
essential for students to experience and understand other cultures. They learn how to
communicate with individuals from cultures different than their own. The second issue
dealt with is school trips. Teachers take students to journeys away from their normal
environment to gain new experiences. The third issue is e-learning. Students can make use
of modern technology during their learning process. The last issue for language teachers
dealt with in this paper, is m-learning. Often seen as a development of e-learning, m-
learning offers students ubiquity of learning. The reason for this is the fact that mobile
devices allow learning anywhere and anytime.
As a future language teacher, my intention is to deal with those four important issues and
to develop an innovative concept for a school trip. I used my personal experiences to
develop a detailed concept for a school trip to London. I am really looking forward to
conducting it in a few years as a language teacher. One important aspect is that I
experienced both different educational perspectives: being a student as well as teacher.
This helped me to take both perspectives into consideration.
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The first educational perspective I experienced, was the perspective of a student. When I
was a student I went on a school trip to London with my classmates. I really enjoyed it, but
I could not really experience the aspects needed to develop ICC. The main purpose of the
trip was sightseeing and the possibility to make intercultural encounters was limited.
Besides some small-talk with people from London in our limited free-time, I hardly had
the chance to speak to anyone from a different culture. The communication with my host
family only included formal interactions like greetings and small talk. The conversations
with our native English teachers in the London language school were also formal. They
appeared to be concerned predominantly with teaching English, instead of talking about
their own perspectives about London. Based on these experiences, I realized that going on
a school trip is not enough for developing ICC.
Later on in my studies as a student at University, I took the opportunity to spend one
semester abroad in the USA. There I experienced people from all over the world and
learned to understand different viewpoints. I also absorbed knowledge about other cultures
and I learned to view my own culture from a different angle. Personally, I believe that
these experiences helped me to become more open-minded. To illustrate the importance of
experiencing different cultures I want to give the following quote:
“How shall I talk of the sea to the frog, If it has never left his pond? How shall I talk of the frost to the bird of the summerland, If it has never left the land of its birth? How shall I talk of life with the sage, If he is prisoner of his doctrine?” (Chung Tsu, 4th Century B.C. cited in Fantini, 2000: 25)
The semester abroad helped me to develop ICC and I also improved my skills as an
intercultural speaker. For a better understanding of the theoretical background behind ICC,
important terms will be explained in the first chapter of the paper.
Besides the trip to London and my semester abroad, I also experienced other aspects of this
paper personally in school and at University. While attending a school with focus on IT, I
already experienced the LCMS Moodle even at an early stage of development. Soon I
started to appreciate e-learning and using Moodle. My interest in Moodle recurred when I
experienced language courses at University, which used Moodle for class content. The
high acceptance amongst students showed me that e-learning does not only ease the
distribution of content, but also increases the students’ motivation.
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Neither in school, nor at university had I really gained first-hand experiences with m-
learning. I merely received some information about University projects that dealt with
smartphone apps. Therefore, I read articles that reported on m-learning projects with
students. With the help of this paper, I also wanted to learn more about m-learning and
how it can be used in language teaching.
The second educational perspective I experienced, was the perspective of being a language
teacher. In the course of my studies, I was also required to teach some English lessons at
school. Although I have had little experience teaching, I gained some experiences which
are important for this paper. While teaching an English class, I connected one of the topics
from the book with talking about the students’ expectations about their own trip to
England. Their school trip to London happened shortly after my teaching session in school.
I found out that the students apparently like school trips abroad and that they also have
different expectations about the English culture.
Additionally, I realized that e-learning is frequently used in schools as well as Moodle,
which is a learning management system that is described in this paper. The idea to
implement m-learning in a language learning class was new to me. Although there was no
pedagogical concept available, I wanted students to make use of their smartphones and
research on some topics. The students liked it and my surveys in various classes showed
me that approximately 90 percent of the students own a smartphone which is necessary for
m-learning.
All the experiences that I have had from both educational perspectives, showed me that a
combination of all mentioned issues for language teachers mentioned could be used for a
real school trip. Nevertheless, the experiences were not enough, so a theoretical concept
behind my idea had to be developed. Two hypotheses were constructed and had to be
verified.
“Students develop Intercultural Communicative Competence on school trips”
“Developing Intercultural Communicative Competence on school trips can be
facilitated by e- and m-learning”
Besides corroborating the two hypotheses, the paper also deals with some further
questions for research. First, I wanted to ask what school trips are and how students can
profit from them. Then it was important to investigate what the curricular perspective
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about school trips is. After this, different aspects of ICC had to be examined. I wanted to
find out what ICC actually is, why students need it and how they profit from it. The next
goal was to find out which concepts of ICC are available and how they can be related to a
school trip. In terms of e- and m-learning, a clear definition had to be made and the
students’ benefits were mentioned. After discussing every topic in theory, I had to think
about the interrelations of topics and formulate new questions. I wanted to know whether
students profit from e- and m-learning supported trips in terms of a development of ICC.
Furthermore my interest was what tools and methods should be used for this trip. After
deciding what to examine in this paper, I had to clarify how to answer all those questions.
After formulating the two hypotheses and research questions, I decided to take two
important steps in developing a theoretical background for this paper. Firstly, I knew that
I needed to do extended literary research for all of the four issues. Lots of books from
different authors were investigated. There is a strong emphasis on Michael Byram’s
publications and authors relating to his findings. His model and concepts also provide the
theoretical foundation of this paper - Intercultural Communicative Competence. Secondly,
all other issues of this paper had to be linked to Byram’s models and concepts. Parts of the
tasks have already been proved by scholars and showed to be relevant for a development of
ICC.
To test the feasibility of the developed tasks, I visited London twice in 2012. Some of my
friends were curious to try out some of the tasks in practice. Unfortunately, the number of
participants was too low to offer representative findings, but all of them agreed that they
have gained positive experiences for their lives. In this paper, personal experiences are
only stated if necessary to back up theory and give practical examples. Most of the findings
in relation to the tasks are derived from literature.
Finally, I want to mention what my expectations of this paper were. At first, I wanted to
verify the two hypotheses and find answers for the questions raised. In addition, I also had
some more expectations about the different issues dealt with in this paper. I expected all of
the topics to be time-consuming and wanted to show that e- and m-learning can help to
save time and make content readily available. I also assumed that students are particularly
interested in modern forms of teaching. The main focus was teaching via computer and
smartphones as students seem to respond well to both. I anticipated that students would
like to use these devices in class and on school trips.
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I was highly motivated to investigate ICC, school trips, e- and m-learning in relation to
each other and work on a practical example. The result is an innovative school trip that
tries to verify that school trips supported by e- and m-learning help to develop ICC.
1 Intercultural Communicative Competence
1.1 Introduction
There are two basic ways of learning a language: in natural contexts, in everyday life or in
institutional contexts in schools. Teachers work mostly within institutional contexts, but
also have to deal with experiences gained outside of the classroom. This way, teachers can
concentrate on intensive language work and structure the language learning process. To
enable students to gain experiences beyond their own culture, teachers often create or
simulate a foreign language environment. The challenge is that teachers are mostly
restricted to the duration of a lesson lasting around 45 minutes. (Müller-Hartmann &
Schocker-v.Ditfurth, 2009: 18) By simulating a foreign language environment, teachers
meet objectives of FLT, as students need to participate in a language system different from
their own. (Bredella. 1999: 111) Participation is still insufficient, as learners are required to
understand other cultures and learn how to communicate with individuals from other
backgrounds. The concept behind this has been established as Intercultural Communicative
Competence (ICC). Byram et al. (2002) state that “intercultural communication is
communication on the basis of respect for individuals and equality of human rights as the
democratic basis for social interaction.” (2002: 9) In the following chapter, the concept
behind the term ICC is discussed in greater detail and linked to principles of teaching.
1.2 Byram’s model of ICC
ICC is a complex subject and many attempts have been made to categorize interculturally
competent learners. One of the most acknowledged models for ICC is Byram’s (1997)
model of Intercultural Communicative Competence, which defines the learning objectives
in the development of ICC. An important aspect of his model is the link to the concept of
the intercultural speaker. This notion contradicts the widely used model there being a
native speaker of a language. Byram (1997) developed a scheme of ICC, based on his
reflections, the factors involved in ICC and their relationship to each other. As presented in
Fig. 1.1, the model of ICC includes five dimensions of ICC, namely attitudes, skills of
interpreting and relating, critical cultural awaren ess, knowledge and skills of
discovery and interaction.
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Savoir comprendre / skills of interpreting and relating
Savoirs / knowledge Savoir s’engager / critical cultural awareness
Savoir être / attitudes
Savoir apprendre / faire / skills of discovery and interaction
Fig. 1.1 Scheme of Byram’s (1997) model of ICC
The first component of Byram’s model is attitudes, which comprises “curiosity and
openness, readiness to suspend disbelief about other cultures and belief about ones’ own.”
(1997: 50) Students should show the following qualities:
(a) “willingness to seek out or take up opportunities to engage with otherness in a relationship of equality; this should be distinguished from attitudes of seeking out the exotic or of seeking to profit from others
(b) interest in discovering other perspectives on interpretation of familiar and unfamiliar phenomena both in one’s own and in other’s cultures and cultural practices.
(c) willingness to question the values and presuppositions in cultural practices and products in one’s environment
(d) readiness to experience the different stages of adaptation to and interaction with another culture during a period of residence;
(e) readiness to engage with the conventions and rites of verbal and nonverbal communication and interaction” (Byram, 1997: 50)
As attitudes are at the core of Byram’s objectives, it is crucial to think about how to work
towards them in the classroom. Müller-Hartmann and Schocker-v. Ditfurth (2009) outlined
how to develop these attitudes in a classroom setting. According to them, brainstorming is
one of the methods as well as visual aids which create a feeling of curiosity and interest,
especially when working with texts. The texts used should be written by learners from
other cultures who write about their life experiences. Authentic texts from different
cultures, like songs or interviews could be implemented as teaching material. In addition,
virtual or face-to-face encounters with people from different cultures should also be
conducted, which can be achieved by e-mail or exchange projects. These activities need to
have a preparatory phase that focuses on cultural similarities, before starting the actual
project. (2009: 24ff.)
The second component of Byram’s model is knowledge: “of social groups and their
products and practices in one’s own and one’s interlocutor’s country, and the general
processes of societal and individual interaction.” (1997: 51) Students should acquire the
following knowledge, which is necessary for understanding other perspectives:
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a. “historical and contemporary relationships between one’s own and one’s interlocutor’s countries
b. the means of achieving contact with interlocutors from another country (at a distance or in proximity), of travel to and from and the institutions which facilitate contact or help resolve problems.
c. types of causes of misunderstanding between interlocutors of different cultural origins d. the national memory of one’s own country and how its events are related to and seen from
the perspective of other countries e. the national memory of one’s interlocutor’s country and the perspective on them from one’s
own country f. the national definitions of geographical space in one’s own country, and how these are
perceived from the perspective of other countries g. the national definitions of geographical space in one’s interlocutor’s country and the
perspective on them from one’s own h. the processes and institutions of socialization in one’s own and the interlocutors’ country i. social distinctions and their principal markers, in one’s own country and in the interlocutor’s k. the processes of social interaction in the interlocutor’s country” (Byram, 1997: 51)
Teachers should provide the learners with films, texts, websites or other authentic material
about stereotypes. (Müller-Hartmann & Schocker-v.Ditfurth, 2009: 25ff.) Another good
way to gain knowledge is to invite guest speakers to class to talk about stereotypes or
cultural similarities.
The third component of Byram’s (1997) model is skills of interpreting and relating. This
means “ability to interpret a document or event from another culture, to explain it and
relate it to documents or events from one’s own”. (1997: 52) Students should be able to:
a) “identify ethnocentric perspectives in a document or event and explain their origins; b) identify areas of misunderstanding and dysfunction in an interaction and explain them in
terms of each of the cultural systems present; c) mediate between conflicting interpretations of phenomena“(Byram, 1997: 52)
To acquire skills of interpreting and relating, students should work with tasks that demand
intensive work with the material provided by teachers. For example, students are required
to read, analyze and interpret texts carefully, in order to change their perspective towards
interculturality. Dealing with texts can also be achieved with creative tasks, like changing
the ending or the beginning of a story. Another approach to dealing with skills of
interpreting and relating, is to conduct projects in which the students are exposed to new
situations and thus become familiar with various cultural points of view. (Müller-Hartmann
& Schocker-v. Ditfurth, 2009:25ff.)
The fourth component of Byram’s model is skills of discovery and interaction. They are
described as the “ability to acquire new knowledge of a culture and cultural practices and
the ability to operate knowledge, attitudes and skills under the constraints of real-time
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communication and interaction.” (1997: 52) According to Byram, language learners should
acquire the following skills.
(a)“elicit from an interlocutor the concepts and values of documents or events and develop an explanatory system susceptible of application to other phenomena (b) identify significant references within and across cultures and elicit their significance and connotations; (c) identify similar and dissimilar processes of interaction, verbal and non-verbal, and negotiate an appropriate use of them in specific circumstances; (d) use in real time an appropriate combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes to interact with interlocutors from a different country and culture, taking into consideration the degree of one’s existing familiarity with the country, culture and language and the extent of difference between one’s own and the other.(e) identify contemporary and past relationships between one’s own and the other culture and country (f) identify and make use of public and private institutions which facilitate contact with other countries and cultures; (g)use, in real time, knowledge, skills and attitudes for mediation between interlocutors of one’s own and a foreign culture” (Byram, 1997: 52f.)
The main feature of skills of discovery and interaction is interactivity. Students may
compare e-mails from projects or experience virtual or face-to-face encounters, via
webcams or chats. When students communicate with people from other cultures, they
experience communication problems and negotiating of cultural meaning takes place.
Müller-Hartmann and Schocker-v. Ditfurth (2009) place a strong emphasis on, study visits.
On these trips, students experience the skills of discovery and interaction via observation
tasks, which could deal with themes like sounds, images or smells in a foreign place.
(2009: 26ff.)
The last component of Byram’s (1997) model is critical cultural awareness or political
education. This can be interpreted as “an ability to evaluate, critically and on the basis of
explicit criteria, perspectives, practices and products in one’s own and other cultures’
countries.” (Byram, 1997: 53) According to Byram, language learners should be able to:
(a)” identify and interpret explicit and implicit values in documents and events in one’s own and other culture’s (b) make an evaluative analysis of the documents and events which refer sociocultural to an explicit perspective and criteria (c) interact and mediate in intercultural exchanges in accordance with explicit criteria, negotiating where necessary a degree of acceptance of those exchanges by drawing upon one’s knowledge, skills and attitudes” (Byram, 1997: 53f.)
In general, critical cultural awareness can be achieved by the evaluation of other
cultures, while maintaining a critical perspective on one’s own culture. Let me add,
however, that Byram does not see critical awareness as independent of the other
10
components. Indeed, they all interlink with critical cultural awareness and provide a
foundation for critical thinking. Examples of such critical evaluations might be to reflect
on how different societies deal with immigration or to look at perspectives in a text from
various perspectives. (Müller-Hartmann & Schocker-v. Ditfurth, 2009: 26)
Byram’s (1997) model of ICC consists of five components that are involved in the
development of ICC. They can be considered the hallmarks of an intercultural speaker.
Figure 1.2 shows Byram’s (1997) comprehensive model of ICC that depicts the five
interrelated components. In this model he also points out that there are three locations
where learning takes place: the classroom, fieldwork and independent learning. He also
points out that there are also other competences needed for the development of ICC.
According to Byram (1997) ICC is linked to discourse competence, linguistic competence
and sociolinguistic competence.
‘Discourse competence’ comprises abilities to connect various utterances in a discourse to
form meaningful output. This output can be in the form of oral or written text. (Müller-
Hartmann & Schocker-v. Ditfurth, 2009: 22) ‘Linguistic competence’ is described as the
ability to utilize the elements of the linguistic system. The elements are phonology,
grammar and vocabulary. Those elements are crucial for interpretation and production of
spoken or written texts. ‘Sociolinguistic competence’, or ‘Intercultural competence’, as
Usó-Juan and Martínez-Flor (2008) refer to it in their model, is conceptualized as
knowledge of the sociocultural context. It is important to know how to interpret and
produce spoken and written texts within that specific context. In this sociocultural context,
cultural factors and cross-cultural awareness need to be known. The knowledge about rules
of behavior in a particular culture is an example of a cultural factor. (2008: 161)The main
idea behind Byram’s (1997) comprehensive model in Fig. 1.2 is that learners who acquire
ICC should be able “to interact with people from another country and culture in a foreign
language.” (1997: 71)
11
Fig. 1.2 Byram’s (1997) comprehensive model of ICC
1.3 Teaching culture
Before dealing with teaching Intercultural Communicative Competence a careful
consideration of the term culture is needed in order to know how to teach about it. Delanoy
& Volkmann (2006) give a holistic explanation for cultures:
“Cultures are thought of as open, wide-ranging and complex systems shaping the lives of human beings and being shaped by them in turn […] elitist notions are rejected in favor of a far-reaching concept of culture (culture as way of life), in which popular and everyday cultural practices are also recognized as valuable cultural experience.” (2006: 11)
According to this definition, cultures are open systems that help to shape the individual’s
perspectives and provide important experiences to members of that culture. In addition,
there are several other definitions of culture that consider different aspects of cultures.
Kramsch (1993), for example, refuses to accept cultures as closed, homogenous or stable
entities. Cultures are rather heterogeneous and incomplete in their development. (1993: 62)
This definition takes the dynamic processes of cultures into consideration, which insinuates
that cultures change from time to time. Hofstede (1984) for example defines culture as "the
collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one category of
people from another." (1984: 51).This definition does not take any change or heterogeneity
into account. In this paper, culture is understood as a mix between the two previous
definitions, meaning that although cultures are complex and heterogeneous systems, they
are also open to change.
12
Recent discussions about the relation between culture and language show that language
learners have to understand cultures. One can only understand and speak a foreign
language, when the culture is understood. (Bredella, 1999: 86) When people learn their
native language, they learn it in a social and cultural context. Therefore, it is obvious that
language and culture are interrelated. Without language, people are not able to perform
social acts and without participating in a culture, speech acts would not have any
significance. (Bredella, 1999: 88)
Despite earlier notions, culture is not learnt by osmosis. To understand the concept of
culture, an intellectual effort has to be made, because culture “is not readily accessible to
be noticed, analyzed and taught. Culture is embedded in language as an intangible, all-
pervasive and highly variable force”. (Crozet & Liddicoat, 1999: 116) When teaching
culture in the language classroom, it is important to consider that culture is not
homogenous. Every language learner will have particular cultural elements from foreign
cultures as well. (Bredella, 1999: 98) This heterogeneity can even be recognized within the
classroom. Breen (1985) even interprets the classroom as a culture in its own right:
“A language class[… ]is an arena of subjective and intersubjective realities which are
worked out, changed, and maintained. And these realities are not trivial background to the
tasks of teaching and learning a language. They locate and define the new language itself
as if it never existed before, and they continually specify and mould the activities of
teaching and learning.”(Breen, 1985: 142)
Besides understanding the complex cultural situation in the language classroom, the
teacher should also set meaningful tasks and try to create a rich learning environment.
(Müller-Hartmann & Schocker-v. Ditfurth, 2009: 19) Nevertheless, dealing with cultures is
not enough for the development of ICC, as the cultures’ relations to each other are also
essential
1.4 Intercultural Competence
When dealing with different cultures, learners are inevitably confronted with the term
‘intercultural’. Edmondson and House (1998) neglect the term ‘intercultural’ for foreign
language teaching and interpret it as redundant. In their opinion, every foreign language
teaching is intercultural, so there is no necessity for an additional term. (cf. Bredella &
Delanoy, 1999: 11) When comparing this statement to other concepts of language teaching
it becomes evident that other styles like communicative language teaching are also
tautologic. Intercultural foreign language teaching is far from being tautologic. The
13
intercultural approach towards language teaching is to appropriately use the opportunities
intercultural teaching offers foreign language teachers. (Bredella & Delanoy, 1999: 11)
Müller-Hartmann & Schocker-v. Dithfurth (2009) mention intercultural communicative
competence as the primary goal of foreign language learning. (cf. 2009: 18) Although
teaching would involve more intercultural elements, an intercultural approach does not
replace linguistic or communicative competences. Those competences are also part of
Byram’s (1997) model of ICC, which will be introduced later in this chapter. When
teaching intercultural competences, learners should experience foreign languages and
cultures from their own perspective and discover how to understand the differences.
(Bredella & Delanoy, 1999: 11)
1.4.1 Tourist vs. Sojourner
After World War 2, foreign language learning was oriented towards a tourist perspective.
The reason for this narrowed perspective of cultures and languages was to prepare students
for trips abroad. Lessons dealt with simple speech acts like asking for directions combined
with tourist oriented knowledge about the countries. This superficial orientation towards
language learning lead to a trivialization of language learning content. Moreover, students
were lacking motivation to learn languages. (Bredella, 1999: 93) Consequently, it was
assumed that learning foreign languages should also satisfy the learners’ needs. Byram
(1997) recognized the ongoing migration worldwide and described the change of the
language learners’ perspectives from the tourist to the sojourner. Sightseeing is not as
important as meaningful communication with people, who live in a different cultural
context and also speak a different language. Furthermore, a tourist only has a limited
impact on a culture, apart from an economic one. In contrast, Byram claims:
“the sojourner produces effects on a society which challenge its unquestioned and unconscious beliefs, behaviours and meanings, and whose own beliefs, behaviours and meanings are in turn challenged and expected to change […] The experience of the sojourner is potentially more valuable than that of the tourist […] Where the tourist remains essentially unchanged, the sojourner has the opportunity to learn and be educated, acquiring the capacity to critique and improve their own and others’ conditions. ” (Byram, 1997: 1f.)
When taking the sojourner perspective as an orientation for foreign language learning,
there is also relevance for students who do not have a migration background. Students
encounter sojourners in their own culture and should learn to appreciate the sojourners’
perspectives, in order to live together in society. (Bredella, 1999: 94) Meyer (1992)
claimed that language learners should stay culturally identical with their cultural origin, in
order to be culturally competent. (1992: 16) Bredella (1999) does not share the same
14
opinion. He claims that FLT may help language learners to develop new identities, but
should not lead to a total abandonment of their identity. (1999: 98)
1.5 Teaching Intercultural Communicative Competence
In accordance with Kramsch (1993), a second language is learnt in order to be used. Each
time this language is used, the learner performs a cultural act, which involves two cultures:
their own and the culture of the target language. Therefore, language learners need to
develop a position which mediates between these two cultures. This helps learners to be
interculturally competent. (cf. Crozet and Liddicoat.1999: 113) Müller-Hartmann and
Schocker-v. Dithfurth (2009) identified ICC as the main goal of language learning in the
Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching,
Assessment (CEFR) by the Council of Europe. (2009: 18) This framework provides a
common basis for describing objectives, content and methods for foreign and second
language learning. Within the CEFR the role of the interculturally competent learner is
clearly defined:
“The learner of a second or foreign language and culture does not cease to be competent in his or her mother tongue and the associated culture. Nor is the new competence kept entirely separate from the old. […] The language learner becomes plurilingual and develops interculturality. The linguistic and cultural competences in respect of each language are modified by knowledge of the other and contribute to intercultural awareness, skills and know-how. They […] develop an enriched, more complex personality and an enhanced capacity for further language learning and greater openness to new cultural experiences. Learners are also enabled to mediate, through interpretation and translation, between speakers of the two languages concerned who cannot communicate directly.” (COE, 2001:43)
Unfortunately, intercultural language teaching is still underrepresented in language
classrooms. (Kramsch, 1995: 61) Omaggio (2001) states three main reasons why
intercultural competence is neglected in the language classroom. Firstly, curricula are
overfilled with teaching other aspects of the language and teachers often lack time to deal
with culture in class. As teaching culture requires lots of additional work for teachers, they
are often not able to invest the time needed. Secondly, there are teachers, who simply do
not have the required knowledge of the target culture and are therefore afraid of teaching
this specific culture. Thirdly, teachers are sometimes confused about what to cover when
teaching about culture. They are often not sure which cultural aspects should be explained
to their students. (cf. Usó-Juan & Martínez-Flor, 2008: 157) This illustrates that the
problem is not caused by the students, but it is triggered by the curriculum and teachers. To
overcome the curricular issues, teachers are required to put more emphasis on intercultural
learning in the classroom, which is also demanded in the curriculum, as described at the
15
end of this chapter. Tenberg (1999) claims, that teachers are required to define different
stages of intercultural competence and formulate transparent learning objectives. (1999:73)
Nevertheless, this means extra work for teachers, as they have to reconsider their teaching
methods and prepare new material. The most important aspect is that the students
experience the intercultural dimension of foreign language learning, which they will most
likely need later on in their lives.
1.5.1 Objectives of teaching ICC
When teaching ICC, teachers should be aware of their objectives. Tenberg (1999) mentions
some objectives that are needed to foster the students’ development of ICC. He also
differentiates between affective, cognitive and action-oriented objectives.
(1) When dealing with affective objectives of teaching ICC, learners should reflect
about their own cultures as well as foreign cultures. Learners should be sensitized
towards an intercultural perspective. This way, they are able to change their
attitudes towards cultures. Positive outcomes of reflections would be: non-
ethnocentrism, tolerance, empathy, flexibility in different social roles, respect and
appreciation for foreign cultures, ambiguity tolerance and non-judgmental
attribution. (Tenberg, 1999: 70)
(2) In the case of cognitive objectives, the learners’ awareness about a specific culture
has to be increased. Students should be provided with information about historic as
well as current relations between their culture and the specific culture being
studied. This also enables them to understand other perspectives. (1999: 70f.)
Additionally, there is a necessity to understand “social groups and their products
and practices” as well as “general processes of societal and individual interaction”.
(Byram. 1997: 51)
(3) In terms of action-oriented objectives, Byram (1997) introduces an “area of cultural
practices” and highlights the importance of “skills of discovery, interpretation and
relating to the otherness.” (1997: 47) According to him, skills of interpreting and
relating and skills of discovery and interaction help learners to be able to interact
with individuals of specific foreign cultures in an adequate manner. (Byram, 1997:
52)
The objectives provided by Tenberg (1999) are not aimed at the learner’s assimilation to a
foreign culture or a development of collective behavior. The central concern of these
16
objectives is the learner’s individual development. The learners should explore the
processes of intercultural communication and interact with individuals from foreign
cultures. This helps them to interpret cultures adequately and develop understanding for
other cultures. (Tenberg. 1999: 72) Meyer (1991) provides a definition that further outlines
the concepts presented above.
”Intercultural competence […] identifies the ability of a person to behave adequately and in
a flexible manner when confronted with actions, attitudes and expectations of foreign
cultures. Adequacy and flexibility imply an awareness of the cultural differences between
one’s own and the foreign culture and the ability to handle cross-cultural problems which
result from these differences. Intercultural competence includes the capacity of stabilizing
one’s self-identity in the process of cross-cultural mediation and of helping other people to
stabilize their self-identity.” (Meyer 1991. 137 cited in Tenberg. 1999: 72)
Besides the objectives presented above, foreign language teaching is concerned with
raising awareness about differences and similarities. Learners should be sensitized to
perceive the relation between their own culture and foreign cultures. Nevertheless, such
sensitization does not help language learners to become native speakers. (Bredella, 1999:
90) Another general educational goal of ICC is the ability to take a distant viewpoint on
one’s own language and culture. Only if circumstances are experienced from a distant
perspective, can learners reflect more easily on them. This is one of the undisputed
educational goals of intercultural foreign language learning. (Bredella, 1999: 97)
The “ability to see and manage the relationships between themselves and their own cultural
beliefs, behaviors and meanings” is the desired outcome. (Byram, 1997: 12) This can be
expressed in one of the interlocutor’s languages, in a combination of languages. (Byram,
1997: 12) In addition, they can employ a lingua franca. This does not necessarily mean that
they become cultureless or lack communication, rather that none of them is a native
speaker. They rely on the use of their ICC to a larger extent. (Bredella, 1999: 90) In current
studies, the notion of the native speaker as role model for FLT has been abolished.
1.5.2 Intercultural speaker
The concept of the native speaker as the ideal type of language learner does not apply in
terms of intercultural communication. (Tenberg, 1999: 73) Bredella (1999) also doubts
that native speakers should serve as the linguistic norm. His opinion is that when
examining the global situation according to migration and intercultural relations, it is rather
questionable that such a norm still exists. (1999: 90) To find an adequate solution for the
17
problem of native speakers as the ideal for language learning, Byram (1997) introduced the
concept of the intercultural speaker as the ideal for intercultural communicative
competence. An intercultural speaker should be able:
• “[…] to interact with people from another country and culture in a foreign language […]”
• “[…] to negotiate a mode of communication and interaction which is satisfactory to
themselves and the other […]”
• “…to act as mediator between people of different cultural origins. Their knowledge of
another culture is linked to their language competence through their ability to use language
appropriately […] and their awareness of specific meanings, values and connotation of the
language.” (Byram. 1997: 71)
• “[…] to engage with complexity and multiple identities and to avoid stereotyping […]”
(Byram et al. 2002: 9)
In addition, an intercultural speaker needs to acquire the five components of Byram’s
(1997) model of ICC. Nevertheless, the term intercultural speaker is also problematic to a
certain extent. The perspective of an intercultural speaker is located between the
observation of the learners’ own culture and the foreign culture being studied. According
to Tenberg (1999) this concept suggests a near-native competence that most language
learners will not achieve. Therefore, teachers need to set realistic and achievable goals.
(1999: 73) However, Byram et al. (2002) claim that “the acquisition of intercultural
competence is never complete or perfect. Being a successful intercultural speaker […] does
not require complete and perfect competence.” (2002: 11) This means that teachers can
help their students to become successful intercultural speakers. Fantini (2000) also states
that learners hardly become complete intercultural speakers, since “individuals experience
moments of regression and stagnation, but normally there is no end point.” (2000: 29)
There are two reasons for this statement. Firstly, there is absolutely no chance to acquire
all knowledge of foreign cultures, since cultures find themselves in a constant state of
change. Secondly, everyone develops and acquires new social identities and values. This
means that the process is always incomplete.
1.5.3 Difficulties in teaching ICC
Encountering new values or identities can be a shock for people. Consequently, everyone
should understand the need for acceptance, adjustment and understanding in connection to
other people. (Byram et al. 2002: 11) Kramsch (1998) adds that when speaking of an
intercultural speaker, sojourners should not feel that it is required to assimilate to the
dominant culture. They should have the right to stick to their language and culture. (1998:
18
26) This is controversial, since modern societies urge the sojourners to assimilate. It is a
debatable point, whether people can fully give up their national and ethnic identity or not.
(Bredella, 1999: 92)
In schools, the reputation of intercultural learning is often problematic. Many people have
a false impression about its complexity. It is often assumed that learners are only required
to know about customs, habits, values and attitudes of foreign cultures. A factor that is
frequently overlooked, is that creativity and reflection have a major impact on intercultural
learning as well. Learners should keep a distance between values of their own culture and
foreign cultures in order to be able to act in a culturally adequate fashion. Therefore,
culture means to deal with the acquired knowledge and to refine it. (Bredella, 1999: 91)
Teachers should consider that developing ICC is a complex issue.
1.5.4 ICC in the classroom
Intercultural foreign language teaching deals not only with cultural topics, but it also
relates to the multicultural identities of learners. (Bredella, 1999: 115) In modern language
classrooms there are often many learners from different backgrounds. For this reason,
teachers have to teach heterogeneous classes with bi- or multilingual learners. (Bredella
and Delanoy, 1999: 11) People are characterized by their own culture and experience other
cultures from their own cultural background. Nevertheless, learners can modify their
perspective by experiencing different cultures and learning from them. Intercultural
language learning does not aim at conveying knowledge about other cultures. Instead,
learners should get the chance to become aware of the importance of intercultural
encounters themselves. A logical conclusion is that teaching intercultural competences is
learner-oriented. Still, teachers should keep in mind that the learning processes of students
need to be guided by teachers. Tolerance and “Selbst- und Fremdverstehen” are important
aims to be achieved. For language learners it is crucial to reflect upon cultures. Such
reflections foster learning about cultures and foreign languages. (Bredella and Delanoy.
1999:13)
If learners contrast the image of their own culture and the image of other cultures without
any reflection, they run into the risk of isolating themselves. Similarities are often
overlooked and learners distance themselves from other cultures. Learners should
recognize that reducing and limiting other cultures is not appropriate, since every culture is
important and has its own traits. They have to understand that other cultures can become
19
familiar, while their own culture can become foreign. If learners lack understanding for a
culture, the reason is not only the inaccessible foreignness of this particular culture. In
many cases learners lack a willingness to empathize with perspectives different from their
own. (Bredella and Delanoy. 1999: 14) Due to this reason, it takes significant efforts to
develop a foundation of trust with people from other cultures.
First, a positive image about the specific culture should be established. Werner Delanoy
(1999) suggests working with “similarities and positive aspects” to have a common basis
for the cultures. (1999: 135) According to Selezky (1996) “alienating differences” between
cultures should be dealt with in a really careful manner. It is suggested to deal with
similarities and “attractive and envied differences” of cultures first. (Seletzky, 1996: 115)
Another important issue to consider is that understanding cultures is a dynamic process.
The role of the teacher is to guide and support students. When students experience
meaningful encounters with other cultures it aids them in enhancing the notion of their own
culture and to refine their perception of foreign cultures. (Raddatz, 1996: 247) Bredella
(1999) also points out that understanding other perspectives is often not enough, because
language learners should also question whether the particular perspective is truthful and if
they can be sympathetic to this specific perspective. (1999: 113) This results in the fact that
teachers face many challenges when teaching ICC
The teacher should not only be a native or non-native speaker, but someone who has more
qualities to offer to the language learning process. To become the ‘best’ teachers, they
must be able to help students to recognize relationships between other cultures and their
own. Teachers need to arouse interest and curiosity about foreign cultures and individuals,
and should also be aware of what perspectives about cultures other people have. (Byram et
al. 2002: 10) Moreover, it is important that teachers assess whether their teaching is
successful or not.
1.5.5 Assessment of ICC
Language learners are required to develop ICC and become interculturally competent
while teachers need to check whether their intercultural teaching methods were successful
or not. Firstly, it must be clarified what constitutes an interculturally competent speaker.
According to Byram (2000) an interculturally competent speaker is:
“someone who is able to see relationships between different cultures – both internal and external to a society – and is able to mediate, that is interpret each in terms of the other,
20
either for themselves or for other people. It is also someone who has a critical or analytical understanding of […] their own and other cultures – someone who is conscious of their own perspective, of the way in which their thinking is culturally determined, rather than believing that their understanding and perspective is natural.” (2000: 11)
Earlier in this chapter the concept of the intercultural speaker was introduced and
additional attributes were specified. Furthermore, Byram’s (1997) model of ICC includes
five components to clarify what ICC is. Alongside the clarification, the assessment of
developing ICC can also be made.
Assessment of ICC can be quite challenging. This also applies to the assessment of
Byram’s (1997) five components. Knowledge for example is just a small part of ICC. The
“learner’s ability to step outside, to make the strange familiar and the familiar strange, and
to act on that change of perspective” are difficult things to assess. The most difficult
objective to assess is attitudes. How can teachers assess whether students have changed
their attitudes or not? Have they become more tolerant towards the unfamiliar? Byram
(2000) argues those factors should not be quantified, as this relates to the learners’
affective and moral development. He suggests assessing the students’ development on the
basis of a learner portfolio, “a record of learner’s competences”. (2000: 11; 1997: 88ff.)
A portfolio that is satisfactory to Byram’s expectations is the European Language Portfolio
(ELP), which provides guidelines for teachers as how to use portfolios in class. Several
versions from different countries in the European Union have been published. More
detailed information can be found on the official website: http://www.coe.int/portfolio
Byram (2000) published two approaches towards creating a portfolio in the foreign
language classroom himself. He states that self assessment of intercultural competence
should be introduced and the portfolio should reflect his definition of ICC. His two
versions of portfolios are aimed at Upper Secondary or Higher Education learners.
The first version he introduces is “A record of my Intercultural Experience” , taken from
Byram, 2000: 11f.)
- In language: (learner inserts language)
- Place, period of time, age:
A) Feelings • Ways in which my curiosity and interest were aroused: (examples from ordinary daily life, especially when they made me re-consider my own culture)
• Periods when I felt uncomfortable/homesick
21
(what made me feel like this, with particular examples if possible)
• Periods when I felt at home and comfortable (what made me feel like this, with particular examples if possible)
B) Knowledge • The most important things I learnt about family life and/or life at school
• The most important things I have learnt about the country, the nation, the state where I stayed – in the present and in its past
• What I have learnt about customs and conventions of talking with people (topics which interest them, topics to avoid, how to greet people and take leave from them)
C) Actions • Incidents or problems, which I resolved by
explaining different cultures to people, helping them see the points of view of different cultures and how misunderstandings can happen.
• Examples of times when I have had to ask questions and work out my own answers (from ‘asking the way’ to understanding cultural customs and beliefs)
Tab. 1. A record of my Intercultural Experiences
The second portfolio is A self-assessment of my Intercultural Experience, taken from
Byram, 2000: 12f.
A) Interest in other people’s way of life • I am interested in other people’s experience of daily life, particularly those things not usually presented to outsiders through the media.
• Example: • I am also interested in the daily
experience of a variety of social groups within a society and not only the dominant culture.
• Example: B) Ability to change perspective • I have realized that I can understand
other cultures by seeing things from a different point of view and by looking at my culture from their perspective.
• Example: C) Ability to cope with living in a
different culture • I am able to cope with a range of
reactions I have to living in a different culture (euphoria,
22
homesickness, physical and mental discomfort etc)
• Example: D) Knowledge about another country
and culture • I know some important facts about
living in the other culture and about the country, state and people.
• Example: • I know how to engage in
conversation with people of the other culture and maintain a conversation
• Example: E) Knowledge about intercultural
communication • I know how to resolve
misunderstandings which arise from people’s lack of awareness of the view point of another culture Example:
• I know how to discover new information and new aspects of the other culture for myself
• Example: Tab 1.2 A self-assessment of my Intercultural Experience
Besides these two portfolios, there are also other approaches to creating a portfolio for
ICC. A good example is the Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters that was developed
by the COE. It is used for reflecting upon the school trip to London in this paper.
Whenever teachers want to develop an intercultural dimension in foreign language
teaching, there are many tasks to fulfill. Learners need to acquire intercultural as well as
linguistic competence. They also need to be prepared for different forms of interaction.
Teachers should enable their students to accept other perspectives, values or behaviors and
to understand people from other cultures. At the same, time this does not mean that the
learners must agree with all elements of a foreign culture. They are entitled to refuse
different elements of the culture that they do not relate to or believe in. Learners should
also understand that such interactions are a rewarding experience for them. (Byram et al.
2002: 10)
1.5.6 The third place
The concept of the third place in foreign language learning is commonly known.
According to Delanoy (1999) Kramsch introduced the term of the third place in the context
of intercultural learning. This place allows new forms of intercultural encounters and helps
people to develop new perspectives. (1999: 125) It is about “the shifting and emerging
23
third place of the language learners themselves”. (Kramsch, 1997: 6) Kramsch (1993) also
mentions that every time learners use language they perform a cultural act. Their own
culture, as well as the culture of the target language is affected. (Cf. Crozet & Liddicoat,
1999:113) This means that two cultures meet in a third place, whenever language learners
make use of language.
Christ (1999) tries to explain this in a simple way. He claims that the learner finds
him/herself in a situation of dialog and makes efforts towards an understanding. The
learner changes in the course of the understanding process, which can also be interpreted
as the change of place. The learner leaves the initial place of learning and settles down at a
new place, which is located between their initial place and the place of the other person.
This new place is considered to be the third place. (1999: 295) Müller-Hartmann (1999)
identifies five elements that make up such a third place. According to Müller-Hartmann,
these five elements are: the dialogic character of the place, the negotiation of meaning of
cultural elements, the changes of perspectives, the interplay of inter- and intracultural
learning and new opportunities for learners in the learning process. (Müller-Hartmann,
1999: 164)
First, interaction grants exchange between cultures. (Bredella, 1994: 25) Second, the
negotiation of meaning assumes that “learners have to construct their own personal
meanings at the boundaries between the native speaker’s meanings and their own everyday
life.”(Kramsch, 1994: 238 cited in Müller-Hartmann, 1999: 164) Third, the change of
perspectives is a key element, as it enables learners to see things from another person’s
perspective and to rethink their own position. (Müller-Hartmann, 1999: 164) Fourth,
intercultural- and intracultural learning are both essential for a third place. Learners need to
understand foreignness in other cultures, while at the same time, understand the
foreignness in their own culture. (Müller-Hartmann, 1999: 165) Fifth, learners get the
chance to move within different cultures and can acquire socio-cultural-competences that
are described in Byram’s (1997) model of ICC as attitudes, skills and knowledge. Müller-
Hartmann (1999) identifies them as central to an understanding of ICC as third place.
(1999: 165)
In 2009, Kramsch tried to summarize various different theories of the third place and also
discussed different approaches to language and culture relations. (2009: 233ff.) This
literature survey proved the importance of the third place concept for FLL. Language
24
learners encounter individuals from other cultures at a place away from their own culture.
School trips with students from other cultures are a good opportunity for learners to
experience such a third place.
1.5.7 Stereotypes
Stereotypes are unavoidable when teaching foreign languages. In modern education it is
common practice to fight against stereotypes. (O’Sullivan & Rösler, 1999: 312)
Nevertheless, stereotypes offer new opportunities for learners. The crucial aspect of
teaching stereotypes is to explain their functions and mechanisms to the students. Teachers
are required to clarify that stereotypes offer playful potential for work in class.
Nevertheless, they can also cause potential threats for people. (O’Sullivan & Rösler, 1999:
315) O’Sullivan (1987) suggests using literature for teaching stereotypes:
“Über die Kenntnis von Eigenbild, Fremdbild und von dem bei der anderen Gruppe vermuteten Fremdbild über die eigene Gruppe hinausgehend, sollte daher auch der Prozeß der Wahrnehmung durch Stereotype jeweils zum […]Thema gemacht werden, […] z.B. […] im Kontext der Auseinandersetzung mit literarischen Texten, in denen man über die Beschäftigung mit den Stereotypen im jeweiligen Text nicht nur das jeweils vorhandene Bild sondern auch die verschiedenen Funktionsweisen von Stereotypen thematisieren kann. (1987: 219 cited in O’Sullivan & Rösler, 1999: 314)
Typically, most teachers do not make use of literature for teaching stereotypes. Several
teachers avoid dealing with prejudices or stereotypes about countries, although critical
involvement with national images and stereotypes is considered a central concern in FLT.
For learners, the key to developing ICC is the willingness to be open-minded and tolerant
towards foreign perspectives. Moreover, it is essential to be able to understand that
prevalent values and norms in one culture may differ in other cultures or countries.
(Nünning, 1999: 345ff.)
Teachers have to consider, that stereotypes can serve as orientation for learners when
dealing with countries, but it is important that different perspectives of national stereotypes
are analyzed. (Nünning, 1999: 348) In addition, various materials about the learners’ own
country can be used to gain knowledge about how stereotypes function. (O’Sullivan &
Rösler, 1999: 316) Nonetheless, a focus on national identity may lead to reducing the
complex human individual to a representative of a country or a culture. (Byram et al.,
2002: 9) A warning that O’Sullivan & Rösler (1999) give is that teachers should never
accept discriminating or offending implications of stereotypes. (1999: 320) Out of that
reason it is always important to think about why specific aspects of a culture are chosen.
For intercultural competence it is important to know what topics are taught and why they
25
are relevant for ICC. Teachers should think about their objectives when teaching about
cultures. (Bredella, 1999: 106)
In addition, learners should be able to categorize stereotypes. Learners should be able to
detect the discrepancy between clichés about cultures and perceptions people from other
cultures might have. (Petzold, 1997: 180) O’Sullivan and Rösler (1999) doubt that merely
detecting those discrepancies is sufficient enough for learners. According to them, it is
more important to show functions and mechanisms of stereotyping. (1999: 315f.)
All in all, it is important to realize the different functions of stereotypes. Stereotypes can be
beneficial for recognizing circumstances in cultures, but they can also have discriminatory
potential. It is the aim of teaching ICC to reduce negative stereotypes and to build up
relationships between cultures. (Bredella and Delanoy, 1999: 14)
1.6 ICC in the Curriculum
The Austrian government recognized the importance of intercultural learning and
introduced ‘Interkulturelles Lernen’ as a general teaching and learning principle. It can be
found in the curricula of the AHS and Hauptschulen and will be discussed in this chapter.
In addition to this teaching principle, the General Curriculum of the AHS also gives hints
about how to manage multicultural situations and how to foster intercultural competence.
1.6.1 General Curriculum AHS in Austria
Various statements within the AHS curriculum lead towards intercultural learning. One of
the statements addresses the social changes affecting all people in Austria. Intercultural
encounters and reviewing different forms of identities – regional, Austrian, European… -
should lead to more acceptance between different cultures. Open-mindedness is a key term
in education and respect is crucial for intercultural learning. (BMUKK, 2012a: 1) The
curriculum also directly states that cultural encounters in everyday life should be addressed
in the classroom. (BMUKK, 2012a: 2) Another statement underlines the importance of
encounters with people from various cultural backgrounds:
“Wenn die Begegnung mit anderen Kulturen und Generationen sowie die sprachliche und kulturelle Vielfalt in unserer eigenen Gesellschaft als bereichernd erfahren wird, ist auch ein Grundstein für Offenheit und gegenseitige Achtung gelegt „(BMUKK,2012a: 3)
The understanding of social relationships in political, economical, legal, ecological and
cultural terms, is a requirement for adequate understanding of social issues. As a
consequence, intercultural learning plays an important role in society. (BMUKK, 2012a: 3)
26
When conflicts occur, students should be able to work towards solutions and provide
suggestions about how to solve the conflicts. (BMUKK, 2012a: 4) When taking a closer
look at the curriculum, one should keep in mind that the teaching concept ‘Interkulturelles
Lernen’ directly addresses intercultural learning.
1.6.2 Intercultural learning as an educational principle
An educational principle of the Austrian curriculum is Interkulturelles Lernen and
comprises all Austrian school subjects. The idea beyond this concept is to improve the
intercultural competence of Austrian students:
“Durch das Unterrichtsprinzip ‚Interkulturelles Lernen‘ soll ein Beitrag zum gegenseitigen Verständnis, zum Erkennen von Unterschieden und Gemeinsamkeiten und zum Abbau von Vorurteilen geleistet werden.“ (BMUKK, 2009)
Intercultural learning also relates to students of different language backgrounds.
Simultaneously, the ministry for education wants to point out that this educational
principle should not be mistaken as remedial teaching for students who lack German
language skills.
„Eine allenfalls vorhandene Zwei- oder Mehrsprachigkeit soll positiv besetzt und die Schülerinnen und Schüler sollen ermuntert werden, Kenntnisse in der Muttersprache im Unterricht sinnvoll einzubringen.“ (BMUKK, 2004c: 6)
„Das Unterrichtsprinzip hat auch dann seine Gültigkeit, wenn in der Klasse keine SchülerInnen mit Migrationshintergrund und keine SchülerInnen, die einer autochthonen Volksgruppe angehören, vertreten sind. Bei der konkreten Umsetzung des Unterrichtsprinzips ist jedoch sinnvollerweise die sprachliche und kulturelle Zusammensetzung der Klasse zu berücksichtigen.“ (BMUKK, 2009)
„‘Interkulturelles Lernen‘ ist nicht mit dem besonderen Förderunterricht in Deutsch zu verwechseln. Letzterer richtet sich ausschließlich an SchülerInnen mit anderen Erstsprachen als Deutsch, deren Kompetenz der Unterrichtssprache noch nicht zielsprachenadäquat ist, während das Unterrichtsprinzip „Interkulturelles Lernen“ alle SchülerInnen in einer Klasse, ungeachtet ihrer sprachlichen und geografischen Herkunft und ungeachtet ihrer Deutschkompetenz, anspricht und als Querschnittmaterie in die Unterrichtsgegenstände einfließen soll. (BMUKK, 2009)
The ministry of education also explains exactly what intercultural learning is. They claim
that intercultural learning does not only mean getting to know a culture, it also implies
experiencing and understanding other perspectives. An emphasis should also be put on
constructing an intercultural identity by using different materials. According to the
ministry:
„Interkulturelles Lernen beschränkt sich nicht bloß darauf, andere Kulturen kennen zu lernen. Vielmehr geht es um das gemeinsame Lernen und das Begreifen, Erleben und Mitgestalten kultureller Werte. Aber es geht auch darum, Interesse und Neugier an kulturellen Unterschieden zu wecken, um nicht nur kulturelle Einheit, sondern auch Vielfalt
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als wertvoll erfahrbar zu machen. Durch die identitätsbildende Wirkung des Erfahrens von Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschieden der Kulturen, insbesondere in ihren alltäglichen Ausdrucksformen (Lebensgewohnheiten, Sprache, Brauchtum, Texte, Liedgut usw.), sind die Schülerinnen und Schüler zu Akzeptanz, Respekt und gegenseitiger Achtung zu führen.“ (BMUKK, 2012a: 5)
1.6.3 Curriculum for Teaching Foreign Languages – AHS Oberstufe
The curriculum for teaching foreign languages offers several extra statements concerning
intercultural education. It states that foreign languages are the basis for communication and
that language learners need to be skilled at listening, speaking, writing and reading in
foreign languages. This supposedly guarantees them the ability to act accurately in cultural
and linguistic terms. (BMUKK, 2012b: 1f.) The need of communicative competences in
foreign language teaching is further highlighted by the following statements:
“Bei der Entwicklung der allgemeinen Sprachkompetenz als Grundlage von Denk-, Ausdrucks Kommunikations- und Handlungsfähigkeit kommt dem Fremdsprachenunterricht im Fächerkanon insgesamt eine tragende Rolle zu.“(BMUKK,2012b: 1)
„Kommunikative Sprachkompetenz als übergeordnetes Lernziel: Dem handlungsorientierten Ansatz gemäß stellt die kommunikative Sprachkompetenz das übergeordnete Lehr- und Lernziel des Fremdsprachenunterrichts dar.“(BMUKK,2012b: 2)
Referring to intercultural learning, the curriculum includes more than the teaching concept
‘Interkulturelles Lernen’. It does not only mention cultural and intercultural
communication, but (BMUKK, 2012b: 4) also refers to intercultural competences in the
following statement:
„Interkulturelle Kompetenz: Durch interkulturelle Themenstellungen ist die Sensibilisierung der Schülerinnen und Schüler für die Sprachenvielfalt Europas und der Welt zu verstärken, Aufgeschlossenheit gegenüber Nachbarsprachen[…]insgesamt das Verständnis für andere Kulturen und Lebensweisen zu vertiefen. Die vorurteilsfreie Beleuchtung kultureller Stereotypen und Klischees, die bewusste Wahrnehmung von Gemeinsamkeiten und Verschiedenheiten sowie die kritische Auseinandersetzung mit eigenen Erfahrungen bzw. mit österreichischen Gegebenheiten sind dabei anzustreben.“ (BMUKK,2012b: 1)
The curriculum suggests that achieving intercultural competences by stating several
additional factors: inclusion of authentic encounters, offering various situations for
communication, different approaches to work with texts, as well as dealing with different
countries and cultures. Inclusion of authentic encounters is characterized by authentic
material and personal experiences. It is suggested that it is useful to prepare authentic
teaching materials and to foster personal encounters with native speakers. A way to arrange
such encounters are school events like school trips to foreign places. (BMUKK, 2012b: 3)
The curriculum recommends using a great diversity of exercises which show different
28
ways of dealing with texts. To illustrate, “Sachverhaltsdarstellungen, Analysen,
Stellungnahmen, Anweisungen, Zusammenfassungen, Berichte, Beschreibungen,
Kommentare, Reflexionen, Geschichten, Dialoge, Briefe, E-Mails, Märchen, Lieder,
Gedichte“ should be included in FLL. To conclude, teachers should present different
countries and cultures by giving insights into society, civilization, politics, media,
economy, science and arts (BMUKK, 2012b: 4)
2 School Trips
A school trip is when a group of students undertake a trip or journey and leave their normal
environment to gain new experiences. The main purpose of such a trip is observation for
educational reasons. Throughout the trip, students are provided with experiences apart
from their everyday life. According to Wikipedia, there are different terms for school trips
in various countries. The term, school trip is mostly used in the United Kingdom or New
Zealand, whereas school tour is frequently used in Ireland. Other terms that are used for
school trips are field trip or excursion. (Wikipedia, 2012) The Austrian expression for
school trip is Exkursion. Another term that directly refers to school trips is education
outside the classroom (EOtC). The terminology also varies in governmental use, since the
British government recognized the power of learning opportunities beyond the classroom.
(Trant, 2010: Xi) The Austrian curriculum also refers to school trips and links them to
other competences, which will be dealt with at the end of this chapter. In this paper, the
term school trip will be used as defined above.
2.1 Encountering Reality
The first thing to consider when planning school trips is the students’ need to encounter
and experience reality. Ringschede (2005) identifies experience, action and creation in
reality as the three core elements for encountering reality in a learning situation. This is
supposed to happen mostly in lessons that occur outside the classroom. (2005: 172) Within
the classroom the students are not confronted with reality. They are used to learning in an
educational environment which is different from the outside world and need some
knowledge and lots of experience with reality for their learning processes. The teacher’s
role is to provide adequate pedagogical methods and encounters with reality for the
students. Field research, for example, helps students structure their thoughts and to learn
joined-up thinking. (Ringschede, 2005: 48) This can help them to develop intercultural
29
awareness and other important competences, which are core aspects of this paper and were
discussed in the first chapter. Teachers are not only required to be familiar with different
methods and learning approaches, but also have to consider that there are various forms of
encounters with reality as well. Popular forms of encountering reality in education are:
Sightseeing, visiting places, exploration of places, walking tours, fieldwork, excursions,
short trips, and even trips to foreign places. (Köck, 1986: 224) In addition to that, a new
form that has evolved is the online excursion. In this particular case, students do not leave
the classroom, since they go ‘abroad’ by switching on their computer and experiencing a
trip to an online environment. This concept also corresponds with Ringschede’s (2005)
expectation that teachers should be up-to-date with current methods. (2005: 48)
When taking a closer look at the different forms of encountering reality it is obvious that
some forms demand more involvement and participation from the students. As a result,
encounters with reality can be further divided into two types. On the one hand, there is a
type in which information is conveyed and students are just the addressees of information.
Good examples to illustrate this type are sightseeing tours. On the other hand there are
encounters that involve self-activity of the students. Students need some background
knowledge about the tasks, learning processes and methods to meet the requirements of the
encounters with reality. An example for such a self-activity would be to interview people
for predetermined reasons. Advantages of this form are that the students get a notion of
how communication works, learn how to behave in social context and become more active
and independent. (Köck, 1986: 225) In addition to knowing different forms of reality
encounters and methods to use, teachers should be aware of other issues as well.
For a teacher, the most important aspect is to make sure that the objectives of encountering
reality are met. Moreover, teachers should be aware that the procedures of introducing
reality to students are connected with a significant work load and the organization is also
difficult in most cases. A positive aspect of this additional work is that students are more
successful in learning and their motivation is higher than usual. To guarantee a high
motivation and successful learning, students should also know what they are expected to
do and what tasks are to be fulfilled. (Hitz, 2001: 148f.) Apart from the advantages of such
encounters with reality, teachers sometimes have to admit that such encounters do not
always make sense. Two of the reasons for this are that students are already familiar with
reality or that the expenses for the encounters are too great in relation to the students’
30
benefits. Still, there are many topics that cannot be dealt with in the classroom.
(Ringschede, 2005: 172 ff) (cf. Niederdorfer, 2009)
2.2 About School trips
The importance of encountering reality has been highlighted in general terms. In the
following reflections, school trips, a special form of encountering reality will be focused
on. When reality is too far away, the only way to make things accessible for students is
going on a school trip. (Hitz, 2001: 148f.) This means that school trips should be
conducted when the traditional mix of classroom work, textbook based tasks and
interactions with the classroom teacher are simply not sufficient or cannot replace
encounters with reality. (Trant, 2010: Xii) The teacher has to take the full responsibility for
going on school trips. If the need to go on a school trip is recognized, the teacher should
start to prepare the trip and take the students on a school trip. (Trant, 2010: xii) When
going on a trip, teachers should also keep in mind that there are students who have never
been away from their homes and families. For them, it is the first time they will have left
their homes to live with other people. Being faced with new situations, students can
experience a “shock” on school trips. (Byram et al. 2002: 20) To minimize this shock,
teachers prepare the students for the foreign environment they will experience.
For a successful school trip, teachers use a pedagogical structure and define their
objectives. Preferably, the objectives are adapted to the students who will join the trip. In
the best case, the students can even contribute to setting the objectives for the trip. When
the students are on the trip, they often continue working as a class. It is important that all
school trips have a “prospective and retrospective relationship with the classroom”, as
simultaneous classroom work is also possible during school trips. The relationship between
working in the classroom and on trips is close. (Byram, 1997: 68) Such structured school
trips allow students to experience phenomena, structures, functions and processes directly
in the field. In many cases this offers more advantages than just theoretical input in class.
(Hitz, 2001:148f.). As already mentioned, teachers have a lot to plan when going on a trip.
A detailed listing of advantages and disadvantages of school trips is given later in this
chapter. Next, a description of various types of school trips follows.
2.2.1 Types of school trips
In general, there are two types of school trips. First, there are school trips that give an
overview about a topic. Such trips can primarily be characterized by providing facts and
circumstances to the participants. The sources of information are teachers, experts or even
31
students, who take up the role of experts and pass on information to their classmates.
Second, there are school trips that focus on learning by doing. Students are required to be
self-acting and there is an orientation towards their own activities. The teacher does not
interfere and only assigns tasks to the students. The tasks have to be fulfilled by the
students on their own and the teacher’s role is to act as guide or assistant. To meet the
requirements, students are asked to apply different methods. The methods used are learned
and acquired beforehand. While on the trip, the students should learn how to apply these
acquired methods. School trips that offer students the opportunity to become active are
often based on topics deriving from the curriculum or the students’ interest. It is crucial to
involve students in the planning process. This way, students can share their wishes and
have a say in what to except from a trip. (Köck, 1986: 227)
To exemplify, residential field studies, language exchanges, ski trips, sports tours, library
visits, day field studies, seminars, conferences or study supports are some examples of
school trips. (Trant, 2010: Xiii) This paper deals with a school trip to London, which
focuses on the development of ICC. The trip is described in detail in chapter five. In the
following sections, some advantages and disadvantages of school trips are stated.
2.2.2 Advantages of school trips
One big advantage of school trips is that they strengthen cognitive, instrumental, social and
affective abilities. This means that there is an improvement in cognitive skills, methodical
understanding, social relationships, and affective reactions towards others. (cf. Schuller et
al., 2004) Besides that, there are also other issues that can be solved via school trips.
When teachers teach lessons that cannot fulfill the learners’ needs, they should think about
organizing school trips, especially when the topic is crucial for the subject they are
presenting. During school trips, students are confronted with reality in a way they may not
experience on their own. (Ringschede, 2005: 237) Further advantages of school trips are
that students experience things that are out of the ordinary pattern or away from daily
routine. (Trant, 2010: 4) Such firsthand experiences with reality are far more useful than
dealing with dubious second hand information, which is often presented in the media.
When teachers use education outside the classroom in the form of school trips, students get
the chance to experience learning by doing and do not have to rely on information at
second hand. (Ringschede, 2005: 237)
32
Boud et al. (1993) stress the importance of learning by doing: “While experience may be
the foundation of learning, it does not necessarily lead to it; there needs to be active
involvement with it.” (Boud et al., 1993:9) When students work in the field, they often
apply and exercise methods they have already learnt in the classroom, but on school trips
they can use it in practical terms. Without the learning by doing component, the theoretical
input in class would not be successful. This way, students learn how to use theoretical
methods in practical terms. They get lots of experience and often they are confronted with
problems they would not have experienced in the classroom. When the teaching is more
practice-oriented, students are also able to identify tasks significantly better than in a usual
classroom situation. Another benefit is that offering a variety of activities throughout
school trips also helps students to retain the things they have learnt more easily. In addition
to the practical component, there are also personal components that have to be considered.
A representative example is that the relationship between the teacher and the students
improves. (Ringschede, 2005: 237)
Besides the above mentioned advantages of successful learning, there are also many other
factors which confirm the importance of school trips for students. In his book, “The
essential guide to successful school trips”, John Trant (2010) describes many personal
advantages for the students. According to Trant, children change their behavior when they
participate in school trips. This means that EOtc directly affects the students’ behavior.
The students not only seem to behave differently, they also seem to be more interested
when they are in the real world. (2010: Xi) Besides their increased interest, students show
higher motivation and contribute more to tasks outside the classroom. (Ringschede, 2005:
237) A logical conclusion is that the experience of a learning atmosphere beyond the
classroom enables them to demonstrate different sides of their personalities. For teachers
this evidence is significant, as learning away from school is said to be of the most powerful
form. (Trant, 2010: Xi)
If students are given enough space and time, they also become more independent and
confident learners. This helps the students to deal with the world around them in a more
intelligent and critical manner. The role of the teacher is to act as a guide throughout the
trip. Even if the role of the teacher is different, the teacher needs to provide structure and
safety to the students whenever it is necessary. (Trant, 2010: xiv) It has been shown that
pupils often need some kind of back-up when they get stuck while working on tasks. It is
33
good for them to know that there is someone they can rely on when they have problems of
any kind. On school trips this is as important as in the classroom.
Another important factor is that EOtc can take place at any time and it does not matter
where the students are when they learn. (Trant, 2010: 4) EOtc goes beyond opening the
doors of the school and moving the tables outside the classroom, because a normal
pedagogic style, like in a usual lesson, cannot be applied. As a consequence, teachers need
to rethink their teaching methods. EOtc forces teachers to think about how to teach and to
realize a powerful learning experience beyond the classroom. (Trant, 2010: xii-xiii) This
way, teachers should always be aware of their objectives, their methods and reflect upon
the trips and the learning progress
The most obvious reasons for school trips are to vary the learning environment for pupils,
as the classroom is not sufficient in every situation. School trips also enable teachers to
expose pupils to a wider range of different learning activities and to give them new
opportunities as well. One of these opportunities is that students can connect the real world
with the curriculum. Outside the classroom students may also improve their awareness of
social differences in society, the presence of different cultures and geographical
phenomena. The difference between the known and the students’ expectations and
assumptions of the real world encourage the students to explore reality. They enjoy
something different than their known environment. Furthermore, students are encouraged
to develop social and intellectual skills. (Trant, 2010: 7)
2.2.3 Disadvantages of school trips
School trips offer lots of advantages and benefits for students, but as teacher one must not
forget to take the negative factors into consideration as well. The preparation phase of a
school trip puts an enormous work load on teachers. This can be very difficult especially
when there is not enough time for careful planning. For example the organization of
replacement lessons, problems with organizing transport and logistics or problems with
legal responsibilities are complications that appear prior to the trip. On the trip it is
sometimes hard to care for the students. Often questions about security arise and problems
with students’ discipline challenge teachers on trips. (Ringschede, 2005: 237) After the
trip, teachers have to cope with problems of measuring the students’ performances and not
having enough time in the classroom for follow-up work. Another big issue connected with
34
school trips is financial. Sometimes this can become a problem parents need to face.
(Ringschede, 2005: 237)
It is a fact that many parents cannot afford the high costs of sending their children on
school trips. In the Kärntner Kronen Zeitung, a daily newspaper in Carinthia, Austria, there
was an article about a school trip to London. Parents complained about the trip costing 700
Euros. Some parents were shocked and made the shocking situation public. The article
stated that many parents can hardly afford the costs of school trips and some families also
have to take out a loan to send their children on trips abroad. In the same article a
representative of the governmental agency for schools in Carinthia, recommends to set the
limit for school trips at 300 Euros per trip. (Rosenzopf, 2012: 23) It is questionable
whether trips to London could still take place at this price. The planned trip to London
mentioned in this thesis presents school trips from a different and maybe cheaper
perspective than most trips at the moment. This is because the students are required to
work on tasks to be able to save money for language school in London, for example. In
fact, not only Austrian school trips are affected by the financial crisis, but also school trips
in other countries face the same situation.
Even if language teachers in Austrian select London as a destination for expensive school
trips abroad, parents in London and in the whole UK also have financial problems in terms
of school trips, although school trips may not travel to destinations abroad. On the website
of the English daily newspaper “The Guardian”, there is a blog in which parents discuss
about the necessity of school trips. The title: “Are school trips worth the expense?” shows
that even the title of the blog critically reflects about whether going on school trips is
worthwhile or not. An example of an outdoor week for 450 Pounds (which equals about
570 Euros in July 2012) is given and discussed. Here are some excerpts in defense of
school trips: (Griffin, 2010)
“Yes, they are definitely worth it - the experience can open doors to opportunities your child might not have considered before.” (User: Frugalmum)
“Yes they are worth it, but to keep safety standards high a premium price should be paid and trips should never be done on the cheap. (User: Mrs. Happy)
On the other hand there are some users who are against school trips and think that the
benefits are outweighed by the disadvantages: (Griffin, 2010)
“NO, they are not worth it. School trips are a thing of the past. Nowadays children do enough travel with their own family and friends to get exposure to different places and cultures.” (User: NoVI)
35
This shows that the financial aspect of school trips is an important issue and that parents
should have a say in the decision process. As soon as organizational and financial issues
are solved, teachers have to develop a pedagogical concept for the trip, which can be
extremely time intensive. Without a good concept school trips often do not meet the
objectives and cannot utilize the full potential of the trip. From this perspective, it is also
questionable whether such trips really make sense.
One of the major problems is that some teachers do not prepare their pupils sufficiently for
the school trip. In this case, the students are almost unprepared for the trip they are about to
take. Sometimes teachers also do not research the destination of their school trip properly.
Consequently, the learning activities for their trip are insufficient in detail, and teachers
cannot give their students support they need to guarantee successful learning. Another
problem is that teachers often use a pedagogic style or approach that is appropriate for
classroom teaching, but do not fit for field trips. In many cases teachers are also not aware
of the fact that their role as teacher changes in the course of the school trip and that they
are more of a guide than a teacher. In addition, even if the preparation was intensive and
the tasks on the trip were fulfilled, students need to do follow-up work to make the whole
school trip successful.
After the trip some teachers also do not allow enough time for follow-up work, which
leaves out an important aspect of a school trip – the reflection. (Trant, 2010: 32) The
problems mentioned above are mainly caused by: “lack of experience, school
organizational conditions that produce barriers – lack of time to prepare or follow up, the
prevalence of examinations cutting into teaching time, difficulties for teachers in
organizing preliminary visits to trip venues and destinations”. (Trant, 2010: 32)
Researching the numerous disadvantages and problems with organization, financial
situation, teachers and students, Trant (2010) indentified eight reasons not to go on a trip.
1) Many teachers fear litigation if something goes wrong on a trip. 2) The expense of the
trip is often a reason not to go on a trip. Parents often have financial problems. 3) Some
people believe that school trips are wasted time that could be spent on actual class
teaching. 4) Challenges for many teachers are also that school trips constitute a disruption
of the usual school routine. Other colleagues’ lessons are also affected and this can cause
problems with colleagues as well. 5) Students’ behavioral problems are also important to
consider, but as mentioned by Ringschede (2005), most students are more motivated and
36
keen to learn while on school trips. Still, teachers must not forget that there are can be
trouble makers in any given class, who can be challenging on trips. 6) School trips also
suffer from the lack of staff cover, as it is sometimes hard to find colleagues that
accompany teachers on a school trip. 7) Ignorance also often poses a threat to organizing
school trips. 8) For some teachers the sheer effort involved in the organizational work and
traditional paperwork is too time-consuming. Therefore, some teachers do not even go on
trips to avoid this extra work. (Trant, 2010: 7)
2.2.4 Suggestions for teachers
Teachers, who want to organize school trips, have to cope with lots of obstacles before the
trip. Trant (2010) gives some helpful suggestions for the organization. The first of his
suggestions is that teachers should make the trip different from classroom experiences.
Teachers should not waste the trip if the content can be covered in the classroom. Careful
planning is also needed and involves a reflection of the own teaching and the methods
used. If trips are different from classroom practice, they are effective. The second
suggestion is that school trips should have a positive impact on students. Teachers need to
be aware of their objectives before they go on the trip with their students. The last
suggestion Trant (2010) gives is that teachers use the experiences gained during the trip in
the follow-up lessons in school. Teachers must not leave the experiences of the trip as a
stand-alone event without any reflection. (Trant, 2010: Xiv)
2.3 Three stages of school trips
Based on his three suggestions for teachers, Trant (2010) also identified the three part units
or phases of study trips. First, there is the preliminary preparation for the trip. In this
stage pupils are prepared for the trip. The focus should be on the experiences the students
are about to gain. The second stage is about the learning activities during the trip .
Students should build upon the preliminary work done in the classroom. Third, after the
trip there is the follow-up work . This stage contains reflection on what the pupils have
learned on the trip. The experiences and knowledge gained can be connected to a wider
field of knowledge afterwards. (Trant, 2010: 33) These three stages are based on Kolb’s
(1984) model of the learning cycle, which will be examined in detail in the following
section.
2.3.1 Kolb’s learning cycle
Kolb’s (1984) learning cycle (Fig. 3.5) was introduced as a model for experiential learning.
This model was aimed at providing teachers and students a practical tool to develop,
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practice and reflect their own experiences. The model consists of four different stages. Any
stage can be accessed first, but they have to be done in sequence, in order to guarantee
successful learning. Another important issue of this model is that experience alone does not
necessarily lead to learning. In order to derive new generalizations and concepts, which are
gained from experiences, it is necessary to reflect these experiences and draw conclusions.
Later on, the knowledge gained has to be tested in new situations in which learners link
theory and practice. Afterwards they reflect on their experiences again, formulate new
concepts and make new generalizations.
Fig 3.5 Kolb’s learning cycle
The first level is Active Experimentation, which includes planning and trying out what
students have learned. On the one hand this can be the start of a new learning cycle which
is based on conclusions made in a previous Abstract Conceptualization level. On the other
hand it can be the start of a new project. The next step which follows is the experiential
level.
Concrete Experience involves having an experience. This can happen in a classroom,
whenever students get new input, but also in various other places. In this stage, the students
are directly involved in the experience. In many cases the experience is based on the
planning from the active experimentation level.
After the experience, Reflective Observation follows. In this level the experiences made
are reviewed and reflected. It is important to make observations and to include various
view points, before making a judgment. This part of the cycle is concerned with finding a
meaning for things or circumstances. The conclusions are made in the next stage of the
model.
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The fourth stage of the model is Abstract Conceptualization, which comprises of
drawing conclusions from learning. At this stage teachers and learners conclude what they
could do differently next time or what they have learnt from their experiences.
As Trant (2010) divides school trips into three stages and Kolb’s learning cycle consists of
four, the relation between them has to be clarified. There is no one to one relation of the
stages, but Kolb’s (1984) learning cycle can be found in the three stages of school trips.
The first stage of school trips is the preliminary preparation. In this stage students are
prepared for the trip. They plan tasks, gather information and receive input about what they
are going to experience on the trip. To a certain extent this is also based on previous
experiences students have already gained in the past. To conclude the preparatory stage can
be compared to the Active Experimentation stage.
Following the preparation, there are the learning activities on the trip. Students work on
their tasks and gain new experiences. Most of their tasks and experiences on the trip rely
on the preparatory phase. This stage can also be linked to Kolb’s (1984) Active
Experimentation stage. Additionally, the first reflection of experiences should take place
right after the experience, which brings in the Reflective Observation stage.
After returning home, the Reflective Observation stage goes on and students continue to
reflect on their experiences. They should be guided by teachers when reflecting on their
experiences, as they should consider various view points before judging their experiences.
After dealing with their experiences, they go on to the next stage, the Abstract
Conceptualization. Students conclude their experiences by analyzing their impact on them.
This serves as a basis for further dealing with the experiences in class.
In fact, dealing with the experiences in class later on matches the new start of Kolb’s
(1984) learning cycle in the Active Experimentation stage. The three stages of school trips
can be applied to any school trips. This paper deals with a school trip to develop ICC, in a
three stage process as suggested by Trant (2010).
2.4 School trips and ICC
School trips to places with foreign cultures are common in Austria, and foreign language
teaching needs to aim at developing ICC as well. The “affective aspect of the learners’
development” is very important for ICC. (Byram et al. 2002: 19). Byram’s (1997) model of
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ICC can be applied to various intercultural encounters, including school trips. On school
trips students get involved with other people and communicate with them to develop ICC.
This means that the model of ICC can also be applied to students’ experiences with foreign
cultures throughout their trips. A detailed description about the concept of ICC is given in
the first chapter.
The question about what school trips are has already been answered at the beginning of
this chapter, but a term which has not been mentioned so far turns up in the context of ICC.
This term is fieldwork. The school trip to London, as it is described in this paper, can also
be seen as a form of fieldwork, due to the fact that students do research in the field and do
not exclusively follow a prepared schedule without working on tasks. In my opinion, the
planned trip to London also fulfills the criteria of fieldwork and benefits the development
of ICC. According to Byram (1997), fieldwork is one way to develop basic competences in
order to become an intercultural speaker, which is the role model for intercultural
communication. The concept behind this speaker can be found in the first chapter.
“Fieldwork clearly allows the development of all the skills in real time, particularly the skill of
interaction. It allows learners to bring their knowledge of relationships to bear on specific
situations, and to discover and interpret new data. When those new data also lead to a
generalisable system of explanation, learners continually add to the knowledge base
provided in classroom learning. In interaction, learners have the opportunity to experience
communication under time pressures, and in particular the significance of non-verbal
behaviour. None of these need be left to chance, however, and the responsibility of the
teacher to provide a pedagogical structure and systematic experience is what differentiates
fieldwork from independent experience.” (1997: 68f.)
As mentioned in the quote, the learners’ main opportunity on school trips is the
development of skills of discovery and interaction, as students have the opportunity to
discover many new facets of life on a trip. The contrasts between formal learning in
classrooms and direct experiences abroad, highlight the importance of learning about
cultures different from one’s own, on school trips. (Byram, 1999: 360)
In addition to that, school trips are opportunities to promote attitudes. This can best be
achieved by experiential learning. Learners experience situations that affect their emotions
and feelings. After the encounters, students are required to reflect on them. Teachers
structure those experiences and guide the students through them, so that the students
experience the “culture shock”. This can happen on each trip abroad, in a productive and
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positive way. (Byram et al. 2002: 19) Another perspective of teaching intercultural FLT is
to use school trips as a third place, which has already been described in the first chapter.
An important aspect of this approach is that teachers rethink the structure and objectives of
school trips and match them to the students’ needs, like developing ICC on the trip.
(Delanoy, 1999: 125) Apart from the methods used for school trips, they are time-
consuming and need careful planning to develop ICC. Representative examples of such
trips to London can be found by looking at projects discussed by Müller-Hartmann &
Schocker-v. Ditfurth (2006) or John & Teske (2002). Parts of their tasks have been refined
or reused for this school trip. As this topic is particularly complex and teachers are
challenged as well, they need training to develop ICC themselves. Only then can they
guide students towards a development of ICC.
In the Austrian curriculum of the AHS, no links to pedagogical training for teachers can
be found, but the importance of school trips is supported, as they allow authentic
encounters with other cultures. (BMUKK, 2004b:3) Byram (1999) criticizes the fact that
teachers are hardly trained for the “pedagogy of exchange”. Many teachers do not know
how to teach “modes of learning other than verbal” such as sight, taste or smell. Those
modes can be significantly powerful when visiting foreign countries and will also be used
on this school trip. (1999: 363) Moreover Byram (1999) also states that “the pedagogical
applications of ethnographic fieldwork, aim to ensure that learners not only acquire the
Skills of discovery and interaction, but also the decentred perspectives of attitudes.” (1999:
371) This means that teachers should ensure that learners not only engage with foreign
values and meanings cognitively, but also communicate with people from other cultures
and learn about perspectives or values that differ from their own. This is how teachers can
ensure that attitudes and skills of discovery and interaction are emphasized. This goes
beyond a mere acquisition of knowledge from texts or other material that takes place,
without any reflection. (Byram, 1999: 373)
In modern schools, most learners have already experienced pedagogically structured
school trips, but most of the trips are lacking experiences with foreign cultures. When
intercultural encounters are limited in time, they deal with knowledge only. For the
development of ICC this is problematic, because learners should know “a little about
everything and a lot about something”, but there is typically not enough time for that.
(Byram, 1999: 377) When time for fieldwork is not strictly limited, students can profit as
they gain more knowledge. In the best case scenario, they develop some sort of critical
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cultural awareness. Furthermore Byram (1999) points out that “fieldwork has to be
combined with classwork.” 1999: 378) According to him, follow-up work after the
students’ return from the trip needs to deal with the skills of interpreting and relating
(1999: 375)
This can also be linked to the division of school trips into three phases, which has already
been described earlier in this chapter. For the development of an intercultural dimension of
FLL, teachers are obliged to re-think the three phases of a school trip. At first, there is the
preparatory phase, in which learners realize their anxieties, excitement and thoughts about
the school trip. An example of exposing the students to their realizations would be a kind
of collective brainstorming. The students write down what first comes to their mind when
thinking about the future school trip. When the students arrive at home, they can look back
and compare their expectations with their experiences. (Byram et al. 2002: 19)
After the preparatory phase, the fieldwork phase starts. Students are immersed in a foreign
environment and experience it with all of their senses. Besides being exposed to the new
environment, learners should also get the chance to withdraw from this environment with
others and reflect upon their experiences, feelings or reactions in a classroom like
atmosphere. All students need the opportunity to compare and contrast their experiences,
as well as to interpret them. The role of the teacher is to assist and help them with
problems or occasional misunderstandings. Learners need this help not only when dealing
with their experiences but also after their return. Sometimes assistance is necessary on the
school trip, when the students’ “emotional involvement is very deep and needs to be
handled immediately.” (Byram et al. 2002: 20)
The final phase of the school trip is the follow-up phase, which takes place after the
students’ return home. The students reflect upon their experiences gained and the tasks
fulfilled during their trip. Every student should share, compare and try to analyze and
conceptualize the gathered experiences. Subsequently, the students need to process the
results of their analysis as basis for their understanding of experiencing the ‘otherness’. To
give an example, students could prepare a presentation of their school trip with facts and
personal experiences for their friends and family. It is important that the students think
about the target audience and refine their perspective on the trip. Students are asked to
think about what to explain to those who have not gained the same experiences. (Byram et
al. 2002: 20)
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Besides all the positive aspects of school trips or encountering foreign cultures, there are
also some negative aspects that should be mentioned. Teachers should not forget that direct
experiences in a country can be a great shock for students, even if the students have dealt
with such situations in the classroom. (Byram, 1999: 359) Teachers are responsible to
prepare their students for these reactions and should take the opportunity to help learners
familiarize themselves with unknown things. (Byram, 2000:11)
In conclusion, a school trip offers much more to students than an opportunity to practice
their foreign language skills. It is an integrated learning experience for students, which
allows them to develop intercultural competences and to gain new values and attitudes.
When teachers structure the school trip in three phases, students profit in many ways since
they have clear objectives and use experiential learning methods and they will be able to
“make the strange familiar – and the familiar strange.” (Byram et al. 2002: 20)
2.5 Curriculum and school trips
When school trips are conducted, teachers have the pedagogical and organizational
responsibility for them. Teachers have to know what to expect, how to deal with the topic
and what to consider in detail beforehand. In fact, teachers cannot usually do whatever they
want to do. In most cases, the reasons for going on a trip and the motivation for the trip
also have a legal background, which is stated in the national curriculum. According to the
law or laws, the expenses incurred on the trip should be affordable for all participants.
Costs are a crucial factor, but there are also other reasons why students do not participate
in school trips like health or family obligations. If students cannot take part in a school trip,
they are obliged justify their non-participation. This has to be done in written form.
Students who do not take part in school trips join a class in the same school, during their
colleagues’ absence. Students who are disabled may join school trips, but the teacher has to
make a decision whether students can join a trip or not. The teacher’s legal responsibility
to care for the students concerns the whole school trip, unless the students are no longer
minors. (Muth u Zieroff, 9f.)
Before going on a school trip, teachers always have to inform the headmaster about plans
to leave school in order to visit a place outside the classroom. If teachers want to take their
class to a school trip they need to get permission from the headmaster, even if they just
want to make an excursion that lasts for a short time. When such a trip takes longer than a
school unit or two, the teacher also has to inform the parents. The law leaves some open
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space for interpretation, but teachers always have to make sure to explain every decision
they make in the case that unpredictable events occur.
2.5.1 General Curriculum – Allgemein bildende höhere Schulen (AHS)
The general curriculum for the AHS in Austria is obligatory for all subjects in this school
type. At the end of the final year, which is the 8th year at the AHS and the 12th year at
school, the students have a school leaving examination and receive a higher education
entrance qualification, which is one of the requirements of the general curriculum. The
curriculum for Austrian grammar schools, public high schools or ‘Allgemeinbildende
Höhere Schulen’ (AHS), have exact guidelines for teachers regarding how to plan and
organize their lessons.
The ‘Allgemeine Lehrplan’ is subdivided into three parts. The first part is the ‘Allgemeines
Bildungsziel’, which gives general statements about the type of school and what to teach.
The second part is the ‘Allgemeine didaktische Grundsätze’. Here the didactics for
teachers are defined. The third part of the curriculum is the ‘Schul- und
Unterrichtsplanung’ that partly gives information about what to teach in what subject. The
statements given in the curriculum indirectly or directly relate to school trips and EOtc.
The following quotations are taken from the curriculum and can be related to school trips.
„„Die allgemein bildende höhere Schule hat im Sinne des § 2 des Schulorganisationsgesetzes an der Heranbildung der jungen Menschen mitzuwirken, nämlich beim Erwerb von Wissen, bei der Entwicklung von Kompetenzen und bei der Vermittlung von Werten. Dabei ist die Bereitschaft zum selbstständigen Denken und zur kritischen Reflexion besonders zu fördern. Die Schülerinnen und Schüler sind in ihrem Entwicklungsprozess zu einer sozial orientierten und positiven Lebensgestaltung zu unterstützen.“ (BMUKK, 2004a: 1)
General education and general knowledge are important for students. School trips are
considered to be part of such a general education, as students can hardly experience the
world in a better way than by witnessing the reality of the culture or place in which they
are visiting. The curriculum also requires gaining new knowledge, developing new
competences and conveying cultural or social values to students. These skills can be
achieved on school trips:
„Im Sinne ihrer eigenständigen und verantwortlichen Unterrichts- und Erziehungsarbeit haben die Lehrerinnen und Lehrer… - im Unterricht Lernsituationen zu gestalten und Lernprozesse einzuleiten und zu unterstützen, - vielfältige Zugänge zum Wissen zu eröffnen und auch selbst Informationen anzubieten,
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- Gelegenheiten zu schaffen, Können zu entwickeln und anzuwenden sowie Erfahrungen und Eindrücke zu gewinnen.“ (BMUKK, 2004a: 5)
According to the curriculum, students should become independent learners and have to
learn to be responsible for their own actions. As already discussed, school trips offer many
opportunities for students to train their skills and to gather new experiences. At the same
time, they also learn to be more independent and not to rely too much on others. School
trips also offer new learning experiences and fulfill the curriculum’s standards. Besides
introducing various ways of learning, school trips guarantee a great diversity of different
approaches of acquiring knowledge.
In the curriculum several additional quotes, which refer to school trips, can be found:
„…Bereitschaft, sich selbst in neuen Situationen immer wieder kennen zu lernen und zu
erproben“ (BMUKK, 2004a: 2) This quote stresses the importance of school trips, as
students benefit from new situations. Another reference to school trips can be found in
terms of social relationships: „Auseinandersetzung mit unterschiedlichen
Sozialisationsbedingungen“(BMUKK, 2004a: 3) There is no better way to deal with social
relationships than actually experiencing them in practice. The statement „Ergänzung des
Unterrichts durch Schulveranstaltungen“ (BMUKK, 2004a: 8) also has a relation to school
trips, since school trips are, in essence, a type of ‚Schulveranstaltung‘. All the statements
mentioned above have a certain degree of relevance to school trips, but above all these
statements directly relate to EoTC.
„Herstellen von Bezügen zur Lebenswelt…sowie die Einbeziehung außerschulischer Lernorte bzw. die Ergänzung des lehrplanmäßigen Unterrichts durch Schulveranstaltungen stellen wesentliche Bereicherungen dar.“(BMUKK, 2004a: 7)
In the quote above, the curriculum presents school trips as an essential part of the students’
education, as well as enrichment for the lessons. A distinction between usual classroom
teaching and EOtc is also made. To conclude, the general curriculum for AHS in Austria
agrees that students benefit from school trips.
2.5.2 Curriculum - foreign language AHS - Oberstufe
In addition to the general curriculum there are also specific curricula for every subject.
Every curriculum is subdivided into smaller units, which are distinguished according to the
age of the students. The AHS makes a major distinction between the ‘Unterstufe’ which is
the equivalent to the 5th to the 8th year at school and the ‘Oberstufe’ which includes
students in their 9th to 12th year at school. The focus of this paper will be on the
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‘Oberstufe’, moreover, the curriculum of the ‘Oberstufe’ for foreign languages – in this
case English – will be discussed. According to the curriculum there is a need for:
„…Praxisrelevanz sowie steigende Authentizität der Sprachmittel und Sprachsituationen [… ]Zielsprache als Unterrichtssprache“ (BMUKK, 2004b: 2)
Students need lots of practice in school. They should be able to apply what they have learnt
in school to real life. School trips perfectly fit the given requirements. Furthermore they
also present authentic situations. For FLT this is especially relevant when the trips travel to
foreign places. Before and on the trip to London, as it is described in this paper, the
students are asked to speak in English, which is also a requirement of the curriculum.
Teaching English and talking German in class is unrewarding for language learning.
Eine breite Streuung an schülerzentrierten, prozess- und produktorientierten Lehrmethoden, Arbeitsformen und Lernstrategien[…verschiedenste Arbeitstechniken Einzusetzen […] Präsentationen […] Portfolios“ (BMUKK, 2004b: 2)
School trips not only support a broad variety of teaching methods and techniques, but also
guarantee that students experience different strategies for learning. Portfolios and
presentations are also part of this paper. This work is carried out after the reflective stage.
„Einbindung authentischer Begegnungen[…]Im Fremdsprachenunterricht ist höchstmögliche Authentizität der zum Einsatz kommenden sprachlichen Mittel auch durch direkte persönliche Begegnungen mit Personen zu fördern, deren Muttersprache die gelehrte Fremdsprache ist[…]Schulveranstaltungen wie […] Intensivsprachwochen bzw. andere Formen von Auslandsaufenthalten und Auslandskontakten ermöglichen authentische Begegnungen. (BMUKK, 2004b: 3)
Authentic encounters are one of the most important factors for foreign language learners.
They are also a crucial part of the school trip to London. The curriculum also recognizes
their importance by stating that native speakers of the language should be integrated into
the language learning. Most important, the curriculum directly relates to school trips and
paves the way for teachers, who want to take their students on a trip abroad. According to
the curriculum, school trips make authentic encounters with the speakers of the target
language possible.
„Nationale Sprachvarietäten sind exemplarisch in den Fertigkeitsbereich Hörverstehen zu integrieren.. Handelt es sich bei der gelehrten Fremdsprache um eine internationale Verkehrssprache (Lingua franca) ist auch der Kontakt mit nicht-muttersprachlichen Aussprachevarianten zu ermöglichen. „(BMUKK, 2004b: 3)
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In England for example, there are numerous varieties of spoken English. Encountering
various forms of English will be unavoidable on the school trip to London as well. This
helps the students to experience new dialects or forms of English. On school trips English
is also used as the Lingua franca most of the time, as students communicate in English
with their teacher as well as people from other nationalities. In London this is especially
relevant, since many people who live in London are not native speakers, so they use
English as a Lingua Franca when communicating with the students.
3 E-Learning
E-learning is a common term in modern classrooms. Most people think of catchwords like
modern technology and Internet when dealing with e-learning. In fact, e-learning is a
complex issue for teachers as well as for learners. A list of the term’s different spellings is
a good start to deal with e-learning. Elearning, eLearning or E-learning are different
spellings for the same term. Supplementary, there are also several additional terms, like
blended learning, E-education or e-learning 2.0 which have a direct relation to e-learning
and should be known when dealing with e-learning. In this paper, the term e-learning will
be used for most forms of electronic learning. Related terms like blended learning or
mobile learning will also be discussed.
In 2002, the Austrian Ministry of Education funded a supplement for the magazine CD
Austria. In this supplement the authors tried to clarify what e-learning is. At the same time
this was the first attempt towards an official examination of what e-learning is and what
processes and tools are connected with it. According to the Secretary of Education at that
time:
“Die großen Herausforderungen im Bildungsbereich sind E-learning, also multimediales, interaktives Training am Computer, sowie der selbstverständliche Umgang mit dem Internet, das jüngste und am raschesten gewachsene Medium. […] E-learning und Internet sind unverzichtbar geworden für alle Bildungsbereiche.“ (Gehrer, 2002: 2)
This statement in the introduction of the supplement already shows the great importance of
e-learning .The authors of the supplement, Baumgartner et al. (2002a) pointed out that the
understanding for the term E-learning has changed throughout the years. Early definitions
focused on the technical aspects of learning, more than on interactive methods, which are
used nowadays. (2002a: 4f.) Kerres (2001) for example interpreted e-learning as all
variations of Internet-based teaching and learning opportunities. (2001: 14) The modern
47
notion of e-learning is more comprehensive, as it includes locally installed learning
programs, electronic media like DVDs and also the whole spectrum of learning online. In
the following, several definitions are quoted to illustrate various view points of what e-
learning is.
The first definition limits e-learning to Internet technology and also compares e-learning to
traditional learning.
„E-learning refers to the use of Internet technologies to deliver a broad array of solutions that enhance knowledge and performance. It is based on three fundamental criteria:
1. E-learning is networked, which makes it capable of instant updating storage/retrieval, distribution and sharing of instruction or information. […]
2. It is delivered to the end-user via computer using standard Internet technology. […] 3. It focuses on the broadest view of learning – learning solutions that go beyond the
traditional paradigms of training. […]” (Rosenberg cited in Lehner et al, 2004: 10)
The second definition gives an overview of different media covered by e-learning. Media
like DVDs or Blueray Discs could be added to this definition for a modern understanding.
„The term e-learning covers a wide set of applications and processes including computer-based learning, Webbased-learning, virtual classrooms, and digital collaboration. We define e-learning as the delivery of content via all electronic media, including the Internet, intranets, extranets, satellite broadcast, audio/video tape, interactive TV, and CD-ROM.” (Wilbers cited in Lehner et al., 2004: 10)
The following definition involves different forms of e-learning for tertiary education and
was published by the OECD (2005) .Most parts can also be applied in secondary
education.
• “Web-supplemented courses focus on classroom-based teaching but include elements such as putting a course outline and lecture notes on line, use of e-mail and links to online resources.
• Web-dependent courses require students to use the Internet for key elements of the program such as online discussion, assessment, or online project/collaborative work, but without significant reduction in classroom time.
• In mixed mode courses , the e-learning element begins to replace classroom time. Online discussions, assessment, or project/collaborative work replace some face-to-face teaching and learning. But significant campus attendance remains part of the mix.
• And when courses are offered fully online , students can follow courses [in one city from another town, country or time zone.” (2005: 2)
The last definition can be seen as most useful for the purposes of the planned school trip. It
not only relates to media, learning or tutoring, but also focuses on communication:
“E-learning schließt also heute sowohl Lernen mit local installierter Software (Lernprogramme, CD-ROM) also auch Lernen über das Internet ein. Wesentlich […] ist dabei, dass es nichtbloß um die (interaktive) Aneignung von Informationen geht, […] sondern, dass die (menschliche) Begleitung des Lernprozesses eine ganz wesentliche Rolle spielt. […] Sowohl die Begleitung des Lernprozesses durch internetbasierte
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Kommunikationsformen (E-Mail, Chat, Foren) als auch die Integration von Sozialphasen (face-to-face kombiniert mit face-to-interface) sind für e-Learning charakteristisch.“ (Baumgartner et al. 2002a: 4f.)
As mentioned, there are also several terms that are connected to e-learning; one of those is
blended learning. Similar to e-learning there is no consent about a universal definition.
Scholars either refer to it as a mix of different pedagogical methods, or as the blending of
new technologies of learning in combination with face-to-face learning in the classroom.
(Driscoll, n.d.) A convincing definition is given by Staker & Horn (2012):
„Blended learning is a formal education program in which a student learns at least in part through online delivery of content and instruction with some element of student control over time, place, path, and/or pace and at least in part at a supervised brick-and-mortar location away from home.” (2012: 3)
According to Arnold et al. (2004) blended learning should take the following three ideas
into account. Firstly, blended learning should combine elements of traditional teaching and
learning processes. Secondly, various forms of social interaction should be used. To
exemplify, group tasks or peers work can be added to the lessons. The third essential
aspect to consider is that learning objectives and the students’ competencies should
coordinate, so that a successful outcome of blended learning is guaranteed. (2004: 94f.) In
an Austrian context the term blended learning is used quite frequently and many forms and
elements of blended learning approaches are implemented in classrooms. Nevertheless, the
terminology of this paper prefers to the term e-learning, which comprises blended learning
as well. This is because the OECD as well as the COE make use of the word e-learning and
do not distinguish between e-learning, blended learning and other terms. In some cases e-
learning is considered to be obsolete and that is why other terms which have evolved in
recent years will be described.
3.1 E-Learning 2.0
The rapid changes of Internet content and the developments of communication tools
resulted in a shift of perspective about the Internet. The term web 2.0 was introduced and
also affected e-learning to a certain extent. That is why the term e-learning 2.0 was coined
by Downes in 2005, who commented:
“e-learning is evolving with the World Wide Web as a whole and it’s changing to a degree significant enough to warrant a new name [as] the nature of the Internet, and just as importantly, the people using the Internet, has begun to change.” (Downes 2005, cited in Zederbauer, 2008: 6).
49
The reasons mentioned in the quote demonstrated to him that a change in the common e-
learning terminology is needed and he wanted to address the new developments on the
Internet by his new term. The buzzwords of this new development like wikis, weblogs,
podcasts or RSS-Feeds found their way to classrooms. One important feature of the new
applications was that they were outsourced to the Internet and did not have to be stored
locally. As a consequence, sharing content became much easier and new Internet
communities evolved. (Kerres, 2006: 1)
The changes of the web 2.0 were also responsible for new roles of users, as they became
authors themselves. For e-learning this means that learners create content on their own and
do not only rely on given content by their teachers. Next, the border between local and
distant data storage and data processing became indistinct, because more and more data
was stored online. For learners this resulted in the fact that learning became ubiquitous. In
addition, private life has become more and more public. One of the effects on students is
that they are more and more challenged as learning is slowly becoming a performance in
public. (Kerres, 2006: 4ff.) A further aspect of importance is that not only is the familiar
classroom a place for learning, but the whole range of living environments and online
environments serve as places for learning. (Kerres & Nattland, 2007: 45)
This change in locations for learning and the outsourcing of content has resulted in so
called content management systems (CMS). They can be seen as a platform, which enables
users to make use of the learning content. At first, teachers had to upload all the necessary
content for learners to guarantee that learners can download the sources, but this has
changed. The perspectives of the web 2.0 have changed the Internet to a kind of portal for
learners which guides learners to specific sources. (Kerres, 2006: 5f) Kerres (2006) also
tried to illustrate this via the following table.
e-learning 1.0 e-learning 2.0 Learning environment = An isle on the Internet with content and tools
Learning environment = A portal to the Internet with content and tools
Teachers transports all resources to the island
Teacher guides to resources
Learner makes use of the provided content and tools
Learner configures his personal learning environment
Tab. 3.1: Edited from Kerres (2006: 6)
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At the beginning of learning with CMS, they were just places for data storage and teachers
had to insert all tools and content. Then tools like Weblogs for reflection, wikis for
collaborative work or portfolios to reflect on the tasks where introduced. At the same time,
teachers had to rethink the way they are dealing with e-learning. Students should be guided
to work with various resources themselves. To a certain extent, learners could determine
their learning content on their own. (Kerres, 2006: 6f.) Those developments lead to a new
form of CMS, so called LCMS.
3.2 Learning Content Management Systems (LCMS)
The steady progress in E-learning has resulted in systems that fit the learners’ needs and
make them authors themselves. At the same time they give teachers the tools to change
their roles and act as guides for students. Those systems are called Learning Content
Management Systems (LCMS). They are a combination of Learning Management Systems
(LMS) with the function to create own content and Content Management Systems (CMS)
to personalize the content. (Baumgartner et al. 2002a: 18) Baumgartner et al. (2002b) also
give a definition for LCMS.
„Ein Learning Content Management System ist eine Software, die das Erstellen, Speichern und Verwalten von wieder verwendbaren Lernobjekten (RLO´s) sowie die Organisation und Betreuung webunterstützten Lernens ermöglicht.“ (2002b: 282)
Fig. 3.1 (Nichani, 2001 edited in Baumgartner et al. 2002a: 25)
In an LCMS users create learning objects by integrated or external tools. Those learning
objects can be stored on a database, combined and reused in other courses or classes. That
is the reason why they are called Reusable Learning Objects (RLO). By combing the
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RLOs, whole online courses could be established with the help of existing data.
(Baumgartner et al. 2002b: 281f.) In addition to creating individual RLOs, it is also
possible to buy learning content from external providers.
The possibility to create new courses and to relate back the existing RLOs is part of the
principle of personalized learning. It can be compared to the principle behind the famous
consumer website, Amazon®. On the front page there are recommendations about what to
buy and what kind of things users have searched for or purchased recently. To adapt that
principle for LCMS, it is necessary to detect the own “skills-gaps” and close them. There
are various forms of evaluation for such gaps. When the student enters the LCMS again, it
can provide courses to improve the skills and close the gap. After successful learning the
profile is updated. (Baumgartner et al. 2002a: 26) The advantage is that such gaps can be
targeted easily and learners save lots of time. In comparison, a seminar takes up to 2 hours,
whereas a consolidation of a LCMS only takes about 15 minutes. (Baumgartner et al.
2002b: 284)
3.3 Moodle
One of the most successful LCMS in use in schools worldwide, is Moodle. In August
2012, there were 215 countries and 66.000 registered sites registered on
http://www.moodle.org and it contained more than 6 million online courses. (Moodle.org,
2012a) Moodle is also rather popular in Austria. According to the Moodle website, about
780 sites were registered at that time in Austria alone. (Moodle.org, 2012b) In Austria,
there is also a separate website specifically created for the Austrian ministry of education
that supports access to Moodle and hosts such sites and courses and will be discussed later
on.
The popularity of Moodle was caused by the COE’s decision to use Moodle as an e-
learning tool for projects about “Human Rights” or “teacher training in sociocultural
diversity”. (COE, 2009: 2) Other aspects that may have helped Moodle to become as
popular are that it is an open-source software, which means it is free and it runs on various
operating systems like Windows, Linux or Mac. Nevertheless, users are required to
“provide the source to others; not modify or remove the original license and copyrights,
and apply this same license to any derivative work” (Moodle.org, n.d.) In 2010, Moodle
released a new version 2.0 to cope with the needs of the Web 2.0 and meets the
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expectations of e-learning 2.0. Features like portfolios or blogs where added to guarantee
an even higher degree of interactivity. (Moodle.org, 2011)
3.3.1 Moodle functions
The tremendous variety of functions on Moodle offer teachers many forms to engage
students in e-learning. In the following paragraphs, some important functions will be
mentioned. (edumoodle.at. n.d. a)
Chat: Chats allow synchronous online discussion among students. A problem chats have
to face is that students do not frequently use them. A good way of involving the students in
chat-discussion is to invite experts or virtual experts, which can be played by teachers, to
the chat. The students have the possibility to discuss specific topics with them.
Forum: A forum is a good tool for asynchronous discussion. Teachers can also read the
posts and add comments. The only restriction is that entries can only be edited for 30
minutes. The aim of forums is to answer questions that occur in the course of a lesson or
during homework. The forum offers students immediate answers to questions they posted
in the forum.
Assignments: Teachers can give students a significant variety of different assignments.
The assignments can be done fully online or students can upload files they have worked on
for an assignment, in this case the files can also be created offline. After the teacher has
graded the assignment, the students can view their grades on their personal page, which is
not accessible to the other students. An advantage for teachers is, for example, that they see
whether all assignments have been uploaded or not.
Blog: The newest version of Moodle also supports blogs, in which each student can
comment. Blogs can also include external blog feeds like Blogger or Worldpress. As
external Blogs are now integrated, there are no blogs that are only available for special
groups or users themselves directly on Moodle anymore. (Edumoodle.at. n.d. b)
Portfolio: A new feature of Moodle is that users can export their course content like forum
entries or chat protocols as portfolio. (Edumoodle.at n.d. b)
Wiki : The existence of Wikipedia has showed the importance of wikis. In Moodle, a
module called wikis, allow students to work on pages and add or edit content. An
advantage is that older versions are not lost when other students save and edit their content.
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Wikis can either be used for the whole class or just for individual students. In the case that
there are many students, it might be too much effort to deal with single wikis for each
student.
3.4 Benefits and Drawbacks of E-learning
In this chapter several benefits of e-learning have already been mentioned. Cost-efficiency,
an orientation towards the learner, ubiquity, various forms of interactive learning, the
creation of learner-based content or the change of the role of the teacher are just some
benefits for learners that e-learning provides. The OECD (2001) tried to describe some
more benefits of e-learning, or the use of information and communication technology
(ICT), as they call it.
“Things that cannot be done without the technology
• The dematerialization of time and space – learning any time anywhere; • Mass-education – access to learning for everyone • Internet access to ever growing collections of educational resources and services; • Input for task-based learning using fast search and retrieval software, or for research work; • Learning on demand; • Peer-group teaching/learning through distance learning via ICT.” (OECD, 2001: 23)
“Things which can be done better with technology
• The choice of learning style; • Customized and Personalized learning materials and services; • Individualized tracking and recording of learning processes; • Self-assessment and monitoring of learner performance; • Interactive communications between participants and influencers in the learning process; • Interactive access to educational resources. “ (OECD, 2001: 23)
E-learning has been glorified for many years, but critics have always claimed that not all
aspects of e-learning are beneficial for learners. There are also some drawbacks that should
be considered when teaching with e-learning tools in class.
After a period of euphoria about e-learning, many of the expectations people had, could not
be full-filled (Niegemann et al. 2004: 16) Tergan (2004) as one of the critics states that
learning by the means of new technologies is not as successful as most people expected it
to be. The quantum jump did not occur. (2004: 132) Niegemann et al. (2004) also tried to
point out some different perspectives on e-learning. They mentioned the cost efficiency
that many people praised could only be achieved when a large number of learners were
taught, but most of the time this was not the case. Another problematic aspect was that the
didactic advantages of presentations with new media did not prove to be more successful
than traditional ones. (2004: 16f.) Kerres (2001) agrees and states that from a didactic point
54
of view, there is no reason why new technologies should be favored, as the media
primarily has the function to convey learning content. (2001: 11) In addition to that, lots of
learners could not acquire knowledge rationally via e-learning and a vast number of
learners quit e-learning courses. (Niegemann et al. 2004: 16f.)
In his thesis, Mazzurana (2008) highlighted three further problems that were caused by the
so called e-learning 2.0. The first problem arises when students collaborate, since they are
asked to contribute content themselves. In many cases students have to prepare and create
their own content. Unfortunately, people are often not interested in joining weblogs or
contributing to wikis and would prefer to passively participate in the web. The only group
that showed at least some interest in contributing content was students. This indicates that
teachers should try to observe whether their students like interactive via e-learning or not.
The second problem can occur when applications are put into an educational context. Often
students like to create private content, but are not willing to produce content for
educational reasons. The third problem is the tension between self-determination of the
students’ content and evaluation of the content and the learning progress by the teacher.
When students do whatever they want and create content without any standards or learning
objectives, this cannot be called self-determined learning. Teachers as well as students are
required to define their learning objectives and evaluate how far the objectives have been
met. (Mazzurana, 2008: 99f.)
The previously mentioned benefits and drawbacks of e-learning have shown that e-learning
is a good way to implement technical as well as communicative aspects of learning in the
classroom. Nevertheless, teaching in the classroom cannot fully be replaced, and a
combination of e-learning and face-to-face sessions has shown to be most successful.
When teaching in an online setting, teachers change their roles. They act more as a guide
and give students free space to work on their own. If students need input or tools the
teacher gives them hints about where to get the information from or provides them with the
tools needed. Despite all benefits of e-learning, teachers need to choose carefully when to
make use of it. For example they have to know whether their students like e-learning or
not. The reason is that the students’ motivation is considered to be a determiner for success
of interactive e-learning courses. To provide a summary, the following chart gives an
overview about the advantages and disadvantages of E-learning and compares it to
traditional classroom learning.
55
Traditional Classroom Learning E-Learning Advantages • Immediate feedback
• Being familiar to both instructors and students
• Motivating students • Cultivation of a social
community
• Learner Centered and self-paced
• Time and location flexibility
• Cost-effective for learners • Potentially available to
global audience • Unlimited access to
knowledge • Archival capability for
knowledge reuse and sharing
Disadvantages • Instructor-centered • Time and location
constraints • More expensive to deliver
• Lack of immediate feedback in asynchronous e-learning
• Increased preparation time for the instructor
• Not comfortable to some people
• Potentially more frustration, anxiety, and confusion
Tab. 3.2 Traditional classroom learning vs. e-learning (Zhang, D. et al. 2004: 76)
3.5 E-Learning in Austria
Baumgartner et al. (2002a) were first to discuss e-learning in an Austrian context, whereas
this part of the paper deals with the current situation of e-learning in Austrian schools.
When investigating the current situation of e-learning in Austria, an analysis of the IT
infrastructure has to be done first. Basically, students need their own computer and Internet
connection to be able to successfully use e-learning tools..
Integral (2012) , an institute for market and attitude research, reported that 97 percent of all
teenagers between 14 and 19 years have access to the Internet. This means that almost all
students in the Oberstufe have access to the Internet. Still, teachers should not forget that a
handful of students still have not got a computer or Internet connection. In the past, there
were several projects that aimed at providing all students with computers and Internet
access. One of these projects was to implement so called Laptopklassen, in which all
students were provided with a laptop for learning in- and outside the classroom. Another
similar project “das Netbook-Projekt” was praised as very successful. In 2011, 24 schools
have participated in the project. The result was that students of all ages can profit from
such projects. The schools also used external Internet providers and got financial aid to
56
improve the IT infrastructure. One of the drawbacks of the project was the low battery
service life or the weight of the computers. In general, the project was a great success and
it was recommended that way more schools should participate in this project.
To guarantee a greater number of school participants, Schrack (2012) also recommends
making use of two further forms of laptop-classes. The first is: “bring your own computer”,
where parts of the class are equipped with devices and others bring their own devices. The
second is “Notebookwagen” a wagon that provides enough laptops for all students, but the
computers are used by more than one class. Fully-equipped classes with computers are just
one part of successful e-learning. Adequate material and platforms are also needed.
3.5.1 Official Austrian e-learning websites
The Austrian ministry of education does not only fund hardware projects to provide access
to e-learning. There are also several websites that should help students and teachers to
make use of e-learning. The main platform that lists all databases and websites that are
associated with e-learning is: http://www.bildung.at The title of this website is “Das
Bildungsportal für eLearning, E-Government und Shared Services.” Obviously, the portal
aims at meeting educational and governmental needs. The following websites can be useful
in foreign language classrooms, and are all somehow interrelated and linked to each other:
Edumoodle, http://www.edumoodle.at
Edumoodle is a free service by the Austrian ministry of education and the education group
(http://www.edugroup.at) , supported by the government of Upper-Austria. The edumoodle
project was started back in 2005 and its aim was to offer all Austrian schools free Moodle
access. The website is not only a hosting site for schools that intend to get free access to
Moodle, but also offers links to various online courses for teachers. Some examples, which
are relevant for this paper are: “A trip to London” or “London – A City of Signs.”
According to the website there are 1.900 instances with 300.000 participants on
edumoodle. (Edumoodle.at, 2012)
Bildungspool, http://bildungspool.bildung.at
Similar to the database for online-courses on edumoodle.at , the Bildungspool offers a
great variety of online courses for different subjects in Austrian schools.
E-learning.cluster.2.0, http://www.elc20.com/
This website aims at teachers of the “Oberstufe”. Useful material like presentations from
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congresses or information about important topics like “blended learning”, “mobile
learning” or even “game based learning” can be found. Furthermore there are also
summaries of relevant projects.
Schulbuchextra, http://sbx.bildung.at
The Sbx allows teachers to access digital media connected to school books. The database
hosts various different media. In fact, the service requires fees, but schools can order
access to the database when ordering official schoolbooks at the beginning of the semester.
The access is restricted to those who have a username and a password, but some
information and demos about what topics and books are offered can be found on the
website. The extent of the demos presented on the site depends on the publishing house of
the school books. (Bildung.at, 2012)
eLearning.im.Schulalltag,2.0, http://elsa20.schule.at
eLsa is a project that tries to involve all Austrian schools in e-learning. In 2012, 150
schools participated in this project. Compared to all schools in Austria this is just a small
number, but the numbers are expected to increase. Furthermore, the schools that have
already gained an eLsa certificate can enroll in the eLsa advanced program, which tests
and evaluates new forms of e-learning.
Forum.neue.Medien,Austria , http://www.fnm-austria.at/erf/home/
The cooperation between the University of Vienna and the Austrian ministry of science
and research has resulted in this website. The main intention of this website is that teachers
can access information about legal aspects of e-learning.
Besides the presented websites, there are numerous additional websites that deal with e-
learning in Austria. Teachers get lots of material, resources and information that help them
to use e-learning with the students. Nevertheless, teachers must not forget that face-to-face
teaching in classroom still has to take place.
3.6 E-Learning and ICC
The goals of e-learning in language learning are the “development of foreign language
[…], linguistic competence and the facilitation of intercultural competence.” (Belz, 2003:
68) E-learning offers many opportunities to make learning content instantly accessible and
allow communication with individuals from other cultures which can help to develop ICC.
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Several studies have shown that e-learning can foster a development of intercultural
competences in and outside the classroom.
3.6.1 E-learning to foster Intercultural Competence
When teachers make use of e-learning for a development of ICC, they enable students to
take over more responsibility for their learning. Very often, students are also encouraged
and motivated to learn. (Rollin & Harrap, 2005: 5) This opposes the notion of the mid of
the 20th century when teachers used language drills as means of language learning. When
providing online material students are even more likely to have prepared a topic and learn
vocabulary on their own. This leads to more efficient learning compared to approaches that
urge teachers to prepare each vocabulary item and to introduce the topic as a whole.
(Rollin & Harrap, 2005: 6) Teaching intercultural competence through e-learning is
appropriate. The materials used need “ongoing monitoring, evaluation and modification in
response to changing student profiles.” (Rollin & Harrap, 2005: 7) In order to prove that e-
learning can foster intercultural competence, some projects were conducted in FLCs.
3.6.2 E-Mail projects
Intercultural learning in school does not replace direct encounters with foreign cultures,
because they are really important when it comes to ICC. (Müller-Hartmann, 1999: 167)
With the help of computers, students can directly get into contact with people from other
cultures. (Müller-Hartmann, 1999: 160) E-mail projects for example help to realize such
attempts within the classroom context. In opposition, foreign language teaching that only
includes textbooks and texts does not enable learners to communicate with people from
another culture directly. An important aspect of the process of communication is that
interlocutors also get a chance to speak. E-mails do not directly provide a face-to-face
situation, which is the ideal form, but the people from other cultures can reply e-mails.
This form of bidirectional discourse is beneficial for intercultural learning. (Müller-
Hartmann, 1999: 168) E-mailing does not only allow communication with other people, it
also opens the students’ minds for new perspectives, as they experience different attitudes,
opinions and values, which often do not match those of their own culture. (Müller-
Hartmann, 1999: 160) The importance of e-mailing for ICC has lead to a closer
investigation and categorization of projects that use e-mails as medium of communication.
Attempts towards a typology of E-mail projects have resulted in three categories. Those are
bilateral, closed and open projects. Bi- or multilateral projects consist of two or more
groups of learners who communicate intensively. This is considered to be the most
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effective form for intercultural learning. What makes it so interesting for learners, is the
fact that some of the contacts may have existed before the actual project. Closed projects
are limited to small groups and are often moderated by institutions. Open projects, are
learner-based as they meet the learners’ needs and the groups can invite other groups form
all around the world to participate. (Müller-Hartmann, 1999: 168) In addition to the
decision about what category to choose, there are many other aspects to consider when
planning an e-mail project.
E-mail projects will take several weeks in order to be successful. Meaningful
communication between the participants usually takes several weeks, as e-mail partners
first have to establish relationships to each other. Other reasons why intensive
collaboration takes some time are that learners also need to become familiar with the topic
and different methods used for the project. (Müller-Hartmann, 1999: 169) Donath (1996)
estimated a time frame of about 3-5 weeks for such a project. (1996: 21f.). According to
Müller-Hartmann (1999) this time-frame is not enough, as the processes take more time
and school routine like exams can also cause delays. (1999: 169)
When planning E-mail projects time and the category of the project are not the only
aspects to be considered. Teachers also have to create communicative situations for
students so that they can practice intercultural exchange. Literature for example can also
serve as basis for a project. In this case, a dialog between the text and the students has to be
established. The students are asked to draw parallels from the text to their own life, in
order to achieve a further development of their identity. (Müller-Hartmann, 1999: 171)
An early investigation about usage of e-learning to develop ICC was conducted by Müller-
Hartmann (1999) in Germany. The aim of the three months e-mail project was to get in
contact with students from other cultures. A young-adult fiction novel, dealing with
minorities, served as core text for this project. (Müller-Hartmann, 1999: 160) When
analyzing the novel content in e-mails, students tried to establish a relationship with their
foreign partners. Lots of inner conflicts occurred and the students had to deal with them.
The exposures to other perspectives lead to a shift in several students’ perspectives. This e-
mail project proofed that e-mail projects offer a great potential for a development of ICC.
Nevertheless, Müller-Hartmann (1999) claimed that such projects need more preparatory
time, as project partners should get more time to get to know each other. Videoclips or
pictures should also help to strengthen relationships and interest. Furthermore, the project
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was lacking an e-mail conference program or a chat for students. Such features would
cause more project orientation, which is a major factor of e-mail projects. A major
disadvantage of this e-mail project was that it did not result in any product. According to
Müller-Hartmann (1999) trying to work on products intensifies communication and
intercultural learning. (1999: 172ff.)
In 2003, a German/American e-mail partnership was tested for the development of
intercultural competences. The aim of the study was not only to identify the ICCs, but also
to provide a linguistic analysis, which was innovative at that time. (Belz, 2003: 68) The
distinguishing aspect of this study was that it focused not only on what the students said,
but also how they said it. The main focus of analysis was based on Byram’s (1997) model
of ICC. Especially the learners’ attitudes developed throughout the project were analyzed.
(Belz, 2003: 70) One of the most important outcomes was that it proved that the teacher
needs to be a “guide on the side”, who help students when using telecollaboration to
develop ICC.
“[…]the importance […] of the teacher […]increases rather than diminishes in Internet-mediated intercultural foreign language education precisely because of the electronic nature of the discourse. In contrast to conventional face-to-face classroom-based learning, the teacher in telecollaboration must be educated to discern, identify, explain, and model culturally contingent patterns of interaction in the absence of paralinguistic meaning signals.” (Belz, 2003: 92)
A later study of e-learning fostering a development of ICC by e-mailing was conducted by
Liaw (2006). Students used an e-forum to communicate about their own culture. In this
forum they had to discuss about their perspectives with native speakers of their target
language. In addition to e-forums, students were provided with online reference tools, if
they needed some help. Each participant succeeded to fluently communicate in the target
language. Despite some minor technical problems, the telecollaboration worked well for
both groups. The forum entries were also analyzed according to four types of Byram’s
(2000) assessment of intercultural competences. The study focused on (1) interest in
knowing other people’s way of life and introducing one’s own culture to others, (2) ability
to change perspective, (3) knowledge about one’s own and others cultures, and (4)
knowledge about international communication processes. (Liaw, 2006: 49)
In this telecollaboration project, the students should also experience the third place of
language learning. In this place, their own culture and the target culture meet and a
reflective communication should take place. The e-forum proved to be a suitable third
61
place of language learning. (Liaw, 2006: 53) The results of the assessment with Byram’s
(2000) categories showed, that most students’ entries could be classified as an example of
category (3). Obviously, knowledge about their own culture was the main issue of this
study and so the results were not unexpected. Nevertheless, the outcome was successful.
Students claimed that they read interesting articles and experienced intercultural
communication. (Liaw, 2006: 57) Liaw (2006) also summarizes the results of the study as
follows:
“[…]students in the present study did not learn the target culture as a checklist of knowledge. With the help of computer-mediated communication, the students took a journey of discovery and reflection where their understanding of behaviours, beliefs, concepts, ways of interacting in their own and the other culture was exchanged, discussed, negotiated, and even refined.” (2006: 60)
Summing up, various projects have been conducted to show that e-mailing can foster a
development of lCC. The outcomes and the form of each study differed, but all projects
concluded that e-learning can help students to gain experiences and to develop ICC.
Byram’s (2000) objectives are a meaningful way to assess the students’ progress.
Equivalent to e-mail projects, there is another more recent form of e-learning projects to
develop ICC – blog projects.
3.6.3 Blog projects
In 2010, the study “Intercultural exchanges in the blogosphere” dealt with intercultural
encounters.US students collaborated with Chinese students in this blog project. The study
was subdivided into three stages: the pre-blogging survey, a blogging and post-blogging
survey. The focus of this study was to analyze the students’ reactions towards language
learning and learning about cultures through blogs. Similar to Liaw’s (2006) e-mail the
development of ICC was assessed on the respect of Byram’s (2000) objectives for
intercultural experiences. The US participants represented the role of culture learners and
the Chinese students acted as cultural experts on their culture. Most intercultural
competence could be observed when Chinese students tried to help US learners with their
lack of awareness of the Chinese culture. The US students were more competent in
engaging in the conversation. The only drawbacks of the project were technical problems
as the learners lacked knowledge about how to create blogs, though they had learnt it in
school. The evaluation of this project showed that teachers benefit from using blogs as
teaching and learning tools. (Sung & Lin, 2010: 171ff.)
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A recent study from 2011 investigated asynchronous communication via blogs and real life
encounters via face-to-face interviews. The focus of this study was to promote learner
autonomy and intercultural competence. All US students spent a semester abroad and had
to create a blog and conduct interviews at the location abroad. The analysis showed that
students learnt to work independently and to reflect on their work. An issue when
reflecting their work was that critical reflection was mostly triggered by the teacher’s
guidance and did not happen autonomously. It was assumed that most students were not
accustomed to reflect on their own efforts. (Lee, 2011: 87) The accessibility of the Internet
was a problem as not all students abroad had limited access to the Net. (Lee, 2011: 103)
The study concluded that task-design, cognitive skill and access to the Net are crucial to
foster students’ development of ICC via blogs and interviews. (Lee, 2011: 87)
According to the two mentioned studies, blogs offer great potential for fostering
development of ICC. Teachers have to be careful about the content learners create on their
own and give guidance if needed. Students who write blogs can also be faced with
different roles. Byram’s (2000) objectives for assessing development of ICC are also
applicable in terms of using blogs.
3.7 Curriculum and E-Learning
The European Union has highlighted the importance of e-learning and provided
recommendations to use e-learning to local governments. In accordance to those
recommendations, the curriculum of the Austrian AHS covers many references to e-
learning in school. “Den neuen Technologien kommt verstärkt Bedeutung zu.“ (BMUKK,
2012a: 7) is one of the comments that state the importance of new technologies in schools.
In the same context, the government also wants teachers to make use of the potentials
facilitated by new technologies:
Innovative Technologien der Information und Kommunikation sowie die Massenmedien dringen immer stärker in alle Lebensbereiche vor. Besonders Multimedia und Telekommunikation sind zu Bestimmungsfaktoren für die sich fortentwickelnde Informationsgesellschaft geworden. Im Rahmen des Unterrichts ist diesen Entwicklungen Rechnung zu tragen und das didaktische Potenzial der Informationstechnologien bei gleichzeitiger kritischer rationaler Auseinandersetzung mit deren Wirkungsmechanismen in Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft nutzbar zu machen. (BMUKK, 2012a: 2)
Later in the curriculum, innovative technology is described in more detail “Bei der
Informationserstellung ist der Einsatz des Computers, insbesondere die Anwendung des
Internet zu fördern.“ (BMUKK, 2012a: 6) The use of the computer as medium in
connection with the Internet is therefore most important for e-learning in schools.
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„Dies gilt in besonderem Maße für die Oberstufe […] Hier sind in allen Gegenständen Informationsmanagement sowie Lern- und Unterrichtsorganisation mit Mitteln der Informationstechnologie zu praktizieren. Dabei sind in kommunikativen und kooperativen Arbeitsformen Informationsquellen zu erschließen und unterschiedliche Informationsformen zu bearbeiten, Inhalte zu systematisieren und zu strukturieren und Arbeitsergebnisse zusammenzustellen und multimedial zu präsentieren. Die Ergebnisse und deren Interpretation sind stets kritisch zu hinterfragen“(BMUKK, 2012a: 7)
The general curriculum suggests that all subjects should make use of modern technology
and points out touse of communicative and cooperative methods and reflect on the results.
The curriculum directly demands to make use of communication, reflection and e-learning,
which will be done in the project described in this paper. Furthermore, not only the
learning environment, but also the infrastructure is stressed:
Die Erstellung eigenständiger Arbeiten mit Mitteln der Informationstechnologie ist anzuregen.. Recherche und Verarbeitung von Informationen mit einer Textverarbeitung oder einem Präsentationsprogramm. […] Durchführung und Auswertung von Befragungen und Experimenten, Gestaltung von Medien, dokumentierte Kommunikation und Kooperation auch in einer Fremdsprache, Dokumentation und Präsentation von Projektarbeiten (BMUKK, 2012a: 7)
This quotation directly applies to the notion of e-learning 2.0 and links to the interactive
tasks that will be used in the project of this paper. In addition, it is recommended to make
use of a combination of tasks and e-learning in a foreign language. The curriculum for
foreign languages in Austria also refers to e-learning, although traditional materials are
also stated to be used in class:
“Vertrautheit mit Lehrmaterialien, Nachschlagewerken und Hilfsmitteln Im Umgang mit Lehr- und Lernmaterialien, Nachschlagewerken, Grammatikübersichten, zwei- und einsprachigen Wörterbüchern in Print-, Ton-, Datenträger- und Online-Version sind die Schülerinnen und Schüler zu Geläufigkeit und Eigenständigkeit hinzuführen. „(BMUKK, 2012b: 2)
The usage of presentations, portfolios or various other tasks for students is also discussed
in terms of foreign language learning and e-learning.
Die neuen Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien (IKT) sind auch im Fremdsprachenunterricht vielseitig zu nutzen (zB bei der Bearbeitung von Lehrinhalten, zur Schulung von Arbeitstechniken und im Rahmen von Schularbeiten oder der Führung von Portfolios) (BMUKK, 2012b: 3)
In conclusion, e-learning is an important part of the Austrian AHS curriculum. The tasks
which will be done on the school trip and use communicative patterns, the Internet,
creations of portfolios and presentations all meet the curriculum’s requirements. A school
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is therefore a good opportunity for learners to experience many things which are demanded
in the curriculum, within a short period.
3.8 From E-learning to M-learning
Modern information technology has found its way to almost all members of society and the
Internet as central concern is used for private life, business and, as previously mentioned,
in education. In the previous chapter E-learning has proved to be important for educational
needs. The expansion of online courses, LCMS, platforms or any kind of e-learning tools
affected most Austrian schools. Due to technological enhancements and mobile computers
as well as other mobile devices have been invented, e-learning also has a mobile aspect and
is no long stationary.
Today, it is even possible to leave seminar rooms and use mobile devices to learn outside.
Existing online systems had to be adapted, but now they can be used on Smartphones,
Tablet PCs or many other mobile devices. Students can access learning content for their
classes everywhere and at any time. This ubiquity has also resulted in even more learner
orientation than usual e-learning and new ways of teaching have evolved, one of them is
m-learning (Lehner et al. 2004: 12)
4 M-Learning
The official Austrian school portal (http://www.schule.at) mentions mobile learning as
being an important form of learning nowadays. There is a great variety of mobile devices
that offer a growing range of functionalities, which can be used to assist learning in school.
Teachers can combine content like pictures or videos with chats or forums and create new
learning environments. (Wagner, 2012) Besides the fact that m-learning constitutes a
future oriented form of learning, teachers should know some facts about m-learning.
4.1 Definitions
There is no common ground for a detailed definition since experts give divergent
definitions. Still, most researchers agree that schools can profit from m-learning. Following
several attempts towards a definition of m-learning are given.
Already in 2000, Quinn (2000) has defined m-learning as being strongly connected to e-
learning and related it to an efficient infrastructure, which was not available at that time.
Now, the infrastructure has improved and Quinn can be seen as kind of a visionary.
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“mLearning is the intersection of mobile computing and eLearning: accessible resources wherever you are, strong search capabilities, rich interaction, powerful support for effective learning, and performance-based assessement. Elearning independent of location in time or space.” (Quinn, 2000)
Brown (2003) incorporates the different aspects of the learning process in his definition
and mentions different roles in m-learning.
“m-learning is a natural extension of e-learning & has the potential to make learning even more widely available & accessible than we are used to in existing e-learning environments. The role that communication and interactions plays in the learning process is a critical success factor. It is within this context that m-learning can contribute to the quality of education. It offers opportunities for the optimizing of interaction between lecturers and learners, among learners & among members of COP’s (communities of practice)” (Brown, 2003 cited in Lehner et al. 2004: 14f.)
Traxler (2009) critizises that there is no universal definition of m-learning. In contrast he
contributes to the techno-centric view of mobile learning, as he lists numerous mobile
devices and relates the development of m-learning to them.
“Irrespective of the exact definition, mobile and wireless technologies, including handheld computers, personal digital assistants, cameraphones, smartphones, graphing calculators, personal response systems, games consoles and personal media players, are ubiquitous in most parts of the world and have led to the development of ‘mobile learning’ as a distinctive but ill-defined entity.” (Traxler, 2009: 3)
The previous definitions showed that various elements occur when m-learning is described.
Winters (2006) tried to categorize the various definitions in literature and found four
categories of m-learning definitions. First, there is the techno-centric perspective, which is
the most common perspective for academic purposes. Mobile devices like TabletPC,
Smartphone or PDA play the most important role in these definitions. Second, mobile
learning is often seen as being related to e-learning. M-learning is considered to be an
advanced development of e-learning. Third, it is often seen as augmenting of formal
education. The place of learning in particular is the crucial component for definitions
mostly. Fourth, m-learning definitions often focus the learner-centered perspective. The
purpose of such definitions is to highlight the importance of the learners’ mobility rather
than solely on the mobile devices. (2006: 5f.)
In her dissertation, Unterfrauner (2011) points out the fact that there are even two more
categories of m-learning definitions. As fifth perspective, she states that the mobility aspect
in general is often considered for definitions. The sixth perspective deals with the mobility
of the whole society. (2011: 63) Those six perspectives of m-learning definitions give a
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representative overview on what m-learning is thought to be. Besides knowing what m-
learning is, teachers should also be familiar with the benefits and drawbacks of m-learning.
4.2 Advantages of M-Learning
Following a list of advantages of m-learning compared to other forms of learning is given.
Some advantages may have more impact on the learners, others less. The personal attitude
towards e-learning, mobile devices and different learning styles also affects whether m-
learning is successful or not. Following a general overview on advantages of m-learning is
given.
• M-learning allows access to courses, videos, audio files, online libraries and many
other media almost everywhere. Everywhere can mean public transport, in a park or
even on a plane. (Woodard & Cochran, 2011)
• M-learning is not limited to accessing content, since students can also create content by
making videos or voice-recordings or by taking pictures. (Gadd, 2010)
• The portability and small size of most mobile devices is also a big advantage. (Kress &
Pachler, 2007) Modern devices are often light in weight, but still enable learners to
work with them everywhere. An example would be to type notes on the bus.
• Interactivity can also be seen as a major advantage of a mobile device. Interactions
with teachers or other students are made easier, which can be a help for learning also.
This interactivity makes it possible that students get immediate feedback. This way,
students can cooperate on tasks and it has been proven that combined studies are
beneficial for learning. (Woodard & Cochran, 2011)
• Communication, which is probably the most obvious aspect of m-learning, is also
enhanced by synchronous and asynchronous ways to communicate over time and
distance. To exemplify, a form of synchronous communication would be call, whereas
texting would be asynchronous. In addition, it is possible to communicate mono- or
multidirectional. This means communication with one or even more people at the same
time. (Kress & Pachler, 2007)
• Psychology also found its way to m-learning and it is proved that mobile devices
increase motivation. Students are committed to learning and make use of well-designed
tools. This is also a determiner for motivation to practice. (Woodard & Cochran, 2011)
• Cost-efficiency of mobile devices is often reported to be a benefit of mobile devices, as
they are often cheaper than larger, stationary systems. A proof of cost-efficiency is that
almost all students own mobile phones. Mobile devices allow flexible learning hours,
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as they can be used at any time from everywhere. This flexibility also accounts for
learning pace, some students are slower learners and therefore need more time for
learning. Mobile devices give them more time for learning, as the students are not
bound to the classroom. (Woodard & Cochran, 2011) Another facet of flexibility is that
resources can be created, adapted or modified without much effort. (Kress & Pachler,
2007)
• Saving money, according to Woodard & Cochran (2011) is also an advantage of m-
learning, as learning material can be provided online and continuing expenses are low.
• The usability of modern mobile devices is also good. Even children know how to use
mobile devices at an early age.(Nehrling, 2010) This easy usage also makes instruction
manuals obsolete for most people. (Unterfrauner, 2011: 73)
• Modern mobile devices are often equipped with GPS, which makes it possible to get
geographical information about specific positions on earth.
• Interfaces like USB or infrared and networks like Bluetooth or WLAN are part of
many mobile devices. They enable learners to exchange content quickly with other
users.(Lehner et al. 2004: 6)
Besides those advantages of m-learning there are still some issues that are considered to be
disadvantages of m-learning.
4.3 Disadvantages of M-Learning
• The screen size of some mobile devices is inconvenient as they often too small for
learning. (Woodard & Cochran, 2011) Nehrling (2010) offers a solution for this
problem, as he suggests that this is only challenging to implement the device in the
correct way. He recommends to use compressed e-learning and to think about what
content learners need for mobile learning. He also states that new displays have
increased in size and quality.
• Technology is developing in a fast pace and mobile devices get outdated quickly.
Learners are regularly faced with obsolescence of mobile devices. (Woodard &
Cochran, 2011)
• As mentioned, devices get outdated soon, but even if learners could still use them,the
durability of some mobile devices is low. HTC for example confirmed that their
smartphones are designed for a life span of two years, which is the duration of the
warranty. After this period the phones are expected to be broken or dysfunctional.
(help.orf.at, 2012)
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• Many m-learning venues lack printing technologies, as network connection and
infrastructure for printing are needed. (Woodard & Cochran, 2011)
• Storage capacity of many mobile devices is limited. This can be problematic when
there are many files to store. (John, n.d.) Lots of mobile devices now have slots for
multimedia cards that provide up to 32 GB storage, which is enough for most learners’
needs. Even if that is not enough, files can be stored on a remote server. The files can
still be accessed from the mobile phone if there is Internet connection. Nevertheless,
teachers are required to adapt their teaching strategies to that. (Nehrling, 2010)
• Whenever a great number of learners accesses WLAN the bandwidth can decrease or
even break down. (Woodard & Cochran, 2011) In projects with notebooks, schools
additionally bought internet connection from external providers to prevent such a
decrease in the bandwidth. (Schrack, 2012) Many students also have own Internet
providers on their mobiles, which also could be used.
• A common problem with mobile devices is the battery life, which is quite short in most
cases. (Woodard & Cochran, 2011) The usage is estimated for most mobiles at around
4 to 8 hours and if one has to plug the device in to recharge it, mobility is no longer
guaranteed. (John, n.d.) There are several companies that provide mobile charging
stations now. Tests have shown that they are useful, but also expensive. (Janko, 2012)
Considering possible threats when using m-learning in the classroom, almost every
problem that occurred at early stages of m-learning could be solved. The advantages of this
style of learning prevail and if there are problems like storage shortages teachers always
have alternatives that can help to solve the problems. The numerous auspicious advantages
of m-learning will certainly lead to even more implementation of m-learning in classrooms
within the next years.
4.4 Mobile devices
As there are different definitions for m-learning, there are also various conceptions about
what mobile devices are. A widely adopted definition of mobile devices was provided by
Weiss (2002:3). Smartphones, Phones, PDAs, TabletPCs and Laptops are classified as
mobile devices. Obviously they all serve functions for mobile learning. Besides the devices
mentioned, portable game consoles like Nintento 3DS or PSP are also classified as mobile
devices by Nösekabel (2005). He also adds MP3-players to the list. (2005: 84) In addition
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to that list, GPS devices, cameras, video recorders and other devices that have an aspect of
mobility can be interpreted as mobile devices. (Trinder, 2005: 8)
The list of mobile devices is not complete and especially concerning notebooks and laptops
there is a controversy whether they are mobile devices or not. Ernst (2008) denies
accepting them as mobile devices, as they require some time to boot and to be ready to
operate. The big displays and their heavy weight distinguish them from other comparable
devices. Most important, laptops can be carried to almost any place and content can be
accesses everywhere, Nevertheless, laptops cannot be used while walking. Out of this
reason laptops are often not listed as mobile devices. (2008: 17)
4.5 Mobile learning in classrooms
The trend towards an implementation of m-learning in the classroom derives from the
learners’ interest in mobile devices and the features they offer. A study from 2012, which
investigated smartphone usage in Austria, found out that smartphones become more and
more important and the borders between the usage at work and private use vanish more
and more. In Austria, a trend called “bring your own device” allows people to use private
smartphones at work. This could also be a basis for learning with smartphones in
classrooms, as up to 85 percent of young people below 29 years already own such a phone.
Smartphone users interpret the ownership of a smartphone as an increase of the quality of
living. (APA-OTS, 2012) The positive attitude towards phones could be used to motivate
students and to implement m-learning in class.
In fact, attitudes of mobile device users cannot be the only reason why mobile devices
should be used in class. In 2008, Lehner et al. conducted a survey aimed at the usage of
mobile devices in FLL. The aim of this study was to find out what devices are currently
used and to investigate whether mobile learning for foreign languages is useful or not.
(2008: 9)
The results showed that the mobile phone was the most frequently used device. MP3-
player and iPod were placed second. The survey also showed that almost half of the
participants did not make use of the multimedia functions of their devices. Around 60
percent of the students did not have experience with e-learning. Even more astonishing is
that none of the participants had learning experience on a mobile device, even if ten
percent knew about tools to learn foreign languages with the help of mobile devices.
Surprisingly, 87 per cent could imagine that m-learning could improve their foreign
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language skills. The main reasons were that students expected easy access to LCMSs and
more flexibility. (Lehner et al. 2008: 12ff.) Even if the study has already been conducted in
2008, it shows that there is a need for m-learning in the language classroom. Many efforts
have been made since 2008 and also several Austrian schools make use of m-learning in
classrooms. They mostly use smartphones or TabletPCs like the iPad.
4.5.1 Smartphone
The number of smartphone owners constantly increases. 85 per cent of Austrians below 29
years own a smartphone, which means that lots of students own one. (APA-OTS, 2012)
When teaching in Austrian schools I also conducted surveys in several classes and found
out that about 90 per cent of all students aged between 14 and 19 years owned a
smartphone. The interest in learning via smartphones was also pronounced by many
students, which perfectly fits the Lehner et al.’s (2008) study discussed earlier.
When teachers implement smartphones in class they need to rethink their teaching. They
should know the advantages and disadvantages of m-learning, as well as the phones’
functionalities. Another thing to consider is that different phones have different operating
systems. In Austria, the most frequently used operating system is Android by Google, with
almost 50 percent of the market volume. It suppressed iOS by Apple, which dominated the
market first. (APA-OTS, 2012) Teachers must check the compatibility when using LCMSs
or apps, as some tools may not work with different operating systems.
In 2011, an Austrian teacher worked on a m-learning project with smartphones in an
English class. The project “My mobile English class” consisted of four parts. The parts
comprised two parts in Moodle and two parts that dealt with blogs. The first part featured
short learning sequences with a duration of 5-10 minutes, aimed at learning English outside
the classroom. The second part used multimedia functions of smartphones. Students had to
create their own multimedia content. The third part consisted of podcasts and blogs that
were intended to increase the students’ motivation to use their phone for learning. The last
part dealt with codes that had to be scanned in via the phone. They were linked to blogs
with texts. Hofer (2011), the teacher described his objectives as follows.
Students should take the advantage of ubiquitous learning, as smartphones allow them to
learn at any place, for example the bus. Learning by doing was another important aspect
for him as well as “Sprechförderung”. The intrinsic motivation and fun-factor, students
experienced by using m-learning were also part of his objectives. In addition to that, he
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also wanted to address extrinsic motivation by using tasks and content like podcasts or
vocabulary training. For his efforts, this project was awarded to be an innovative SPIN
project of the SPrachenInnovationsNetzwerk. (Hofer, 2011) Besides that project there are
also several other projects that deal with m-learning in classrooms. An important
component of these projects is the use smartphone apps. Apps are software applications
that allow users to utilize various multimedia functions through their smartphone.
4.5.2 Smartphone Apps
The increase of smartphone users has lead to the development of a vast number of
smartphone apps. Apps are frequently used in private, but they can also be applied in
schools. There is a great variety of apps that can be used for educational purposes.
(Wagner, 2012) Most m-learning projects deal with various apps that offer diverse
functionalities. Following, some smartphone apps, which can be applied on school trips,
are introduced and their functionalities are described in short terms. The relevance for ICC
will also be reviewed.
Skype
Skype is a communication app, which is used by almost 100 million people worldwide. It
allows people to call each other for free. Such calls are not only limited to voice calls as
skype also offers free video calling. The requirements are that both interlocutors are
registered skype-users and that they are online. (Google Play, 2012a)
In case of communication video chatting can be really useful. Evidence can be found in an
e-mail project conducted by Byram (1999). He described that it was difficult to chat with
someone one has never met before, when using email contacts. This restricted the contacts,
but when people met each other face-to-face contacts developed more quickly and people
became familiar with each other. (1999: 376) Videos calls cannot replace real life face-to-
face encounters, but at least they can see each other while communicating, which is not
possible when using e-mails or voice calls. Skype also offers an extended version for
computers, which provides to conduct video-conferences with several people.
Video-conferencing through skype could also offer learners situations which are crucial for
developing ICC. As previously mentioned, Byram (1997) holds the opinion that an
intercultural speaker needs “to interact with people from another country and culture in a
foreign language.” (1997: 71) The interactivity and ubiquity of skype guarantee that
learners can experience such interactions at home or even on trips. Skills of discovery and
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interaction, build up on “real-time communication and interaction” (Byram, 1997: 52), out
of this reason skype perfectly matches the requirements for communication tools in FLCs.
Maps
An app that almost every android user owns is Maps, which is known as Google Maps on
the Internet. This app can be used for various kinds of navigation. Learners can choose
between navigation for drivers, bikers, pedestrians or public transportation. It also offers
detailed maps, partly illustrated with 3D-buildings and landscape, but also satellite photos.
Users can even go to various places in the world and experience a virtual excursion as
buildings, streets and sights have been photographed and uploaded. (Google Play, 2012b)
In Austria there has been a controversy about this specific feature which is called
StreetView. According to the Austrian law in connection with data privacy, Google was
not allowed to take pictures of Austrian streets as this can be seen as an intimidation of
people’s privacy. (Zsolt, 2012) One of the big disadvantages was to offline users could not
use it offline, but Google also improved their offline maps. (Chip.de, 2012) Such offline
maps can be beneficial for students when they are on a trip and navigate from one place to
another. Furthermore, Maps offers useful information about places, sights, restaurants or
other points of interest and can be connected to knowledge databases like Wikipedia or
photo databases like Flickr.
The mere availability of photos and information does not help students to develop ICC, but
Tenberg (1999) mentioned that historical, political and economical knowledge should also
be taught. (1999: 72) Nevertheless, one of Byram’s (1997) objectives would also fit to the
content provided in Maps. Knowledge also deals with “historical and contemporary
relationships between one’s own and one’s interlocutor’s countries” (1997. 51). Teachers
are supposed to relate the information presented on Maps to material in class to foster a
development of ICC.
Dict.cc
The app, dict.cc is an online dictionary tool, but users with enough memory storage can
also save the whole database on their smartphone. In this dictionary many frequently used
words and phrases can be found. In the German to English and English to German
dictionary there are 875.000 translations, which is an enormously large number. (Google
Play, 2012c) It has to be pointed out that for conversational speaking about 2000 words
have to be known. A language learner would need to know around 15000 to 20000 words
to equal a native speaker. (Schmitt, 2002: 83) The translations of dict.cc do not mean that
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language learners actually know the words, but they can at least look them up, which can
be helpful on school trips.
It is a fact that vocabulary items are important for language learning. Learners should not
only know how to use them, but also what to learn about specific words. (Ur, 1996: 60-63)
Learners cannot access all dimensions of words by using dictionaries, but at least the
denotation. (Ur, 1996: 61) This dictionary meaning can help to understand people in
various situations. The dictionary can provide words whenever they are needed in a
conversation. In addition, vocabulary is also one element of linguistic competence.
Usó-Juan and Martínez-Flor (2008) describe linguistic competence as the ability to use the
elements of the linguistic system like vocabulary appropriately. (2008: 161) In his
comprehensive model of ICC, Byram (1997) also connected linguistic competence to
intercultural competence, which is described in the first chapter. This model proves that
dictionaries like dict.cc are useful while developing ICC. Byram’s (1997) comprehensive
model of ICC not only relates to intercultural competence, but also identifies the places
where those processes can take place, school trips are one of them. To draw a conclusion,
dictionary apps can help to develop ICC on school trips, too.
Dropbox
As described, the storage capacity of some mobile devices is low. (John, n.d.) Cloud-
services like Dropbox, help to reduce the need for storage capacities on mobile devices, as
they outsource data. This means that the data needed is not directly stored on the phone,
but on servers on the Internet. Dropbox allows users to save videos, photos and other files
on their account. Files can also be edited directly, so that they do not need to be stored on
their mobile device. (Androidpit.de, n.d.) Lots of people already make use of such services.
Cloud-services like Dropbox are even more important now than usual e-mails for huge
attachments. (APA-OTS, 2012) In addition, outsourcing of data offers many advantages
for language learners.
When learners are on a school trip, they have limited storage on their mobile device, but
they can access their own data from their desktop-pc at home through Dropbox. They
simply save the files in the Dropbox folder and open or edit them from everywhere. When
using mobile devices, learners can also grant other learners access to their files. Learners
can either edit the material on their mobile device after creating it or they can store
everything on a cloud service and edit it at home. To give an example, students could film
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an interview on a school trip. The rough video can be stored on the Dropbox account and
accessed and edited later on.
The students can concentrate on collecting further material rather than on not having too
much material that can be stored on the mobile device. They can interview more people,
can save more data and exchange data with other people. This way, cloud services allow
learners to concentrate on the project. Dropbox can also serve as database for e-mail
projects or blog projects. E-mail attachments can be stored there and accessed by e-mail
partners or rough material for blog projects can be stored until they are ready to be
published on a blog. This way cloud services can serve as database for e- or m-learning
projects that aim at developing ICC, independent of the location where they take place.
4.5.3 Ipad
Besides smartphones, Apple’s iPads are the most commonly used mobile devices for m-
learning. The iPad, a tablet PC is similar to a laptop. It is a portable device that uses a
touchscreen as keyboard and to display information. The functionalities are similar to a
smartphone, but the screen is bigger. There is also a great variety of apps for education.
(Apple, 2012) In Austria, more and more schools tend to use of the iPad in classrooms.
In 2010, the first Austrian schools initiated to use iPads in school. A Hauptschule with
students aged between 10 and 14, and a Handelsakademie with students aged between 14
and 19, where the first two schools which started the “iPad-Klassen.” Lots of money had to
be invested into infrastructure and even an own software engineer for apps was employed.
The aim of using the iPad for school was to make use of various materials and to address
all different types of learners. The two project schools also served as basis for an
investigation of iPad classes in Austria. (Klingler, 2010)
After one year several school books could be replaced, but at the same time the work load
for teachers increased. This was not seen as a negative effect as the teachers were satisfied
with the results of the apps programmed for their classes. Students quickly learned how to
use the iPad and teachers stated that students were not distracted by the iPad when using
conventional teaching methods. In the years to come, more results will be presented and
conclusions for further projects will be made. (Prenner, 2011)
Besides the two project schools, several other Austrian schools are equipped with iPads.
One example is a primary school in Vienna. This shows that there are schools of all levels
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in Austria that are equipped with iPads. The initiator of the primary school project was
quoted in the Standard, an Austrian newspaper, when she said that there are studies which
prove that iPads increase learning success up to 70 percent. In 2011, she participated in the
“Apple Dinstinguished Educator” conference, which is a program for apple mobile device
educators. (Derstandard.at, 2012) It is expected that many other schools will introduce the
iPad as mobile device for their classrooms. In Germany, several schools take part in
research projects to develop guidelines for how to implement iPads in classrooms.
(Universität Mannheim, 2012)
4.5.4 Other mobile devices
Besdies smartphones and iPads, there are several other mobile devices that can also be
beneficial for learning. In Lehner et al, 2008 the impact of MP3 players like iPod and
PDAs on FLL are discussed. The results show that they also offer potential for m-learning.
There are various applications that can be used on PDAs. Podcasts and other educational
files can be used on MP3 players. (2008: 20ff.) Other kind of mobile devices, GPS devices
are also recently used for m-learning.
GPS-Devices are used for detecting geographical data and to navigate, but they also have a
function that they can be used for Geocaching. Geocaching is a form of modern treasure
hunting. People hide treasures, the so called caches, out-doors. Geocachers register at the
official portal www.geocaching.com and search for those treasures. Hiding and seeking
caches can be fun for users and modern education programs also use Geocaching for
learners. Information such as historical, geographical or cultural data can be conveyed by
such caches. Geocaching is not only fun, but also educates learners.
The official Austrian school portal www.schule.at also claimed Geocaching as being
useful for teaching. Geocaching is also a way of dealing with mobile learning in the
classroom, especially when environmental contexts are important for learning. (Wagner,
2012) To introduce Geocaching to teachers and students, there is an instructional video
which was provided by the official school platform and can be found at:
http://www.schule.at/index.php?id=176185&medienid=5510129
Several schools have reacted to the recommendation to use Geocaching in class. For
example, a school in Styria has started a Geocaching project, which dealt with topics about
mathematics and physics. (elsa20, 2012) In principle, it would be possible to link any topic
needed to Geocaching, but careful planning is needed. Foreign language teachers could
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hide caches in culturally important places to make students aware of them link the cache to
Byram’s (1997) theory about ICC.
4.6 M-learning with Moodle
The LCMS Moodle has already been discussed in the chapter e-learning, but also offers
remarkable opportunities for language learners with mobile devices. Practically, learners
can access Moodle courses from their mobile devices via an internet connection. For
example, the AAU Studentenportal, an inoffical app of the Alpen-Adria-University of
Klagenfurt provides access to all courses of a student, when logged in. This app was
introduced in 2012 and gives students a mobile access to their Moodle courses. (Google
Play, 2012c) Problematic about this access to Moodle is that it is not compressed in any
form and smartphone displays are too small to use Moodle adequatlely. This makes m-
learning with Moodle rather difficult as users always need to zoom in and out, if their
display is too small. The programmers of Moodle tried to solve such problems and
invented an overview page for Moodle users with the most important features, which is
called mymoodle. The advantage for administrators is that they can activate it by clicking
on it and no add-ons are needed. (Moodle docs, 2012) Another way of teaching with
Moodle is the Mobile Learning Engine (MLE) which has been used for several years now
and works on most modern phones.
This compatibility with most phones is one of the advantages of MLE which has proved to
be useful for m-learning. Users can learn everywhere at any time, if they have their phone
with them. With MLE customized learning courses are possible and teacher can create
courses according to the learners needs. MLE works with Moodle and the courses used for
learning can also be accessed via desktop computers. This means that MLE serves as
interface between e-learning and m-learning for projects. In the following quote
Meisenberger (n.d.) outlines the core principles of MLE: Teachers can create customized
Moodle courses:
• “for field-trips, where students should fill out quizzes or upload images/videos/audio reports or written reports in a forum
• create location based learning szenarios with mobile tagging or integrated GPS • make quick surveys or quizzes in the classroom with the mobile phones and see the
results instantly” (Meisenberger, n.d.)
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With those functions, MLE has proved to be the most efficient Moodle app, which can be
applied for m-learning on school trips. One of the disadvantages of MLE is that is has to be
installed separately from the administrator of the school system.
4.7 M-learning and ICC
M-learning is applicable everywhere at any time. For language learners this has enormous
effects on their intercultural learning. Students can use their mobile devices while being on
an exchange semester or on a school trip. Theoretically, learners could also interact with
learners from various cultures. This could help to gain experiences necessary for becoming
an intercultural speaker. Besides that there are also apps that help to build up a basis for a
development of ICC by enhancing knowledge of linguistic competence. Admittedly, all
processes would also be possible without m-learning, but mobile devices ease to make use
of tools for intercultural communication everywhere at any time.
A study from 2009 proved that mobile devices increased the frequency of intercultural
encounters on social networks. When barriers like lack of awareness and knowledge of the
mobile devices’ functionalities were overcome, intercultural encounters could take place.
According to the study, m-learning facilitates interpersonal communication and also
communication in intercultural settings, which helps students to develop ICC. Mobile
devices that feature tools for creating videos and pictures are even more beneficial than
devices that only have play-back functions. (Willis & Raybourn, 2009: 551) Mobile
devices that allow creating own content are also in the focus of this paper, as students
should also conduct interviews and make pictures and also edit that material afterwards.
5 School trip to London
My intention in writing this paper was to describe a school trip to London which develops
ICC and uses e- and m-learning to support the process. The previous chapters introduced
several necessary tools and theories for the trip. Before describing the structure and
different stages of the trip, some additional information on the trip will be outlined.
The school trip to London, which is described in detail, focuses on learning by doing and
follows the theoretical model by Köck (1986). When being on a trip that deals with
learning by doing, the students have to become active themselves. On the trip, they work
on their own tasks and get assistance by the teacher, who acts as a guide. The methods
required to work on the tasks are covered during the preparation, in which students
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contribute ideas for topics relating to the trip.(Köck, 1986: 227) On this particular school
trip, students are also given the chance to work on their own tasks, while creating their own
content.
On the one hand, the students profit from developing ICC while also learning to deal with
other issues that are required by the Austrian Curriculum for AHS. The curriculum states
communicative competence as a main objective, placed above the other objectives in FLL.
In combination with the task-based approach, achieving communicative competences and
“Sach- Selbst- und Sozialkompetenz” are crucial factors for FLL. On the other hand,
students should experience new situations and get to know their strengths and weaknesses.
They are in need of developing such competences to cope with situations that require
communicative or cooperative tasks. (BMUKK, 2012a: 2) Besides their ability to
communicate, they should also have basic knowledge about different countries and
cultures. This is linked to the importance of cultural and intercultural interaction.
(BMUKK, 2012b: 4) The knowledge needed can be achieved by using various media and
different sorts of tasks and texts. Good examples of tasks which can be used in class, are
portfolios or project work. (BMUKK, 2012b: 2) One of the main criteria involved in
achieving this, is to use the target language in class. (BMUKK, 2012b: 2)
The school trip to London fulfills all relevant criteria. It is relevant for the students in terms
of experiences for their further lives and it meets the standards of the Austrian curriculum.
The following section of the paper deals with structuring and describing the trip and giving
detailed information about the tasks that need to be achieved during the trip.
5.1 The structure of the trip
Before the trip, much planning is needed and the objectives have to be clearly identified.
Although this means lots of work for the teachers, students gain unforgettable experiences
and profit for their further lives. In the following segments, the structure of the planning
process and the school trip are explained. The first step in the preparation of a school trip is
the problem analysis.
5.1.1 Problem analysis
At first, careful planning demands problem analysis. Werner Delanoy (1999: 122) used a
problem analysis for a teaching project that was remodeled to fit the intended London trip
outlined in this paper. The problem analysis for this school trip consists of six parts
a) Selection of initial topic / trip
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Students go on a school trip to London to develop ICC, which is one of the core aspects of
FLL. Potential topics for activities on the trip are collected and summarized. London
provides a great variety of encounters with interculturality. Possible topics to be dealt with
on the trip are: ethnic minorities in Britain, Cool Britannia, assessing all senses in London,
London sights, London bus trip, Geocaching in London, Food in London, London
immigrants, youth culture in London, Camden markets and alternative cultures, different
markets – different cultures, hometown vs. London, fashion project in London, queer
culture in London or tourist vs. sojourner in London. The mentioned topics are some of the
best illustrations of the ideas of ICC.
b) Creation of teaching activities
The different topics mentioned above provide many ways of how to incorporate ICC into
the classroom. After clearly rethinking what topics focus on and what teaching activities to
create, some topics and tasks for the school trip were selected. Afterwards each topic and
task was prepared in detail. They will be specified and explained later in this chapter.
c) Clarifying situation within the group
The situation within a group of students is really important, as teachers want to develop
social competence and built upon the students’ previous knowledge, skills and
competences. The situation in the class can be described as follows:
The school trip is designed for students of the 6th or 7th form of a secondary school. The
students are aged between 15 and 18, and have experienced at least 6 to 7 years of FLT in
school. In relation to the CEFR, this would equal a proficiency level between B1 and B2
According to the CEFR, B1 students “can deal with most situations likely to arise whilst
travelling in an area where the language is spoken.” B2 students “can interact with a degree
of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite
possible without strain for either party.” (COE, 2001: 24) This means that students are
likely to cope with intercultural encounters on the trip to London.
Additionally, the students’ proficiency with computers and e-learning is also important.
Most teachers use e-learning based teaching now and the majority of students are equipped
with their own computers, laptops or mobile devices. A high level of m-learning and e-
learning competency by the students is important to make a trip like this successful, as
many tasks involved in this London excursion rely on computers and mobile devices.
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d) Clarifying the role of the teacher
The number of teachers attending, depends on the exact number of students joining the
trip. Preferably the teachers are known to the students and also know their strengths and
weaknesses. The role of the teacher is different than a usual teacher centered perspective,
since the teacher acts as guide and does not teach in front of the class. The teacher’s role
also includes interactive qualities, as students should receive help whenever it is necessary.
The students should learn to rely more on their own skills instead of depending on the
teacher.
e) Considering regulations of the curriculum
The curriculum states important issues like the approach and context of teaching. In the
curriculum, requirements like authentic encounters with people from different cultures,
practical relevance and many other factors underline the importance of school trips. In the
second chapter of this paper, the relation between the curriculum and school trips is
explained.
In terms of ICC, the curriculum includes the “Unterrichtsprinzip Interkulturelles Lernen”
which has to be implemented in all subjects in school. Intercultural experiences and
encounters need to be fostered in school. This can best be achieved by going on school
trips and inviting people from different cultures or cultural experts to participate in class.
According to the curriculum, students should learn to understand various different cultures
as an enrichment and not as a threat to society. Students should participate in intercultural
events and profit from them for their further lives. More detailed information about ICC
and the curriculum can be found in the first chapter.
Teachers should make use of the pedagogical advantages that modern technology offers
them. Even the European Union has acknowledged e-learning as relevant to develop FLL.
Although, the computer plays an important role, the importance of using mobile devices
like smartphones can also be derived from the curriculum. Nevertheless, teachers should
not neglect traditional teaching materials like worksheets or dictionaries. More information
on e- and m-learning in the Austrian curriculum can be found in the third and fourth
chapter.
f) Planning the course of the trip
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Careful planning is not only needed for tasks and objectives, but also for other
organizational issues on a trip. Teachers should be familiar with organizing flights,
sleeping arrangements or at least authorize a company to take care of the logistical issues.
On this specific London trip, the teachers organize flights and accommodation themselves.
Additional English lessons in London are neglected as they cost a lot of money and a great
deal of time is required to full-fill the tasks to develop ICC: This is how teachers help
parents to save money, as consequently high costs of school trips can be avoided. In
addition to saving money, students have lots of time to develop ICC on school trips, which
is a major issue of FLT, as it has already been stated in the second chapter.
5.2 The Trip
After the problem analysis, which provided an overview on the important features like
structure, activities or curriculum, it is important to work on a more detailed description of
the three different stages of the London trip and to describe all the tasks and their
importance for the students. In the second chapter, the three levels of school trips were
identified and linked to Kolb’s (1984) learning cycle for experiential learning. The
importance of the different stages has been explained, but in the following sections, a
detailed description for each stage will be provided.
The main aim of this trip is to develop ICC in foreign language teaching. Byram et al.
(2002) agreed that a school trip can be divided into three parts, but they stated that it is
important to rethink these three stages when developing an intercultural dimension of
foreign language learning. (2002:19) In the following sections, Byram et al’s (2002) terms
are used, as their research results directly address ICC. A description of those three stages
can be found in the first chapter and examples how to deal with ICC are provided in the
upcoming portion of this paper.
5.3 The Preparatory Phase
The preparatory phase aims at providing students with a basis for their school trip to
London. Trant (2010), states that a school trip involves careful planning and a didactic
approach that differs from classroom practice. Due to the fact that the school trip differs
from the situation in the classroom, students need to be prepared for the trip while still in
the classroom. (Trant, 2010: Xiv) Such pre-trip sessions should take place in the classroom
and help students to question their own reality. This is an important step towards
developing ICC. (Byram, 1999: 378) Another important aspect is that teachers should not
try to achieve too much during the school trip. They should rather concentrate on a few key
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aspects in order not to overwhelm the students with a vast workload. (Trant, 2010: 32) The
first part of the preparatory phase is to create a Moodle course which is an online course
that fosters e- and m-learning. Moreover Moodle is a good tool in developing ICC.
5.3.1 Create a Moodle course
Moodle has been recommended by the COE and is widely used in Austria. More
information about Moodle can be found in chapter three. The reason why Moodle was
chosen as a means of supporting the school trip to London, was that it features all
functionalities needed for the trip to develop ICC. Moodle enables the teacher to
implement e-learning in school, as it is an online tool, which can also be accessed from
home by the students. Advanced versions of Moodle allow mobile access, which
guarantees the m-learning component. Students can access the Moodle courses at home,
abroad or even in class. Not only can the students read content on the course page, but they
can also upload and create content on their own and add their contributions to the course
page.
The next step towards creating a Moodle course for the London trip is to host the Moodle
software and the course on an online server. In Austria, many schools have their own
webservers, but the Austrian ministry of education provides a free service for teachers to
host their Moodle courses. This offers teachers the opportunity to have unlimited access to
Moodle and to create their own Moodle courses. Teachers can have full tutor rights and set
up the entire courses, grade assignments or create new tasks. They can participate in
forums, blogs or e-mail projects and edit all data necessary for the course.
5.3.2 Moodle functions used for the school trip
Moodle offers a variety of different functionalities that are needed for the tasks that the
school trip includes. Personal messaging and e-mails are the basis for the e-mail project.
The students can exchange messages via e-mail, but they do not need a separate e-mail
account. Moodle also offers a blog function which allows creating a blog on Moodle or to
link to opensource blogs to Moodle. Another important function of Moodle is that all
content that is produced during the preparation and on the trip can be uploaded and edited
on the Moodle page. Before uploading content, teachers and students should think about
what is relevant and evaluate the subject matter. Before asking students to work on and to
create content on their own, teachers should give them a short introduction. In this
introduction students should learn how to evaluate e-content and how to use reliable
Internet sources.
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5.3.3 Meaningful e- content
Before using e-content, teachers should also know how to create content and what content
to use. The first step is to consider the content-decree of the Austrian ministry of
education. Ten criteria for meaningful e-learning modules are given.
First, content has to be correct and up-to-date. Facts are assessed for their credibility and
their social relevance. Second, the modules need to be clearly structured. This structure
also has to be understandable for learners and should be related to the learning objectives.
Third, the content has to have emotional qualities. Learners should be motivated by the
content and animated to participate in tasks. Content has to be up-to-date, relevant and to
activate previous knowledge. Humor, motifs and group orientated design are important
components that correspond with the learners’ emotions. Fourthly, e-content has to be
adaptive. Learners have different prior knowledge of topics and different interests.
Teachers should consider this and offer additional materials. Common ways of dealing
with content should not be neglected, as different students use different strategies to
accomplish a purpose. The fifth criterion is interactivity. New media offers various ways of
interactivity in class. E-learning 2.0 is an interactive tool that motivates learners to
contribute to the tasks, while teachers are given interactive tools to assess the learning
progress. (BMUKK, 2003)
One of the most relevant criteria of e-content is that it has to be communicative, which is
especially necessary to develop ICC: According to the ministry of education,
communicative content are modules that encourage learners to communicate and cooperate
with other learners. Suggestions for improvement and feedback by learners help authors of
the Moodle software to improve the quality of modules and allow communication between
learners and teachers. The seventh criterion is that modules should be reflexive. Students
should be able to practice and test their knowledge and become aware of their knowledge
gaps and weaknesses. This means that reflection is also important for meaningful e-
content. E-content should also be explorative, which means that experiential learning is
favored rather than factual learning. Learners should formulate their own questions and
find the answers on their own. Teachers should offer them access to additional material as
well as external sources. Furthermore, modules should also be standardized. The Austrian
ministry of education recommends the predetermined IMS standards for e-learning, in
which LCMS are recommended to be used in teaching. The last criterion is that the
modules are legal and in conformity with the law. Formal elements like site notice,
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authorship and copyright have to be included. Furthermore, the modules also have to
correspond with the Austrian educational laws. (BMUKK, 2003)
The ten aforementioned criteria for meaningful e-content are relevant for teachers as well
as for students, since they should be able to use sources that are reliable, correct and up-to-
date. They need to question and recheck provided sources. Another important aspect is
emotional involvement of the students. Students are more motivated when the content is
relevant for them and are more enthusiastic about the tasks. When they are formatting
content, they also need some sort of standardization and should not forget about the
standards like citing and documenting the sources. Therefore, teachers should introduce
these important criteria to the students and give some additional hints like using content
pools, or sources from publishing- or educational institutions. Another crucial factor of e-
content is that it has to be evaluated and adapted for each teaching situation, as the
meaning of content may differ in special teaching situations. (Rösler, 2007: 108f.)
Teachers should also not forget to offer a balanced combination of theoretical input about
e-content and practical work, such as obtaining external sources.
5.3.4 Using Internet sources
A way to manage Internet sources in class, is to make use of Internet research activities.
The learners are required to solve tasks that involve finding sources on the Internet.
Specific websites are the basis for finding adequate content. Teachers can either let
students gather information about a specific topic or give them questions to answer. Such
activities can serve different functions. (Rösler, 2007: 160) In the case of this trip, they are
part of a bigger project and should match the students’ language proficiency On this trip,
the learners are advanced in their language skills and can deal with more complex topics.
As a result, a careful choice of sources is unnecessary, as advanced learners can cope with
a great variety of different words and topics. Rösler (2007) suggests using progressive
Internet research activities that start with closed activities for beginners, but also include
open tasks for advanced learners. (2007: 162ff.) In this particular case, this means that
students are familiar with Internet research activities, as they are advanced language
learners.
The curriculum underlines the importance of students needing to be familiar with various
learning materials, sources and tools. Teachers need to prepare them to use different
material and to gather information about different content. Websites or databases offer
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various material and online dictionaries or language databases are sources for language
topics. Teachers explicitly have to make use of such online resources and guide students to
a autonomous usage. (BMUKK, 2012b: 2)
5.4 Preparation 1: Hometown - Klagenfurt
The first part of the preparatory phase is to make students aware of their own hometown, in
this case, Klagenfurt. They should experience that there are different perspectives that exist
about the city. Every person has a different viewpoint on significant buildings, institutions,
buildings and places. Through this exercise, students will experience their own foreignness
and learn new aspects about their hometown. They will develop a more sensitive
perspective, which is a basis for developing ICC. Byram (1999) suggests to interview
students about their shared values and memories. In this case, the teacher has to ask what is
‘good’ or what is ‘bad’ about their hometown of Klagenfurt. The answers will differ and
students will start to recognize that there are different viewpoints. Such a preparatory task,
in which students use concepts of “shared objective reality, shared cultural values and
meaning related to a particular social institution” (1999: 374) is also stressed by the
Austrian curriculum. The importance of related meaning to students’ societies and
environments plays an important role. Teachers should choose realistic topics, which foster
a development of new perspectives and help to gain knowledge. Students should be able to
make use of their newly gained proficiency and apply it to similar problems and tasks.
(BMUKK, 2012a: 7)
John and Teske (2002) claim that dealing with different perspectives of the students’
hometown as being a basis for the experiences students will gain on a school trip.
Preparatory tasks like dealing with their own hometown, facilitate insight of sociocultural
and intercultural understanding, which allow students to step out of their own culture and
see the world through someone else’s’ perspective. Students should be able to distance
themselves from their culture so that they can question their natural environment and not
take it for granted. This way they make three steps towards understanding their own
culture (2002: 233)
At first, students have to realize that the notion of their own hometown is influenced by
their experiences of other towns, such as London. This means that their perception of
Klagenfurt will serve as a foundation for their understanding of London. Second, students
experience diversity in their familiar environment and learn how to deal with foreign
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elements in their own culture (John & Teske, 2002: 233) According to Bredella and
Delanoy (1999) learners need to understand that the “other” can become familiar, just as
the “self” can become foreign. (1999: 14) This also applies to the city of Klagenfurt. A
question to raise awareness could be: “What is typical for Klagenfurt?” Third, students
should develop a perception of their own foreignness and make their hometown a starting
point. The following tasks are based on these three considerations.
5.4.1 Homework task
After introducing the students to the main aims of the trip, showing them the Moodle
course and practicing how to evaluate meaningful e-content, the teacher assigns the first
homework task. Students gather information and material about Klagenfurt. They have to
draw their attention to new, unexpected or extraordinary things that are unfamiliar to them.
They should also bring material with them which is typical for their hometown. Teachers
should ask students to bring everything they can find about Klagenfurt to class. (John &
Teske, 2002: 234)
When gathering material, students should be sure to document their sources. Students have
the permission to use print material, online material or any other material they can find. If
they need help to find material they may ask permission to interview parents, relatives or
friends. Students can also bring objects that belong to familiar people of their social
environment. Still, they should not forget to gather material which is new or unexpected to
them. The aim of this preparation is to systematically collect and categorize material and
information. (John & Teske: 2002: 234)
The teacher can expect photos, city maps, newspaper articles, touristic material, and
information about companies, websites or videos to be taken to class by the students. In
addition, the teacher prepares some material to be presented on the Moodle course.
Students should find their own websites and sources, but the teacher should also provide
sources on the Moodle course that can be used as a starting point for further investigation.
After collecting material about Klagenfurt, they should bring their collection to class. Then
the teacher and the class can evaluate the collected material together. Questions such as,
“Which things, sights… could be important to someone who does not know Klagenfurt?”
are dealt with. The evaluated material is uploaded after class. Each student has their own
Moodle account and can upload content as they find it. This way, students can create their
own course content with meaningful material. (BMUKK, 2003) The videos, photos,
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articles and other forms of material can be accessed by each student. After uploading their
own content and analyzing the material of other classmates, the students are encouraged to
chat about their experiences in a chat room available on the online course, LCMS. By
chatting with their colleagues, they can exchange experiences and perspectives, before
actually working on new tasks in class again.
The aims of this homework task about Klagenfurt are that students gather information and
structure it themselves. They should be encouraged to use different methods to structure
and evaluate their material. Furthermore, students should be able to subdivide one task into
different parts and set intermediate objectives. (John & Teske, 2002: 234) Small steps are
also important, because students need to learn to achieve one thing after another. The way
how students collect data is also important, as they do not only have to find it, they are also
required to structure and cite it in an appropriate way. At best, they also can explain why
this material is relevant to this task. Another important part of the school trip is that
students become familiar with the Moodle platform and experience e- and m-learning on
their own computers or mobile devices. They collect, edit, upload or delete course material
on Moodle. In addition, they also get a sense for foreignness as they are confronted with
unknown facts about their hometown. The foreignness in their hometown will be discussed
later in this section.
5.4.2 Group Task in class
After the initial homework task, the students split up in groups of four and work with the
material gathered and uploaded onto Moodle. Each group is free to choose a different
topic. The teacher guides them through topics like spare-time activities, sights of special
interest for students, the elderly or in this example, historical buildings.
In the course of the task, pictures or other representations of historical buildings are
uploaded to the Moodle course. This sharing of content allows collaboration through e-
learning and enables students to work with their own material as well as using material
which offers different information. Students can rate the material and determine which
elements are important for their topic. Question for completeness like: ‘What could be
added?’ or ‘What is missing?’ can help students to think about elements to add.
Furthermore, questions about their experiences, like: ‘How can my own experiences be
compared to the presentation of my hometown?’ should be asked to get a holistic portrayal
of the topic. (John & Teske, 2002: 235)
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As soon as they have enough material, each group works on specific topics, in this case
historical buildings. They prepare questions similar to the examples given below.
• ‘Which historical buildings exist in Klagenfurt?’
• ‘Which buildings represent the history of Klagenfurt?’
• ‘Which buildings would you choose to present the history of Klagenfurt to others?’
(John & Teske, 2002: 234)
With the help of these questions, students should understand that questions can have
different answers, especially when they are posed from different angles. It is important to
realize that the way questions are asked is also very important. (John & Teske, 2002: 234)
In addition, there are several other reasons for this group task. First, students learn to
organize and analyze the material and use it critically. They also learn that they should not
take anything for granted, and question what is at hand. When analyzing fact from different
perspectives, they should also realize that the answers to the questions depend on the
context of the question and not only on the form. One of the goals, is that students
understand this concept and are able to apply what they have just learnt to the experience
they have in London. The experiences the students gain are really important in this task,
and enable them to think in a creative and critical manner. (John & Teske, 2002: 234)
The teacher’s role is to guide the students through this phase of orientation. The students
gain their own experiences and should be surprised about the results of their work. The
process can be compared to a discovery, where students discover new things and learn to
apply their insights in the future. The students’ realization that there is no coherent whole
in terms of a description of a town or even a culture, is one of the core aspects of this task.
However, students should learn to see things from different perspectives and understand
that there can be different forms of representation for the exact same thing. (John & Teske,
2002: 235) Furthermore, students need to gain an understanding of the relationship
between familiarity and foreignness. Even things which are familiar to them can be foreign
in a different context. This also raises critical cultural awareness, as students should be
able to “identify and interpret […] values in […] in one’s own and other cultures” (Byram,
1997: 53f.) In addition to critical cultural awareness, students experience another
component of Byram’s (1997) model of ICC: attitudes. According to him, intercultural
speakers should show “interest in discovering other perspectives on interpretation of
familiar and unfamiliar phenomena both in one’s own and in other cultures and cultural
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practices. (1997: 50) In conclusion, students learn that there are different representations of
Klagenfurt and thus develop attitudes and critical cultural awareness intercultural speakers
need to understand people from other cultures.
5.4.3 Presentation about students’ topics
In the next step, the students present their results and findings as a group. There is no strict
guideline as to what the students should present, or what the best way to present their topic
is. Students should decide themselves about what to include and what to omit, but they are
asked to present it to a specific audience, for example exchange students. In this case, the
students should keep in mind that their target audience consists of exchange students, who
come to Klagenfurt. The students have to think about what photos, videos or articles from
the previous tasks could be selected. Afterwards, the students create a Powerpoint or
Prezi.com presentation and conduct it in class.
Students should understand that there are different audiences that have various interests
and perspectives. A presentation about Klagenfurt, for example, is never a full
representation, but rather a simplification for a specific group of people. (John & Teske,
2002: 236) Students are asked to think about questions like: Do the addressees of the
presentation have the same background knowledge? Is any additional material useful for
this presentation? (John & Teske, 2002: 235) Additionally, students exercise their skills for
presenting, collecting and editing content. The final step of this task it to upload the
presentation on the Moodle course and make them accessible to other students.
5.4.4 Foreignness in their own hometown
After collecting, editing and presenting, the students should be able to rethink their own
opinion about Klagenfurt. The teacher raises questions such as: ‘Why are there different
descriptions of towns?’ or ‘What additional methods can be found to describe Klagenfurt?’
Students should understand that their own culture can be questioned and that stereotypes
about their culture and hometown exist, but do not have to be true. (John & Teske, 2002:
236) This task should help the students to raise the question ‘Why’ this is the case. Müller-
Hartmann & Schocker-v. Ditfurth (2009) also recommend analyzing the materials from
various perspectives. (2009: 26)
For this empathy oriented task, students think of experiences they have gained in their
hometown and encounters with people from other ethnic groups, other countries or
different lifestyles. The students should try to describe their experiences. This task aims at
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fostering creativity and empathy, since it is important to understand that not only the
student’s experiences are the right ones. Different people have different experiences in the
same town and elsewhere. (John & Teske, 2002: 237) Very often, experiences are strongly
concerned with culture, but social relationships also play a role. Students should realize
that each person’s native culture naturalized their own world. Everything that differs in
their culture is perceived as foreign. (Crozet & Liddicoat, 1999: 117) By this task the
students develop skills of an intercultural speaker, as an intercultural speaker needs to take
up a perspective between a foreign culture and their own. (Tenberg, 1999: 73) The problem
with this empathy task is that learners often lack willingness to empathize with
perspectives different from their own. (Bredella and Delanoy. 1999: 14) It is up to the
teacher to help students to overcome potential refusal and resistance. It may help students
if this topic is not part of the classroom work. Students are often shy and do not show
emotions when presenting in front of an audience. This task could be submitted online and
not be accessible to other students. All students can be encouraged to be empathetic and do
not have to care about other opinions.
To guarantee the students’ privacy, the empathy task is available on the Moodle course, in
which different minorities can be chosen. The students write a short text of approximately
200 words about their experiences in Klagenfurt. They take over the perspective of the
minority they choose to write about. The students submit their short text online before the
deadline. The teacher is able to give direct feedback on the course platform after the file
upload. Then the teacher should present some selected examples in class and upload them
on Moodle. This way, the students also get different ideas about how to be empathetic and
how to take different perspectives into account.
5.5 Preparation 2: E-mail project about Klagenfurt
The next part of the preparatory phase is an e-mail project with US students that are the
same age. In the best case, these students also live in a bigger city, comparable to the size
of London. First, the teacher has to find project partners in the US, which can be difficult,
but university staff or other teachers may be able to help to get into contact with teachers
from the US. The ministry of education and other institutions could also be contacted to
find teachers and groups of students who are interested in participating in this project.
Byram (1997) suggests using communication with native speakers for projects, as he
recommends communication “between people of different languages and countries where
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one is a native speaker of the language used.” (1997: 22) This also applies to the
curriculum, as native speakers and different varieties of a language should be addressed.
The reason for choosing US students is that England has a different culture than the USA.
If the Austrian students get lots of information about English culture or London in
advance, they could be biased. Another aspect is that interaction with the US students leads
the Austrian students to realize that the English language offers variations. They
experience that the English used by the US students differs from English used in London.
In this communication project, students also gain experience in terms of technical skills,
foreign language proficiency and they learn how to cope with situational factors in
communications. (Marchis, I. et al. 2008: 14) E-mail projects are a step towards
overcoming the limitations of the classroom and fostering learning beyond classroom
walls. (Byram, 1997: 64)
Moreover, the email project should also be categorized. In this case, the project is a
multilateral e-mail project. More detailed information can be found in the chapter about e-
learning. Another important issue is the duration of the project. As discussed, Donath
(1996) suggested about 3-5 weeks for e-mail projects. (1996: 21f.). In reference to Müller-
Hartmann (1999: 169) this time frame is too short for this particular trip. The teacher
should take about 6 weeks of time for this e-mail project. Along with the other preparation
tasks which serve as a basis for this project, it lasts about 9 weeks. Therefore, students
should have enough time to work with the material to become familiar with their partners.
The home base for the e-mail exchange is the Moodle course. All Austrian students and all
US participants have their own Moodle account. The assigned task is that Austrian students
write about their hometown of Klagenfurt and present it to the US students. The aim is that
each Austrian student has to think clearly about three core aspects regarding Klagenfurt
and how they are going to present it. In this case, this is highly important as the students
should be able to communicate with their peers from the US. The students can also make
use of what they have just learnt about ICC. There are several examples of such e-mail
projects, which are mentioned in chapter three. In a project conducted by Liaw (2006),
students had to present their own culture to others, which is comparable to presenting their
hometown to students of another culture.
After six weeks of the project, the Austrian students upload files that document their e-mail
conversations. When teachers urge learners to participate in discussion forums, blogs, chats
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or conference-tools on Moodle, this can be compared to asking them to present their
personal notes. Students experience a similar situation if they are required to upload all
their e-mail conversations. According to Kerres (2006) this is too restrictive. (2006: 7) Due
to this reason, the students only have to submit those parts of the conversation they are
willing to upload. If there are parts of the conversation that they consider to be too private,
they are not required to upload them.
The uploaded interactions are then investigated with the help of Byram’s (2000) criteria for
assessment of intercultural experiences. The e-mail conversations are assessed by using the
following criteria: (A) interest in other people’s way of life, (B) ability to change
perspective, (C) ability to cope with living in a different culture, (D) knowledge about
another country and culture and (E) knowledge about intercultural communication. (2000:
4f.) General results and important examples will be submitted online after two weeks of
evaluation and analysis either by the teacher or by students assisting the teacher. The
results of the e-mail project should be discussed on Moodle and in class at least one week
before the departure to London.
5.6 Preparation 3: London
The third part of the preparatory stage refers to various aspects of London. The preparation
for London is rather short. When the preparation is too precise it can stop students’
individual initiatives. Teaching too many facts can also influence the personal experience
that the students have in London. (John & Teske, 2002: 232) This part of the preparatory
phase consists of two tasks. The first task deals with the students’ expectations about
London, whereas the second task allows students to explore London virtually.
5.6.1 Students’ expectations – London in 20 words
During the preparation for the London trip, the students will also experience clichés about
London. In this phase, learners can experience anxieties and excitements as they prepare
for their trip. An example of how to expose the students to their anxieties, excitements and
expectations would be to do a short brainstorming. Students write down what first comes
to their minds when thinking about the upcoming school trip. After their arrival back
home, the students can look back and compare the results of the brainstorming with their
actual experiences in London. (Byram et al. 2002: 19)
As a potential homework assignment, students are instructed to write down 20 words that
express their expectations about London. The title for this task is ‘London in 20 words’.
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Students should formulate their expectations in single words, but not in full sentences. This
approach avoids any unnecessary fillers and redundancy. It is assumed that writing words
down about London can reduce any insecurities or anxiety regarding the upcoming trip to
London and the possible culture shock, students may experience when they encounter
foreign cultures in London. This task is based on John & Teske’s (2002) “London in 50
words”, but still differs in some aspects. Fifty words are too few to formulate expectations
in sentences. As already indicated, there will be far too many redundant words and it is
doubtful that students would name various clichés about London, as supposed by John &
Teske.
In contrast to the 50 words task, the 20 words are all significant for the meaning of this
task, as they should express the students’ expectations about London. Before the trip,
students can compare their expectations by posting their 20 words in a discussion forum on
the Moodle course. The students should be able to explain their words to the others and tell
their colleagues what expectations they associate with the specific words. All answers,
questions, words and comments should be given in English. Right after the trip, the
students are asked to reflect on their expectations. There are certain questions that should
be answered:
• ‘Are there clichés or stereotypes involved?’
• ‘How do the students’ words differ?’
• ‘Has the London trip met the students’ expectations or do the experiences differ
from their initial expectations?’
5.6.2 Virtual sightseeing in London
The second task to familiarize the students with London, is a virtual sightseeing trip via
Google Street View in Maps. A description about the functions offered in Maps can be
found in the fourth chapter. The program can be accessed via computer, laptop or mobile
device. The teacher should recommend using computers and laptops as the screen is
bigger. However, mobile devices like smartphones and TabletPCs offer the same
functionality as well.
In Maps, students can view every street in London and see photorealistic pictures of
buildings, streets and people. For many sights, places, restaurants and other locations there
is various information offered. This grants that the students not only the opportunity to
develop ICC, but also to gain historical, political and economical knowledge about
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London, which is suggested by Tenberg (1999: 11).Via this virtual excursion, the students
have their first ‘real life experiences’ in London. In contrast to later tasks, in which
communication plays the most important role, communication does not occur when
encountering places, sights and people via Maps.
Nevertheless, the students get a first impression about what life in London is like and what
attractions London has to offer. The students are also given time to explore ‘virtual’
London on their own and discover things they may find interesting or extraordinary. If
teachers are able to attract the students’ interests, they may also discover London in Maps
in their free time outside of class. The students should also have the chance to post
interesting facts, places or things in a forum on the online platform. This way, they can
share their findings with their colleagues. In addition, students should also think about two
questions:
• ‘What makes visiting London worthwhile?’
• ‘Why do people visit or live in London?’
The students can discuss these questions on the platform as well. With this task, the
preparatory phase ends and the students fly to London to gain experience in the field.
5.7 Field-work phase
The second phase of this school trip is the field-work phase, which takes place directly in
London. The students should experience first impressions of London and explore places
they have already discovered during their virtual excursion in the preparatory phase. This
is realized by a Geocaching game. Within the days following, the students collect material
about intercultural topics, which are then presented on the online course platform. This
kind of fieldwork fosters skills of interaction and discovery, especially when the students
communicate with native Londoners. (Byram, 1997: 68f.) Synchronously to the other
tasks, the students should use all of their senses and experience London through taking
pictures of things that attract their senses. During the fieldwork-phase, the students
experience differences to formal learning in the classroom and come across people from
different cultures. (Byram, 1999: 360) The students come into contact with individuals
from other cultures in a third place, which has been discussed in the first chapter. Apart
from the intercultural aspect, students undergo other new aspects of learning as they
experience e-learning and m-learning on the school trip.
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In London, students work on the online course platform, due to the fact that they are
supposed to read, edit and upload information and content. In the chapters about e-learning
and m-learning the theoretical basis for this project is explained and devices and
applications that are needed for this project are discussed. A possible problem in London,
which has not been addressed thus far, is the availability of an Internet connection, as the
students need to access the online-platform. A solution for the problem is the Austrian
mobile phone provider “3”, which offers a service called “3LikeHome.” This service
ensures that the Internet data volume available for Austrian contracts can also be used in
countries like England. This means that students who use “3” as a provider have free
Internet access in London. (Drei, 2012) Students who do not have a contract with “3” can
also use free Wifi-access in most hostels, restaurants or other public places. Tasks such as
the first fieldwork task, which requires a GPS connection, does not rely on an Internet
connection. All important information can be stored before going abroad and does not
produce any extra costs. Students should not be distracted by any problems concerning e-
and m-learning on the trip, because the main focus of the tasks described is developing
ICC.
5.7.1 Geocaching in London
Geocaching can be explained as a form of modern treasure hunting via GPS-devices. This
is a possible way of dealing with mobile devices in school Even the official school portal,
www.schule.at recommends using Geocaching in school and gives reports about projects
in Austrian schools. There is even an instructional video that informs students about
geocaching. More information about Geocaching and the link to the video can be found in
the section about m-learning.
The aim of the Geocaching task in London is that students get their first real life
experiences in London. When students go to new places, meet new people or experience
other cultures, there is the chance that they will experience some kind of culture shock. Via
Geocaching students can encounter places from their virtual excursion to London, in real
life. Students can compare the pictures they have seen on Maps to reality and play a game
at the same time. This way they can go on a sightseeing trip, but they will also experience
many different facets of London.
Before going on the trip, the students are asked to pick three caches to be found in London.
The geocaches have to be located near landmarks, which allow them to see impressive
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places in London. If the students cannot decide which caches to find, the teacher can make
suggestions. An important aspect, is that the availability of the caches has to be checked
before the departure, as some caches may need maintenance or even vanish within a short
period of time. This problem can occur during big events in London, like the Olympic
Games. From August 2012 through September 2012, many caches were not available or
needed maintenance. This means that students and teachers are asked to check the
availability of the caches before going on the trip and need alternatives if the caches are
disabled. Another opportunity is that the teacher hides caches in London. The students
form groups of 2 to 4 people and decide what caches they intend to pick. Each group needs
at least one mobile device with GPS features. As already mentioned, almost every student
has a mobile device with GPS-features. For Geocaching, it is not necessary to have an
Internet connection on the device. If students have other portable GPS-devices, they should
print out the information about the caches, or save them on their portable devices. The
information can include coordinates, hints, pictures or comments which may help students
to find the treasure.
Students who have smartphones can use C:Geo, a free app that is directly connected to
www.geocaching.com the official platform, on which all geocaches world-wide can be
found. Along with some other people I tested this app in London and it proved to be
applicable to finding caches. Our group found several geocaches in London and it turned
out that even people who had no experience with Geocaching could find caches and stated
that the usability of the app was great. In addition, I also observed the availability of
geocaches in London. During the Olympic Games 2012 lots of caches vanished, but
afterwards most of them were reactivated. This shows that the Geocaching task in London
should be conducted when there is no big event in the city.
An aspect to consider concerning this Geocaching task is that it does not aim at developing
ICC, even though it could also be interpreted as a tool to foster a development of
knowledge about London as well as skills of discovery. A reason why students benefit
from Geocaching is that they become familiar with London. If they start interviewing
people right after their arrival, they are most likely to be overwhelmed by London. Another
reason to try Geocaching is that the students learn to work with mobile devices.
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5.7.2 Assessing senses via pictures
When working in the field, students are surrounded by a foreign environment. Students
should be encouraged to use all their senses to experience the new environment. The
teacher can make the students aware that they are able to learn through all their senses.
(Byram, 2002: 20) Students can use their senses to discover the environment, by reflecting
on their impressions. In this task, the students take pictures of things that have a distinct
smell, which make them laugh or which are old or new. Additionally, they should
photograph things that have a specific color or make a sound. (John & Teske, 2002: 240)
The significance of the five senses for cultural learning was proved by Byram (1999)
Several projects have shown that cultural learning involves all five senses, but taste and
smell are difficult to make digital. (Byram, 1999: 376) In this task, the students are
challenged to attempt this and to then transfer smells into pictures. Müller-Hartmann and
Schocker-v. Ditfurth (2009) put great emphasis on the importance of sounds, images or
smell when teaching ICC. Students experience skills of discovery and interaction when
dealing with these sensations. Through such experience awareness of cultural difference
can be fostered. (2009: 26) This second London task, does not only engage the students’
senses, but it also adds other dimensions of awareness. The students also experience things
that are old or new.
When students are experiencing London, they may have trouble finding the right motifs for
their pictures and sometimes may not be sure what to choose. Müller-Hartman &
Schocker-v. Ditfurth (2006) recommend the following question:
• “What tells you that you are away from home?” (2006: 176)
This can help the students to find cultural phenomena and observe them. When students
become aware of this, they can take pictures of them. The following six categories were
chosen to be featured on the students’ pictures.
The first category is to take pictures of things that make the students laugh. Humor may
differ from student to student, but they also have to consider, that different cultures have
different notions about what makes something funny. Students should not take pictures, in
which other students laugh at someone. This means that the pictures students take should
not downgrade other people. The next category is smell. In London, the students will
experience many new and unfamiliar smells. As already discussed, it is hard to take a
picture of a smell, but students can take a picture of the object or the location, where a
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distinct smell can be found. Students profit from thinking about what differs from their
home and thus find motives for their pictures. The third category is to take pictures of
things that stand out and have a specific color. Each student is assigned a different color to
take a picture of. Students can compare their objects later on and discuss why they have
chosen them. Sounds which attract the students’ attention should then be recorded
photographically. It is rather difficult to represent sounds in pictures. Students should
visually capture the sound by taking pictures of the object or the location that has a distinct
sound. The last two categories deal with things that are new and old. The students can take
pictures of a great variety of objects.
The following examples show some experiences that people had during their first visit to
London. I took these pictures and they exhibit what students may try to capture.
Make you laugh (phone box) - Fig. 5.1
Smell (Fish market)-Fig. 5.2
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Have the color x (e.g. red - bus) – Fig. 5.3
Make a sound (cavalry)– Fig. 5.4
Are new (the London Eye) – Fig. 5.5
Are old (sewing machines) – Fig. 5.6
After experiencing so many different facets of London, learners should also have time to
reflect on their experiences and feelings. The students should be given the opportunity to
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compare and contrast their experiences with their colleagues, so that they can easily
interpret them. The teacher should act as a mediator and help to avoid problems and
misunderstandings. Byram et al. (2002) mention that students need teachers when they are
on the school trip, because the students are emotionally involved and are often
overwhelmed by their experiences. (2002: 20) Giving the students time and help when
needed, allows students to better process their impressions of London.
As soon as the students have talked about the pictures they have taken, they can upload
them. Prepared on the Moodle course will be a document that contains a table. The
students can add their photos and explanations as to why they chose certain motifs. It is
highly probable that the students will use their smartphones as a camera. This way they can
easily edit and upload the files. This task encourages them to use m-learning apps like
MLE to access the Moodle course, while doing fieldwork. They are not required to wait
until they return to the hotel or to their own home. For students without smartphones or
tabletPCs, m-learning still takes place when they use their camera. They can still portray
what they experience through their senses with the help of their mobile device. Later, they
store the pictures on another device to edit and upload them onto Moodle. All students are
given enough time to full-fill the tasks. Teachers should not recommend uploading the
pictures, unless a phase of reflection has happened immediately after they are taken, as the
students need time to reflect on them. Besides the aspects of m-learning, this task is also
relevant for developing the students’ ICCs.
This task is relevant to develop two components of ICC, attitudes and skills of discovery,
in particular. Students should also show openness and curiosity. Through this task, they
discover and experience cultural phenomena different from their own culture. This
establishes a basis for going a step further. The students can communicate with individuals
from London through a blog project.
5.8 Blog project
The main part of the field-work phase is a blog project that deals with intercultural topics.
The students communicate with people from London and content with their lives and their
experiences. Every intercultural topic is divided up into several parts, but most parts deal
with interviewing people. The topics are chosen in class and are pre-prepared to a certain
extent. This preparation was not included in the preparatory phase, as it is primarily
connected to the field work phase. Brainstorming about the intercultural topics and
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interviews of the blog project before dealing with them on the school trips are ways to
develop ICC. (Müller-Hartmann & Schocker-v. Ditfurth, 2009: 24) If necessary, the
teacher can provide students with authentic texts, pictures, links, contacts or other useful
information. Most work will be done by the students themselves.
The Moodle page is extended with a blog. As discussed in the chapter about e-learning,
Moodle enables an implementation of popular blog websites, which will be used to create
blog entries for each topic. The student group that works on a specific intercultural topic is
responsible to keep the blog running and to publish information on a regular basis. The
results of their preparation, their provisional results of the field-work in London and parts
of their reflection are published on this blog. The teacher has the responsibility of
motivating all students to contribute comments and other material to the blog. This way, an
online collaboration of the whole class can take place. The teacher should be accessible via
a mobile device when the students need help. Teachers and students can use skype or chats
and forums on Moodle for communication.
When researching and working in London, the students need to have enough time to full-
fill tasks, such as conducting interviews and finding useful material, as they will interview
people or find other useful material. Interacting with people from other cultures in a
foreign language and experiencing different modes of communication and mediation
between different people are just some out of the many elements a cultural speaker is
supposed to experience. (Byram, 1997: 71) Via this blog project, the students gain
experiences that help them become intercultural speakers.
In addition to gaining experience that the intercultural speakers need, the tasks for this blog
project specifically foster a development of skills of discovery and interaction as well as
attitudes. Müller-Hartmann and Schocker-v. Ditfurth (2009) claim that face-to-face
encounters help students to develop these skills, as school trips support encounters in real
life. (2009: 26) In London, the students interview people from other cultures. The teacher
should give the students guidelines about how to prepare and conduct intercultural
interviews.
5.8.1 Interviews
Interviews are a derivative of daily communication. They offer access to the interviewee’s
information. The main purpose of interviews is to find out about the interviewee’s thoughts
and attitudes. Interviews are conversations that help to improve the understanding of
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situations for the interviewer and the interviewee. The interviewer profits from new
information and the interviewee has the impression that they are conveying a message
which is important. (Altrichter & Posch, 2007: 150f.)
The difference between interviews and daily communication is that interviews are
carefully planned and need preparation. Interviewers are required to think about what they
ask and why they ask it. For many interviews, it is beneficial to formulate the most
important questions in advance, but it is not necessary to have all questions prepared.
People who want to conduct an interview should follow guidelines for interviews.
(Altrichter & Posch, 2007: 152)
When formulating questions, interviewers can make use of brainstorming techniques or use
existing notes, documents or literature. During the preparation of questions, a structure is
needed in order to avoid redundant questions. Interviewers should sequence their
questions. Critical questions should be raised at the end of interviews. People who prepare
interviews should also prepare appropriate material and test the devices used for the
interview. In the best case, their interview is also tested before using it in practice. If
needed, the interview should be revised. (Altrichter & Posch, 2007: 152f.)
Another hint is that at the beginning of the interview it is even possible to ask more open
questions and give the interviewees free space for their answers. The questions should not
be suggestive, especially at the beginning of the interview. Nevertheless, inquiries are also
important, as interviewers can ask for examples, illustrations, clarification and more
details. (Altrichter & Posch, 2007: 156f.) Besides the fact that an interview needs to be
sequenced, interviews should not be used as a first task in projects. They should be used as
an activity to prove hypotheses or output from previous tasks. (Müller-Jacquier, 1999: 406)
Müller-Jacquier (1999) provides a list of pros and cons about surveys and interviews.
Interviewers benefit from interviewing people, as they are dynamic and happen in real
time. Besides that there are some other advantages of interviews:
• “Much information can be gathered within a short period of time • Hypotheses constructed by observation can be packed into questions • Interviewees also cooperate in terms of banal questions” (1999: 405f.)
Even if interviews are advantageous to interviewers, they also contain some disadvantages:
• “Pointed questions are often based on preliminaries from one’s own culture
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• Questions about the ‘constructed’ everyday world can often not be answered in greater detail, because the interviewees do not know the values of this ‘constructed’ world
• Answers in mono- and intercultural situation differ as knowledge, courtesy and cultural acceptance also influences answers “(Müller-Jacquier, 1999: 405f.)
With the previous information, the students should have a good basis for designing their
own interviews, but they should also consider which topics they will deal with and whom
they will interview. Nevertheless, students should also think that the aim of this school trip
is to develop ICC and the interviews with people from various cultures exceed the limits of
usual interviews. They require more information about how to deal with intercultural
situations in interviews.
5.8.2 Intercultural Interviews
Intercultural interviews can take place during fieldwork. Gabrenya’s (1998) motto for
intercultural interviews during fieldwork is: “Only experience is experiential.” (1998: 58)
When students conduct intercultural interviews on a school trip, they are exposed to
intercultural encounters. Prior to the interview students should do the following:
• “Obtain a respondent […] by approaching people individually • Find a way to establish rapport and interact with the respondent • Deal with language and communication barriers • Perform the crucial task of interpreting the respondent’s meanings and translating them to
concepts familiar in his or her own culture.” (Gabrenya, 1998: 59)
Such interviews enable students to experience another culture by interviewing members of
that specific culture. The interview focuses on specific things, which may not be addressed
in daily discourse. Out of this reason, teachers also provide students with instructions if
they do not know what to focus on. A good way of confronting this problem, is that
teachers provide a handout with some instructions like:
(a)” who they may interview (b) where they may find the respondent (c) general interaction guidelines (d) hints about what to look for (e) warning about what to avoid (f) ethical considerations” (g) how to report or reflect on the interview. (Grabenya, 1998: 59f.)
The interviews should also be focused on the interviewee’s subjective opinion, as their
experiences and the “story” they tell is important for intercultural interviews. Such stories
can be standard, but in many cases they can also be fascinating and new to the students. An
example of foreign students asking intimate questions in French, showed that students
received answers more easily than in their own culture. According to Kalthoff (1997) a
possible reason for this is that foreigners are often interpreted as not knowing about culture
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and can ask questions about values of the other culture, whereas people from the same
culture may interpret such questions as a threat to their idealized, familiar environment.
(1997: 263) For the students, this means that they still need to think about what to ask, yet
they should not be too anxious about asking. Students should consider this before they start
working on their intercultural topics for the blog project.
5.8.3 Intercultural topics
Intercultural topics are the core of the blog project. Parts of the intercultural topics, such as
background information and material needed, are prepared before going on the school trip.
The empirical part of the blog project will take place over four days of the school trip.
After the work in the field, the intercultural tasks will be reflected upon and the results will
be uploaded to the Moodle course.
If necessary, the teacher can offer classroom-like sessions in London. These sessions have
a fixed time-table, but students are not obliged to attend the sessions if they do not need
assistance, material or further information. They can also work on their tasks in a group. In
most cases, the students will need some guidance to full-fill their tasks. Byram (1999)
recommends such sessions for fieldwork. According to him, they can be used as
preparation for data-collection and data-analysis. First reflections about the students’
observations and experiences can take place in this setting. In many cases, teachers are
even able to recognize attitude changes or the re-assessments of students’ perceptions
during the trip. (1999: 378)
The topics are chosen by students, because the teacher only offers some suggestions for
possible topics. The students are guided to choose topics which are relevant for developing
ICC. Before choosing their topics the students should be provided with an introduction
about ICC and the necessary methods to collect data. Additionally, the students are
required to have a basic knowledge about e- and m-learning tools and the Moodle course
before choosing the topics. This preparation helps them to select meaningful intercultural
topics that can be actualized in the course of the school trip. The following questions
provided by Müller-Hartmann & Schocker-v. Ditfurth (2006) serve as a guideline for the
students to think about London related topics:
“Think of a London-related topic you are interested in and you want to find out more about. Say
why you are interested in it.
• What are your ideas / images about…?
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• Where are your ideas / images … from?” (Müller-Hartmann & Schocker-v. Ditfurth, 2006 S. 181)
Some additional questions on the topic can also be added by the teacher such as:
• ‘Why did you choose your topic?’
• ‘How did you find your topic?’
Müller-Hartmann & Schocker-v. Ditfurth (2006) even go a step further and encourage
students to think about how they can solve the tasks and where they can get information
and material. They ask students to “get some firsthand experience in London: observe,
interview. Include your personal perspective.” (2006: 181)
• “How can you get firsthand experience on your question? • Where to go? Who to ask/observe? • Develop observation / Interview task? “(2006: 181)
The teacher can also add some further questions:
• ‘Where to research for materials or data?’
• ‘What representations would fit to be able to present the topic best?’
• ‘Are there any obstacle or issues that can be raised?’
Moreover, the groups are encouraged to become involved in authentic encounters with
people from other cultures as much as possible. Byram et al. (2002) recommend
investigating unfamiliar things by making authentic intercultural encounters. In the
intercultural tasks, students look for explanations and possible answers which are provided
by people living in the foreign environment. An effective way of communicating with
them is to conduct interviews. (2002: 19) The Austrian curriculum also recommends using
such authentic encounters on trips, because the students experience multifaceted
communication situations in different contexts. (BMUKK, 2004a: 3) On this trip, various
communication contexts are available: transportation, education, work place, public
institutions or restaurants, and can easily be added to the tasks. (BMUKK, 2004a: 4)
In London, there is a detailed schedule for all activities which the students are required to
abide by. Overall, there are four days to full-fill the four tasks chosen by the students.
Every day there is an overall intercultural topic, which is subdivided into different smaller
aspects. This subdivision allows students to work on a smaller topic that has a clear focus.
In the following sections, examples are given as to how such intercultural topics could
look. The intercultural topics include: Ethnicities in London, Cool Britannia, Camden
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Markets and Food. As already discussed, the students are not obliged to take the listed
topics, as they just serve as examples for this paper.
5.8.4 Ethnicities in London
London is a multicultural city also known for its’ great number of ethnicities. In London,
34 per cent of the inhabitants were not born in the UK. The percentage of immigrants in
London is about 3 times higher than the percentage in the rest of the UK. (Greater London
Authority, 2009) In the UK, the biggest ethnic groups consist of people from the
Caribbean, Africa, as well as people from India and Pakistan. (ONS, 2011)
This large number of immigrants offers the students a lot of potential interlocutors for their
interviews. In this intercultural task, every group should choose an ethnic minority and try
to present this group to the class. It is not sufficient to do research on these minorities on
the internet, because authentic encounters are necessary to understand them further.
The students can research in newspapers, on the Internet and in the library, but they can
also gather first-hand experience during the field trip. The London profiler
(http://www.londonprofiler.org/) is a tool which helps students to localize the various
ethnicities in London. In fact, there are clusters showing where people of the same
ethnicity live. If there are many people of the same ethnicity in a borough, it is most likely
that the student will be able to find possible interview partners there. A good
recommendation is to talk to people working in restaurants, shops or in public institutions.
These locations are ideal for meeting people from all over the world. This also accounts for
markets like Camden-, Brixton- or Shepherd’s bush market, which are discussed in the
other intercultural topics of this blog project. Another useful source for information about
the multiculturalism in London is, www.mulicultural.co.uk. This website provides
information and basic knowledge about ethnicities in London. It also provides useful links
for further research. Besides the discussed examples, there are various other examples that
can be used for research.
After the research phase, students will interview people in London. They have to think
clearly about what to ask. A catalogue of possible questions is given by Müller-Hartmann
& Schocker-v. Ditfurth (2006). Their questions could be altered and used for the
interviews.
“What comes to mind when you think of Austria? “ (2006: 177)
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This question is a good starter and helps to assess first impression about the interlocutor.
The answers will include attitudes. For the interviewers, the question helps to establish a
relationship with the interview partner. (2006: 177)
• ‘Do you know some famous people from Austria?’
This is a question that can be asked after the first questions. It aims at finding out whether
the person is interested in international relations, especially in Austria. It particularly
comprises the knowledge aspect. (2006: 177)
After this kind of introduction sequence, the students can ask questions, which refer to
living in London and the cultural background of their interview partner.
• ‘What is your country of origin? How did you come to London?’
• ‘Do you enjoy living in London? Why? Why not? Where do you live? How long
have you been living in London? What could be improved about London?’
• ‘Are there differences between London and your home country? What are the
differences? Are they problematic for you? Was it possible for you to assimilate to
the London life style or do you still think of yourself as a ‘foreigner’?’
• ‘How would you interpret London? Is it a multicultural city or are there just people
from many different countries?’
Later in the interview the students should ask more detailed questions about the ethnicity
of the interviewee. They can use their own cultural knowledge as a basis for questions that
may be more personal to the interviewees’ than the previous ones. Therefore, it is
important to make sure that the interviewee does not feel offended.
• ‘What do you think is typical for your culture? Do you think London has its own
culture? If yes, does this influence your culture when living here?’
• ‘Do you get the chance to live your own culture here or do you feel oppressed? If
no, are you satisfied with the situation and the status of your culture in London?
• ‘What could be improved?’
• ‘What about your friends? Are they all from the same country and do they have the
same cultural background?’
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These questions are just a random collection of possibilities. Many questions will also be
influenced by the flow of the interview and the interviewee’s responses. The students
should practice such interviews in class prior to their trip to London.
This intercultural task of the blog project aims at developing the students into intercultural
speakers. Details about intercultural speakers and Byram’s (1997) five components of ICC
can be found in the first chapter. Primarily, this task is intended to help the students to
develop skills of interaction, attitudes and knowledge. In addition, dealing with ethnicities
inevitably leads to encounters with national stereotypes. Students will experience that they
should not take everything for granted and distinguish between clichés and different
perceptions of reality. (Petzold, 1997: 180) The students also get some theoretical input
about stereotypes, which are also described in chapter one. A problematic aspect of
nationality and stereotypes is also described by Byram et al. (2002). They point out that a
focus on national identity is strongly connected to the risk of reducing complex human
individuals to representatives of their nationality or their culture. (Byram et al., 2002: 9) In
London, the students gain experience themselves and understand this problematic aspect of
dealing with single representatives of a certain culture or nationality.
During my stays in London, I communicated with various people from all over the world.
My last stay in London was aimed at proving that the development of ICC can be achieved
with a school trip to London. First, I tried to talk to random people about their origin. My
encounters showed that locations like shops or restaurants are perfect places for
communication. According to my experience, students need to ask several people in order
to find a representative of a specific culture who is willing to take part in an interview.
Nevertheless, many people were open-minded and agreed to answer my questions. To
minimize the number of refusals, the students should also understand that the way in which
they speak to people has an influence on the interviews. A certain amount of knowledge
regarding politeness and pragmatics is needed to engage people from different ethnicities
in a conversation. Teachers should also provide the students with this necessary
information.
5.8.5 Camden Markets
As already mentioned, the term ‘culture’ is not only limited to ethnicities, since it can be
applied to other forms of culture as well. On the second day of the blog project, the
students deal with another intercultural topic. In this case, the students are confronted with
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the alternative culture which exists at the Camden Market in London. Due to the fact that
this is a crucial topic, the students are required to gain some background information about
the markets in Camden. Students can easily find this information on the Internet.
In Camden town in London, there are several markets which are subsumed under the term
Camden Market. The whole market comprises the Camden Lock Market, the Camden
Stables Market, the Camden Canal Market, the Inverness Street Market, and the Camden
Buck Street Market. These markets are some of the best known and visited attractions in
London. Additionally, this is the largest street market in the United Kingdom. (Zephyr
London, 2012a) When the students access the website www.camdenmarkets.org, they can
find a map of the Camden Market to have an orientation when they conduct their
interviews there. This map will also be uploaded on the Moodle page.
Students could also use other aspects of e- and m-learning like consulting travelling
platforms that allow ratings or comments by different users who have already experienced
the Camden Market. A good example is the app TripAdvisor, which is also available in a
London edition. It offers several features like using GPS data. When the students have
some background information about the markets, they can easily focus on the people there.
In opposition to sightseeing, a relatively large number of people who visit Camden Market,
are not mere tourists who just want to see the market. Many of them also want to
experience the alternative culture of the Camden Market. The large range of shops that sell
alternative products and the possibility to communicate with like-minded people, who
share the same interests, are good reasons to visit Camden Market. Several representations
about this alternative culture can also be found online. Gothic, Rockabilly, Fetish,
Cyberwear, Hippy or Ethnic clothes can be bought in Camden. (Best of Camden Ltd,
2012) Besides cultural fashion, there are also an infinite number of other cultural elements
like jewelry, icons or carpets for sale. The students can choose one of these alternative
cultures and do some research about their particular group.
The students can use any cultural element which can be used as a representation of these
cultures. In a first step, the students are required to gather enough information about the
chosen culture and prepare a short presentation. Then, the students should try to
communicate with people from that culture. Afterwards, the students must reflect about
their experiences and about how this scene is presented on the net. In many cases students
will be exposed to a stereotypical representation first. This is why they need to think for
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themselves, whether these stereotypes are correct or not. More information on stereotypes
and culture can be found in chapter one. When students are in the field, it may be too late
to choose whom to interview. Students should think about what culture they will focus on.
The following questions should help them to think about their topic.
• ‘What kind of people are part of this scene? Are they old or young? What
citizenship do they have? Are they from London? What attitude do they share?
What is their outward appearance? How are they dressed?’
These questions only cover some areas that should be considered. Besides the previously
mentioned points, the students should also think whether they want to interview vendors or
visitors at Camden Market, or if they want to include both. The vendors may be busy and
not keen on answering their questions. The advantage of vendors could be that they have a
broader view on their customers and may have more knowledge about the culture.
However, customers may have different perspectives on that culture, as they come from
various places and can also have different attitudes.
The students are supposed to communicate with different people in Camden town and
experience cultural as well as ethnic diversity. This experience helps them to develop
intercultural awareness. (John & Teske, 2002: 229) In addition, the interviews also foster
the development of interactive competences, such as skills of discovery and interaction.
(Müller-Hartmann & Schocker-v. Ditfurth, 2006: 176) Through talking to a variety of
people, the students are also able to gain new knowledge and develop different attitudes
from what they previously had.
When the students work in the field, teachers need to foster their development and provide
assistance. According to my findings, most people at Camden Market were willing to
communicate and to answer my questions. The students should be able to experience
different people with various attitudes and perspectives during their explorations in the
field. They should easily get an overview on the specific culture and realize that even an
alternative culture, which might be rather small, is not homogenous.
5.8.6 Food
The third task of the blog project deals with food. The topic ‘food’ is multi-layered and
offers many aspects. In this task, the students take a closer look at how people and their
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behavior differ in respect to consuming or selling food. Food can also be considered an
essential component of culture.
Before going on the trip, the students should look for information about food in London.
The lack of sources and additional information can be part of the problem regarding why
school books do not provide sufficient content for research about food. Weier (2002) for
example, focuses on eating habits in England as part of the way of life and the culture of
people in the UK. According to her, the traditional British breakfast is not common
anymore, since a more global breakfast is currently eaten by Britons. She also criticizes
school books, because they hardly contain any references about the sources of the statistics
and content presented. This lack of sources makes it hard for students to access further
material. (2002: 177) This proves that students need additional sources for their research.
As teachers should be able to guide them, the students should be given hints to find
adequate sources for their research.
Possible aspects of the research project could be customers, sellers, products and places. A
comparison between traditional food in the UK and the present situation in London can be
done as well. The task can be subdivided into two tasks. First, the focus should be shifted
to the customers and their relation to the products they buy. The students could also ask
customers questions like:
• ‘Why do you buy these products? What do you think about this kind of food? Does
this product have more meaning for you, than simply being food? Is there any
cultural relation to this kind of food?’
Students not only think about the questions, they are also required to be flexible in the
course of an interview.
Second, vendors and the products they sell their customers should be analyzed. Students
may investigate why a certain kind of food is chosen and if there are any cultural aspects
related to this kind of food. When students talk to sellers, the questions will slightly differ
from the questions they pose to customers. Students could be interested in asking sellers
questions like:
• ‘Why do you sell food? What kind of food do you sell? Where do you get your
products from? What do you think about the product and the customers? Is there
any cultural relation to your product and food in general?’
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Another group of students could focus on places where people can buy food. In London
there are many places where food is available. Places like Camden Market, Brixton market
or Shepherd’s bush market can be recommended to the students. As already mentioned,
Camden Market is known for its alternative culture. In addition, there is also a great variety
of different restaurants, cafes and market stalls where food from all over the world is sold.
(Zephyr London, 2012b) Brixton market is known for food from India, East Asia, Africa,
South America and the Caribbean. There is also the possibility that students can experience
special markets such as a farmers market. (BMTDF, 2012) Students can also visit
Shepherd’s Bush market, which offers a great variety of different food from the local Irish
and Caribbean community. (SBM Enterprise, 2012) Those three markets as well as the
numerous other locations provide students a good foundation for research.
The next group of students could also investigate the reputation of traditional British food
and the current situation in London. Students will explore a great variety of different dishes
and food like the stereotypical Yorkshire Pudding in contrast to Chinese cuisine or Indian
Curry. John & Teske (2002) describe that people experience London’s food in concentric
circles. At first, people only hear about the narrow British kitchen and certain specialties.
Then they experience the food of imperial Britain, which originates from Hongkong or
India. In the last stage, the students should realize that all those circles are just a part of a
coherent whole, a bigger circle that is also part of a bigger global circle. This global circle
includes a great range of different food traditions from all over the world. (John & Teske,
2002: 230f.) In addition to that, the students will experience there are also many forms of
hybrids of food traditions, which means that they are mixed together and form new kinds
of dishes. An example to illustrate this is the fishburger. Traditional fish and chips are
combined with American styled burgers. People in London can experience that great
variety of global food in a relatively small area of the world.
By those tasks, students are introduced to the cultural diversity of food traditions in or
outside the UK and especially London. (John & Teske, 2002: 229f.) The students develop
skills of discovery and interaction, attitudes and knowledge, which foster a development of
ICC. In my opinion the skills of discovery are most important, as they prevail in this task
more than they do in the other intercultural topics. Discovery is a major part of this task,
especially when the locations of food are focused on, but also the other aspects demand
some kind of discovery by the students. The teacher should recommend several places the
students should visit and reduce the previous research to a minimum. That way the aspect
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of discovery becomes more important than it would be without research about food and
where it can be found in London. The only group that needs to get enough information
about food in the UK is the one that deals with food traditions in the UK. They need some
information to compare it to the real situation in London.
The intercultural topic food involves the students’ senses. At first, food may seem to be a
banal topic, but students will experience that there is not only a great variety of food in
London, but also every place where food can be found is unique. The great variety of
different cuisines will help the students to try out new things. The teacher should
encourage them to try out new dishes and think about the origins of their food. It is rather
difficult to get an overview about all food available in London within a day. Nevertheless
the markets stated above will help the students to understand that the traditional British
cuisine is not as dominant as many people may think. Quite the contrary, global food has
replaced British food traditions in London. Quite often, an Indian food stall provides food
just beside a Mexican one. The traditional food places where Yorkshire pudding and other
British food are available are hard to find.
5.8.7 Cool Britannia and Youth culture in London
The last intercultural topic deals with youth culture in London. The term ‘Cool Britannia’
is quite common in the media as well as in Austrian school books. The school book “New
Opportunities” by Harris et al. (2010), which was designed for students at the age of 16-18,
even features an own chapter about ‘Cool Britannia’. On this school trip, the students are
exactly at that age and ‘Cool Britannia’ also deals with British youth culture. This perfectly
fits the intercultural topics’ needs.
In the 1990s ‘Cool Britannia’ became a reference word for the identity of the British youth
and advertising companies and other media institutions regularly made use of this term.
Reichl (2006) interprets the term as “fascinating material for Cultural Studies”. (2006: 37)
According to her teachers are offered a great variety of different approaches to culture
when dealing with ‘Cool Britannia’ in the FLL: Different representations of identity and
culture can be experienced when working with this term. (Reichl, 2006: 37)
When taking a closer look at the term, it becomes evident that it was mainly used for
marketing purposes. In England there is a chain of souvenir shops, which are called ‘Cool
Britannia’ and they are some of the best known tourist shops, especially in London. (Cool
Britannia, 2012) Besides that, this term also has a political connotation, as it was also used
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when the New Labour party was elected in 1997. Nevertheless, the aim of this topic is not
to focus on British marketing tools, but on British youth culture, which is also identified by
this term. ‘Cool Britannia’ can also be seen as counterpart to the American youth culture,
which predominated many parts of the world. (Reichl, 2006: 37)
Dealing with British youth culture is always a difficult issue, as crime rates have increased,
and research shows that young people in the UK get more and more violent. (Fredericks,
2007) This intercultural topic does not attempt to prove this, but intends to show that
London offers a great variety of young Londoners, who come from different backgrounds
and have different perspectives about their youth culture. This great variety is even
enriched by the large number of young people who are not British citizens. Reichl (2006)
points to the fact that the large number of colored young Britons and people from different
ethnic background, who live in London,” urged the white British had to rethink their image
of British nationality.” (2006: 39)
In FLL many students are confused by what Britishness or Englishness actually means, or
what typical Britons are. Such attempts to classify people by their nationality very often
happen in classrooms. (Reichl, 2006: 39) This is problematical since stereotypes are
applied and individuals are reduced to being a typical Briton for example. To prepare this
topic, the students were encouraged to think about their own notions of cultural identity,
which is also recommended by Reichl (2006: 39) In the preparatory phase, the students had
to deal with their own hometown from various perspectives. This way they should be able
to understand that there is no typical Londoner or no typical Britishness.
The students are asked do some research about identity, representations and notions of
culture. They investigate “Cool Britannia” and Britishness among young people in London
and upload their findings on Moodle. Students should gather material and interview locals
in London. The different student groups may work on different aspects of ‘Cool Britannia’.
Possible aspects are the history of the term itself and people’s opinion about the term.
Moreover their task is to become aware of people’s thoughts about youth culture in
London and to communicate with young Londoners. Another aspect is to find locations
suggested by smartphone apps which recommend ‘Cool’ places for young people in
London and find interlocutors there.
When students work in the field and interview people they could ask the following
questions:
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• ‘You certainly have heard of the term ‘Cool Britannia’, what does it mean to you?’
• ‘How is this related to life in Britain? What would you consider as ‘Britishness’?’
• ‘What would you identify as typically British in your life?’
• ‘How can “Cool Britannia” be applied to life style in Britain?’
• ‘Is it obsolete or still up-to date?’
• ‘Do you think the Union Jack is a symbol for the nationality of Britons or does it
express more than that?’
• ‘Can you imagine that people see it as identification with “Cool Britishness” as
fashions uses it for their matter?’
• “What makes Londoners feel like Londoners rather than English?” (Reichl, 2006:
39)
The questions above are just examples of what the students could ask to full-fill their tasks.
In addition to that many questions will be asked and the students will get interesting
insights into this topic. By communicating with people, collecting material and talking to
the other groups, the students should realize that the borders between arts, literature and
politics have vanished and popular culture and a capitalist society influence all these facets
of life, too. (Reichl, 2006: 41f.) The students will also learn that there is no universal
characterization of culture or youth culture in London. There is no answer to the question
‘What is it like to be British?’ as there is also no answer to the question ‘What is it like to
be a student from Klagenfurt?’ The students should connect what they have learnt in the
preparatory phase and relate their knowledge and findings to this intercultural topic. Reichl
(2006) sees the “endless variety of subject positions to choose from” as a “perfect
opportunity to teach students […] a way of looking at identity, nationality, and, eventually,
themselves.” (2006: 46) In addition to the implications of a Cultural Studies approach, the
students also develop ICC. Similarly to the previous intercultural tasks, they especially
gain experiences in skills of discovery and interaction, attitudes, knowledge and especially
critical cultural awareness and create a blog about their findings.
The intercultural topic about ‘Cool Britannia’ and British youth culture has been selected
as a good example for student’s topic in London. I already taught this in a FLC class and
the students can easily compare their situation to the young people living in London. They
also did a preparatory task that helped them to understand that there is no universal
characterization of a culture or the people’s identities. Keeping this in mind, I tried to meet
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some young people and interview them. I was not surprised that people had different
conceptions about the term ‘Cool Britannia’ and ‘Britishness’ and some also mentioned
that they live in a globalized and multicultural society. Some interview partners also told
me that for them traditions are not as important as for old people in Britain. For most
interlocutors it was almost impossible to find a definition of what it means to be British.
The results of my inquiry showed me that this approach to ‘Cool Britannia’ and British
youth culture is interesting and students will gain lots of new experience. Furthermore,
they will understand that such terms are always subjective positions.
5.9 Follow-up Phase
The third part of this trip is the follow-up phase, which takes places in the FLC right after
the return home. Byram (1999) recommends additional sessions, during which the students
can discuss their experiences. The students are required to reflect on their experiences
gained during the field trip. (1999: 378) Teachers need to support them, because only
going to the trip is not enough. School trips should not be stand alone events without
reflection, because additional work should follow the trip. (Trant, 2010: Xiv)
The teachers should put an emphasis on the reflection phase. Together, the students should
analyze and conceptualize their experiences gathered on the trip. These results serve as
basis for their understanding of their intercultural experiences. (Byram et al. 2002: 20)
John & Teske (2002) also highlight the importance of follow-up activities.
Students should summarize, assess and evaluate their experiences and also reevaluate their
own perspective. (2002: 241) The experiences of the ‘otherness’ in London are asked to be
related to the students’ own environment. This helps students to be more empathetic
towards things which are unfamiliar, new or different, also in their own, their familiar
environment. Creative tasks enhance the students’ experiences and encourage students to
relate what they have learnt on this trip to further encounters with foreign environments.
(John & Teske, 2002: 243f.)
5.9.1 Reflection
The first part of the follow-up phase is consists of common reflections in class. As already
mentioned in Kolb’s (1984) learning cycle, learning cannot take place without reflection.
Reflecting the experiences gained is beneficial for the students. (Trant, 2010: 10) The
students need time to reflect their stay and make connections to the environment around
them. (Trant, 2010: 33) The Austrian AHS curriculum also recognizes the importance of
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reflection, as it states that: “Ergebnisse und deren Interpretation sind stets kritisch zu
hinterfragen und Auswirkungen auf den Einzelnen und die Gesellschaft zu reflektieren.“
(BMUKK, 2004a: 7) Besides this statement, there are other quotations that directly address
reflection in FLL.
“In Fortsetzung zur Unterstufe im Fremdsprachenunterricht der Oberstufe methodisch und inhaltlich die Möglichkeit zu kreativen Aktivitäten in der Fremdsprache anzubieten […] Dabei sind die Schülerinnen und Schüler in die Reflexion über den lernpsychologischen Gewinn des Einsatzes vielfältiger Kreativtechniken mit einzubeziehen „(BMUKK, 2012b: 2) „Der reflektierende Umgang mit Sprache (auch im Vergleich mit der Unterrichts- bzw. Muttersprache, mit Volksgruppen- und Nachbarsprachen bzw. mit anderen Fremdsprachen) ist im Unterricht zu fördern. Durch vergleichende Beobachtungen ist die Effizienz des Spracherwerbs zu steigern, die allgemeine Sprachlernkompetenz zu erhöhen “(BMUKK, 2012b: 2)
In conclusion this means that scholars as well as the Austrian curriculum recommend
reflection in class. This reflective part consists of three short tasks. After the classroom
discussion the students are asked to write down their reflections and upload the files on
Moodle.
At first they reflect on the pictures they uploaded on Moodle. After that the students are
required to reflect on the task “London in 20 words”. They read their words again and
think about them. Moreover they are invited to think about 20 words would choose now.
They also have to reconsider stereotypes they may have heard about London or even wrote
down in their 20 words. This is a way of reevaluation of what has been said and what has
taken place. (John & Teske, 2002: 241) The students should also think about their virtual
excursion via Google Maps and think about how they would describe the difference of
seeing London on the net via pictures and being there on the school trip. All this is done by
in form of a short reflective paper. The next task for the follow-up phase is to create a
portfolio, which includes new reflective tasks.
5.9.2 Portfolio
Creating portfolios is quite prominent in modern language teaching, and proved to be
beneficial for developing ICC. Out of these reasons the students also need to compile a
portfolio that contains all materials they collected during their trip to London. The Austrian
AHS curriculum also stresses the importance of portfolios, as it states:
Besonders in der Oberstufe sind produktorientierte Arbeitsformen mit schriftlicher oder
dokumentierender Komponente, wie zB Portfolio-Präsentationen oder (Projekt)Arbeiten
unter selbstständigen Spracherwerb im Sinne des lebensbegleitenden autonomen
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Sprachenlernens zu erschließen. Möglichkeiten zur Selbstevaluation sind dabei besonders
zu berücksichtigen. (BMUKK, 2004b: 1)
Besides that, the Austrian ministry for education currently runs programs to tests e-
portfolios in classroom situations. The first evaluations showed that e-portfolios are very
useful. An e-portfolio is also used in this particular project. According to Baumgartner et
al. (2012), portfolios should be used for individual learning processes, since they have high
requirements: “Die Erwartungen schließen Verbesserungen hinsichtlich der
Leistungsbewertung und Leistungsunterstützung, der Dokumentation von Kompetenzen
und auch von metakognitiven Reflexionsprozessen ein.“ (Baumgartner et al. 2012: 1) This
means that teachers can use portfolios to assess their development.
Another benefit of the portfolio is the possibility to assess the content’s accuracy. The
uploaded data upload showcases more informal and indirect skills. Indeed, the teacher also
needs to check whether all tasks were mastered and whether the task is complete or not.
Besides the development of ICC, the skills of discovery and interaction arealso assessed by
teachers.
An assessment of indirect and informal elements in the learning process is difficult. The
“ability to suspend disbelief about other cultures and belief about one’s own’”, as it is
requested for an intercultural speaker, is complex. (Byram, 1999: 378) Hence, more than a
portfolio that includes all content is needed. The portfolio of this school trip needs one
further element, which is called the “Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters”.
The AIE directly addresses the development of the students’ ICCs. In 2009 it was
introduced by the COE. Michael Byram, who established the concept of the intercultural
speaker and provided the theoretical framework for this school trip was one of the key
figures in its development. His theories and models of ICC can be found in chapter one.
The AIE is available in two versions: one is for younger learners and one is for older
learners. (COE, 2009c) In addition to the AIE, there are documents which provide the
theoretical context, concepts and theories behind ICC. (COE, 2009a) Many details have
already been discussed in the chapter about ICC, but the students should be provided with
the original documents to recall some information on ICC.
The main document, which will be part of the portfolio, is the AIE, an online form, which
students are required to fill-out and upload on Moodle. The AIE was designed to have a
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tool to analyze a specific intercultural encounter. As this is part of the portfolio, the
students analyze one intercultural encounter on their school trip to London. The students
answer questions that deal with different aspects of the encounters. People from other
cultural backgrounds or from different ethnic group who speak other languages are in
focus. (COE, 2009d: 3)
As first task of the AIE, students describe themselves. Then the students specify the
encounter and describe their partner in the intercultural encounter. Later on, the students
try to describe their feelings during the intercultural encounter. Not only that they describe
their own feelings, they also need to imagine the other person’s feelings. Next the students
list similarities and difference that occurred during the encounter. Subsequently, the
students examine the communication situation in regard to adjustments in language,
previous knowledge and other aspects. If possible, students should also state a situation of
the encounter in which they were clueless and had to do further research. Additionally, the
students should compare things from their own culture to aspects of the encounter. This
can help them to understand this intercultural encounter. To conclude the students are
asked to think back and look forward in relation to the intercultural encounter. (COE,
2009d: 6ff.) After dealing with the AIE in class, the teacher can also make use of
suggestions for discussions that are provided on the website. (COE, 2009a) The
implementation of the AIE into the portfolio on Moodle makes the online portfolio
complete. The teacher then reads and comments each portfolio individually. Face-to-face
sessions with each student are also highly recommended. When the reflection phase is
over, the students should also use their experiences, materials to create a presentation for
their family and friends.
5.9.3 Presentation
The last task of the follow-up phase is developing a presentation about the school trip to
London. (Byram, 1999: 378) This presentation is intended to be a product that shows the
experiences made on this school trip. Müller-Hartmann (1999) described that one big
disadvantage of an intercultural project was that it did not result in a product. (1999:
172ff.) In the course of this school trip project, two products are created. The first product
is the portfolio, which is a good way of deal with the students’ development. Nevertheless
the portfolio can hardly be presented to people outside the classroom. Out of this reason,
the presentation deals with reflections and other content of the portfolio, which are
processed for parents, siblings and friends.
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Byram et al. (2002) also recommend preparing a presentation of school trip projects. Such
a presentation should include facts and personal experiences. For this presentation, the
students need to de-centre when presenting it to people, who were not on the trip. The
students also have to think about what to explain to those, who have not gained the same
intercultural experiences in London. (2002: 20) Those presentations should be visual
representations, since this “removes the constraints of foreign and first language in
expressing what is unfamiliar.” Students can draw, take pictures or create diagrams to state
facts. This can also help to express the students’ feelings. (Byram et al. 2002: 20)
The presentation should be based on Microsoft Powerpoint or Prezi.com format, which are
two popular presentation formats in school. The Austrian curriculum for AHS also
recommends using digital presentations as they develop self-competence and self-
assessment. (BMUKK, 2004a: 8) A production of such presentations is also highly
profitable as preparation for the school leaving examinations. (BMUKK, 2004a: 6)
5.9.4 Project schedule
After all phases and tasks of the trip are described and planned, the project schedule of the
school trip can be created. The whole process of the school trip will take about 4 months of
time to be realized. In Fig 5.7 the schedule is shown.
Fig. 5.7 School trip schedule
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Conclusion
This paper outlined an innovative school trip to London that was meant to help students to
develop Intercultural Communicative Competences (ICC). Different approaches to
technology in learning have been shown. Moreover, it turned out that implementation of
these technological approaches can foster the students’ learning processes. The theoretical
background and the tasks of the trip were aimed at verifying the following two hypotheses:
1. “Students develop Intercultural Communicative Competence on school trips.”
2. “Developing Intercultural Communicative Competence on school trips can be
facilitated by e- and m-learning.”
The questions raised in the introduction have been answered to facilitate the understanding
of the whole concept of this paper.
Firstly, I developed a definition of what school trips are and how students can profit from
them. Generally speaking, a school trip is a journey, that forces a group of students to leave
their normal environment in order to gain new experiences. Students need to go on school
trips when the reality of the culture and language they are studying is too far away to be
experienced. (Hitz, 2001: 148f.) They also gain experiences that are distant from the
students’ daily routine. (Trant, 2010: 4) Another aspect of school trips, is that students
experience learning by doing and can apply methods learnt in a classroom setting to real
life. (Ringschede, 2005: 237) On school trips, students become more independent and
confident learners. They learn to see the world around them in a more intelligent and
critical manner. (Trant, 2010: xiv) Another benefit of school trips is that students can
connect real world experience with contents mentioned in the curriculum.
Next, the curricular perspective of school trips was examined. The Austrian curriculum for
AHS defines school trips as an essential part in the students’ education. School trips are
also seen as enrichment for the lessons, therefore stating clearly that students benefit from
school trips.
Another important question is, why students need ICC and how they profit from it. It is
claimed that learners are required to understand their own culture as well as foreign
cultures in order to become competent intercultural speakers. In general, this is known as
Intercultural Communicative Competence, which is interpreted as the primary goal of FLL.
122
(cf. Müller-Hartmann & Schocker-v. Dithfurth, 2009:18) For the development of ICC it is
important to understand the relation between language and cultures. One can only become
a proficient speaker of a foreign language when the culture is understood. (Bredella, 1999:
86)
Furthermore, models and concepts of ICC were presented. Byram’s (1997) model of
Intercultural Communicative Competence was selected to be applied to this school trip to
London. He included five components that are necessary for the development of ICC:
attitudes, skills of interpreting and relating, critical cultural awareness, knowledge and
skills of discovery and interaction. Byram’s (1997) comprehensive model of ICC illustrates
that these five components are interrelated. He also introduced classroom, fieldwork and
independent learning as possible areas for learning. In addition, it was mentioned that
discourse competence, linguistic competence and sociolinguistic competence are crucial in
the development of ICC.
Additionally, it was shown that there is no common definition of e- or m-learning.
Nevertheless, e-learning can be seen as an umbrella term that encompasses all forms of
electronic learning, including local learning software, different media like DVDs and all
sorts of Internet-based learning. E-learning may also include interactive elements of the
web 2.0, which changes the students’ role from content receivers to content creators and
authors. M-learning is interpreted as an extension of e-learning. Moreover m-learning also
takes mobile devices into account. This mobility aspect of learning enables students to
learn everywhere at any time. This is the reason why learning has become ubiquitous. This
ubiquity of learning is very beneficial for school trips as students can take online materials
with them, work on tasks in the field and use other multimedia functions on their mobile
devices. Another important aspect is that students can use various forms of interactive
learning like messaging, video-chatting, uploading content to blogs or even recording face-
to-face conversations. Linking these interactive forms of learning to the claim that m-
learning can increase the students’ learning success up to 70 percent (Derstandard.at,
2012b), it becomes evident that students can profit from e- and m-learning on school trips.
In the section about the requirements for developing ICC, it turned out that school trips
should not be regarded as isolated events, since they need to be combined with classwork.
(Byram, 1999: 378) School trips have to be divided into three different stages, namely
preparatory-, fieldwork- and follow-up phase. (Byram et al. 2002: 19ff.) This way the
123
students get prepared for their experiences beforehand. Later on they have the possibility to
reflect their experiences. The teacher acts more as a guide than as a teacher and helps the
students if necessary. Essential material is provided by the teacher, but the students also
experience a new role of learning, as they create content on their own and become authors
of their own experiences. The students participate additionally in an online course on the
LCMS Moodle. On Moodle, they find all material needed, work on tasks, communicate
with native speakers, upload files or create blogs about intercultural topics. The whole
course is structured to support all three phases of a school trip and can be accessed via
mobile devices while on the trip.
Although I expected a time-consuming preparation of all topics, I was able to prove that e-
and m-learning can help teachers to save time and make content readily available. The
results showed that detailed preparation is always time consuming for teachers, regardless
of what approach to learning is used. On the one hand, the preparation of e- and m-learning
courses is even more time-consuming than using conventional methods, since teachers
need to make the content electronically accessible and create new courses. On the other
hand, creating online courses can help teachers save time. LCMS allows new courses to be
created out of existing RLOs without much effort. (Baumgartner et al. 2002b: 281f.)
Furthermore, tests and evaluations can also be conducted online, which helps to save time.
My next assumption was that students are very interested in modern forms of teaching and
like to use computers and smartphones in class and on school trips. In 2008, a study
showed that 87 percent of the participants could imagine that m-learning may enhance
their foreign language skills. They expected easy access to LCMSs and more flexibility
while learning. (Lehner et al. 2008: 12ff.) More recently, psychologists proved that mobile
devices increase the students’ motivation to practice. (Woodard & Cochran, 2011) This
intrinsic motivation leads to an increased interest in m-learning. (Hofer, 2011) E-learning,
which also comprises m-learning, is quite common in modern teaching, but teachers also
face problems when using this learning approach. Unfortunately, not many people are
interested in participating in tasks on the web. They often hesitate to contribute data to
wikis or weblogs. People enjoy preparing private materials, but hesitate to produce content
for educational reasons. (Mazzurana, 2008: 99f.) Still, students are the most open-minded
group of learners who use e- and m-learning and many students are highly motivated to
make use of it. In Austria, classes provided with laptops were quite successful and
smartphone usage in the classroom is also increasing. A recent study showed that there is a
124
trend called “bring your own device”. The concept allows students to use their private
smartphones in school. (APA-OTS, 2012) This could facilitate the implementation of m-
learning on school trips.
At this point all questions concerning the four issues of the field trip were answered and
my expectations were, for the most part, full-filled. Now my intention is to corroborate the
two hypotheses of this paper.
“Students develop Intercultural Communicative Competence on school trips”
School trips with a foreign destination are common in Austria. FLT needs to develop ICC
and students need to encounter cultures different from their own. Byram’s (1997) model,
which describes the different components that are crucial in developing ICC, can be
applied to school trips. During school trips, students communicate with people from
different cultures and develop ICC at the same time. The students’ main opportunity is to
develop skills of discovery and interaction, as they experience many new facets of life.
(Byram, 1999: 360) Teachers should create tasks to assess the students’ senses, since they
are ideal in experiencing the skills of discovery and interaction. (Müller-Hartmann &
Schocker-v. Ditfurth, 2009: 26)
Moreover, school trips enable students to develop attitudes, when doing experiential
learning. Students encounter emotional situations that affect their feelings. Afterwards,
careful reflection is needed to promote a change in the students’ attitudes. (Byram et al.
2002: 19) Müller-Hartmann & Schocker-v. Ditfurth (2009) claim that skills of interpreting
and relating can be developed by conducting projects in which students are exposed to
new situations. When they get to know various cultural points of view, school trips fit
perfectly into this category. (2009:25) Critical cultural awareness can be achieved by the
evaluation of other cultures. Therefore, the students critically rethink their own culture. On
school trips, students get the chance to communicate with various different people and
experience various perspectives.
Another important issue of school trips is that they have to be divided into three phases.
Intensive preparation, tasks on the trip and detailed reflections after the trip are necessary
to develop ICC. Furthermore, individual assessment is needed to check whether students
have developed ICC or not. The COE provided a sophisticated tool to assess the students’
ICC. It is called the “Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters” and based on Byram’s
125
(1997) model of ICC. With the help of this assessment tool, teachers asses read the
students’ individual experiences with different cultures. (COE, 2009d) Due to the fact that
dealing with Byram’s (1997) model of ICC, working on the three stages of the trip and
assessing the students’ individual developments are complex issues, teachers also need
training to develop ICC themselves.
Besides all the positive aspects of school trips, there are also some negative aspects that
should be mentioned. Byram (1999) criticizes that teachers are hardly trained for teaching
students to develop ICC. (1999: 363) Even if teachers do not have adequate training, they
should know that direct experiences in a country can be a great shock for students. (Byram,
1999: 359) Therefore, teachers are responsible to prepare their students for these reactions.
(Byram, 2000:11)
In summary, the first hypothesis was verified, as students can profit from school trips in
terms of ICC and gain essential experiences for their further lives. The focus of the second
hypothesis is whether e- and m-learning can foster this process or not.
“Developing Intercultural Communicative Competence on school trips can be
facilitated by e- and m-learning”
It is unquestionable that students can profit from using modern technology, but it has not
been clarified, whether it can help to develop ICC or not. One of the most important
aspects is that learning has become ubiquitous. Students can learn in any situation at any
time, and create content on their own. By creating individual content, they have a different
perspective within their learning material. Understanding different perspectives is one of
the aspects necessary to develop components of Byram’s (1997) model of ICC.
Even though e- and m-learning are considered to be new forms of teaching, teachers are
required to prepare students in great detail. Afterwards, students can select meaningful
intercultural topics to deal with. LCMS like Moodle offer various functionalities to deal
with certain topics. Students can directly communicate with people from other cultures.
(Müller-Hartmann, 1999: 160) This can happen on Moodle via sending messages. Students
then try to establish relationships with their project partners. The exposure to different
perspectives may lead to a shift in the students’ perspectives. Müller-Hartmann (1999)
claimed that e-mail projects offer a great potential for a development of ICC. His own
findings and various other projects foster a development of ICC.
126
Sung & Lin (2010) and Lee (2011) illustrated that blogs also offer great potential for
supporting the development of ICC. A good way of assessing e-mail or blog projects is to
use Byram’s (2000) objectives for assessing the development of ICC. Projects that deal
with blogs or e-mails are most likely to be conducted in the preparatory phase of a school
trip. If necessary, the students can have mobile access to their Moodle account and directly
work on blog- or e-mail projects when they are on school trips.
A great advantage of mobile devices is that students can access all content from the
preparatory phase on the trip. They can upload, edit, evaluate, exchange or delete content.
Students also get the opportunity to make use of online collaborations while they work in
the field. Mobile devices grant that students can save their interviews, pictures or other
data without much effort. Apps could also help the students with vocabulary or navigation
issues.
In conclusion, the second hypothesis can also be verified. All tasks in developing ICC, as
described earlier, can be executed via e- and m-learning. Students are offered tools and
functions that make learning and the development of ICC easier and readily accessible.
Students can also get into contact with people from other cultures without great effort. By
using modern technology students can work with content at any time and store many
details that can be used after their arrival at home. Nevertheless, conventional teaching in
the classroom should not fully be replaced by the use of modern technology. A
combination of different forms of learning and face-to-face sessions in the classroom has
proven to be the most successful.
It turned out that school trips offer great potential to develop ICC. E- and m-learning foster
this process, as they grant ubiquity of learning and ease access to materials. The school trip
to London, planned in this paper, shows how to deal with the four issues in FLL and
provides many examples for useful tasks that are part of the preparatory-, fieldwork- and
follow-up phase of a school trip.
127
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