pairs of students to suggest days and times for their first interaction. Subsequently, the pairs scheduled the teletandem sessions according to their own availability.
Regarding the language pair involved in this study, it should be stated that in IFG undergraduate courses the foreign languages taught are English, Spanish, and French. As the Brazilian learners wished to enhance their knowledge of English, this was the language chosen by them to be crafted with Portuguese in the teletandem sessions. Considering that the German students were proficient in English, they assisted their Brazilian partners in the learning of this language and were assisted by them in the Portuguese language learning.
As participants of this study, we have three pairs of teletandem language partners: three Brazilian students who were majoring in Tourism at IFG and three foreign students( three from University of Worms and one from the University of Trier). Table 1 shows the participants, identified by their pseudonyms, as well as the resources used by them during the interaction sessions in teletandem.
Table 1 |
The Participants and Resources Used by Them |
|
Participants
Brazilian
|
German |
Resources used by the participants |
Natalie |
Teego |
Microphone and webcam, chat, whiteboard, electronic dictionary |
Drica |
Red 30 |
Microphone and webcam, chat, whiteboard |
Jujuba |
Peregrino |
Microphone and webcam, whiteboard |
In this study, the participants made use of some resources which enabled them to see each other, to write messages to each other( chat), to engage in a conversation, to post pictures and to draw. All these resources contributed to the development of consistent interactions which allowed the participants to learn or to improve their linguistic skills regarding the target language as well as to carry on discussions concerning environmental issues and sustainability, which were the main themes of the interactions. It is also important to state that the Germans visited Brazil, specifically the state of Goiás, in order to meet their Brazilian partners and finish the project related to sustainability.
Analyses of the teletandem sessions
This initial example refers to an interaction held by Drica and Red. Drica was already online when the image of Red appears on the screen, indicating that she had entered the
30
Although Red is Romanian, she was a regular student at Worms University and spoke English and German fluently.
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