International Electronic Link-Up to Develop Competence in Foreign Languages

Dr Judith Broadbridge

Abstract below...

For the past two academic years, students of French at UCLan and students of English at the IUT (University Institute of Technology) in Lannion have taken part in an electronic exchange programme designed to encourage and extend the practice of their linguistic skills. For neither group of students is the foreign language the only focus within their programme of study. Thus it is of paramount importance to ensure that exposure to the language is maintained and developed outside the classroom. In addition, the project draws on the recognition of these students as digital natives and the corresponding changes in educational behaviours in particular in relation to the extended potential for international interaction.

In this project ten students from across the French provision at UCLan have been paired with ten second-year IUT students at Lannion. They have interacted with each other on a one-to-one basis, using any form of electronic communication available to them. There have also been several group sessions set up via Skype or video-conferencing.

In each year the students have been set tasks to complete. In the first semester students explored life at their respective institutions. In the second, students in Lannion worked with their partners at UCLan to set up web pages of interest to the English students. In the second year of the project, the year culminated in Lannion students presenting their findings to their English partners. For UCLan students participation in the project has been voluntary whilst for the Lannion students this has been an accredited part of their programme, hence the different levels of formal output.

How is this kind of project implemented and evaluated? How did these “digital native” students put new technologies to use in developing their language skills? From the students’ and the lecturers’ perspectives, what are the advantages and disadvantages of such a scheme? Our presentation seeks to explore these questions.

Dr Judith Broadbridge: UCLan

Dr Véronique Charriau: IUT, Lannion (France)

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