Presentation Intercultural Conversational Strategies in Multimodal Conversation Groups more

Sat, Jul 10, 13:30-14:00 Asia/Tokyo

This study evaluates the effectiveness of a 10-week program in promoting intercultural communicative competence between 88 students from seven different countries. This program leveraged on the versatility of social media apps that allow participants to engage in authentic conversations using video presentations, voice recording and texting. Students were placed in small groups with a leader in each group and the group members were swapped between groups every three weeks. One block consists of 3 weeks and participants were expected to upload a video based on a given topic the first two weeks and plan for a synchronous online meetup on the third week. The uploaded videos act as conversation starters. The cycle repeated for the next two blocks. On the tenth week, a super online meetup was organized for all participants and teachers. It was apparent that the communicative competence of group leaders has a great effect on the interaction dynamics within each group. Details of the program will be delineated in the presentation.