ABSTRACT

This paper describes a research study that investigated foreign language students’ collaborative practice in a blended, authentic learning environment. A group of intermediate and advanced level students of Italian at an Australian university interacted and collaborated with each other and with a group of native speaker mentors through a web-based learning management system and in face-to-face mode. As part of the project, students were required to complete two authentic tasks designed according to an authentic learning framework. In order to complete these tasks, students assigned themselves into small collaborative groups and negotiated their roles and responsibilities with little or no intervention from the class teacher apart from the requirement that communication took place in the target language. This paper describes the different phases of the collaborative process and the strategies employed by learners to overcome some of the challenges and problems encountered. The paper concludes with a series of recommendations for language educators seeking to support student collaboration and foreign language development in a blended language learning environment.

摘要

本文介绍了一项研究研究，在混合，真实的学习环境中调查了外语学生的协作实践。一组澳大利亚大学的意大利语中，高级程度的学生通过基于Web的学习管理系统，以面对面的方式相互交流，并与一群母语为母语的导师进行了互动和协作。作为该项目的一部分，要求学生完成根据真实的学习框架设计的两项真实的任务。为了完成这些任务，除了要求以目标语言进行交流之外，学生们将自己分配到小型协作小组中，并在课堂老师很少或根本没有干预的情况下谈判自己的角色和职责。本文描述了协作过程的不同阶段以及学习者用来克服所遇到的一些挑战和问题的策略。本文最后为语言教育者提出了一系列建议，以寻求在混合语言学习环境中支持学生合作和外语发展。