Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology
Intercultural (mis)communication: problematizing Taiwanese students’ perceived sentiments on the delivery of online video conferences
Aiden Yeh 1 *
More Detail
1 Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan
* Corresponding Author
Open Access Full Text (PDF)
ARTICLE INFO

Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology, 2019 - Volume 1 Issue 1, pp. 12-28

Article Type: Research Article

Published Online: 20 May 2019

Views: 1523 | Downloads: 927

ABSTRACT
Globalization has made the world a ‘smaller’ place where, for all sorts of reasons, we need to communicate with people in other time zones (often from different cultures). This has catapulted English as a lingua franca - the language of communication used by people who do not share the same mother/native tongue(s) – to the number one language in the world. With the aid of new technologies such as chat platforms, social media and mobile apps, geographical distance is no longer a hindrance to communication; as a matter of fact, these have paved the way for instant accessibility in contacting people anytime anywhere. Recognizing the need to prepare students in facing the realities and challenges of intercultural communication in the global marketplace, many universities in Asia (indeed, in other parts of the world) have started to offer courses such as ‘Inter- (Cross-) Cultural Communications’, ‘Language and Culture’, ‘World Englishes’, etc. Some are even offering full or blended online programs where students are given the opportunity to talk to other foreign students in order to practice intercultural communication skills. But how do we assess the effectiveness of such online pedagogy? How do we know if the students are really engaged in learning and enhancing their knowledge, skills and attitudes? This study presents the findings of a qualitative research based on an open-ended questionnaire to gather student feedback on the effectiveness and failures of online live sessions as part of the instructional strategy in delivering the ‘World Englishes & Miscommunication’ course in a private university in southern Taiwan. Recommendations for creative alternatives where real communication can take place in online discussions are provided.
KEYWORDS
In-text citation: (Yeh, 2019)
Reference: Yeh, A. (2019). Intercultural (mis)communication: problematizing Taiwanese students’ perceived sentiments on the delivery of online video conferences. Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology, 1(1), 12-28.
In-text citation: (1), (2), (3), etc.
Reference: Yeh A. Intercultural (mis)communication: problematizing Taiwanese students’ perceived sentiments on the delivery of online video conferences. Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology. 2019;1(1), 12-28.
In-text citation: (1), (2), (3), etc.
Reference: Yeh A. Intercultural (mis)communication: problematizing Taiwanese students’ perceived sentiments on the delivery of online video conferences. Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology. 2019;1(1):12-28.
In-text citation: (Yeh, 2019)
Reference: Yeh, Aiden. "Intercultural (mis)communication: problematizing Taiwanese students’ perceived sentiments on the delivery of online video conferences". Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology 2019 1 no. 1 (2019): 12-28.
In-text citation: (Yeh, 2019)
Reference: Yeh, A. (2019). Intercultural (mis)communication: problematizing Taiwanese students’ perceived sentiments on the delivery of online video conferences. Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology, 1(1), pp. 12-28.
In-text citation: (Yeh, 2019)
Reference: Yeh, Aiden "Intercultural (mis)communication: problematizing Taiwanese students’ perceived sentiments on the delivery of online video conferences". Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology, vol. 1, no. 1, 2019, pp. 12-28.
REFERENCES
  • Ally, M. (2004). Foundations of educational theory for online learning. Theory and practice of online learning, 2, 15-44.
  • Altbach, P. G., & Knight, J. (2007). The internationalization of higher education: Motivations and realities. Journal of studies in international education, 11(3-4), 290-305.
  • Alvesson, M., & Sandberg, J. (2011). Generating research questions through problematization. Academy of management review, 36(2), 247-271.
  • Baker, P. (2006). Using corpora in discourse analysis. London, UK: A&C Black.
  • Berge, Z. L. (1995). Facilitating computer conferencing: Recommendations from the field. Educational technology, 35(1), 22-30.
  • Berge, Z. L., & Collins, M. P. (Eds.). (1995). Computer mediated communication and the online classroom: distance learning. Cresskill: Hampton press.
  • Biber, D., Connor, U., & Upton, T. A. (2007). Discourse on the move: Using corpus analysis to describe discourse structure. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing.
  • Bhatia, V. K. (1997). Introduction: Genre analysis and world Englishes. World Englishes, 16(3), 313-319.
  • Bird, S., Klein, E., & Loper, E. (2009). Natural language processing with Python: analyzing text with the natural language toolkit. Beijing: O'Reilly Media, Inc..
  • Bolton, K. (2005). Where WE stands: Approaches, issues, and debate in world Englishes. World Englishes, 24(1), 69-83.
  • Bonk, C. J., & Reynolds, T. H. (1997). Learner-centered Web instruction for higher-order thinking, teamwork, and apprenticeship. In B. H. Khan (Ed.), Web-based instruction (pp. 167-178). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications.
  • Bonk, C. J., & Graham, C. R. (2012). The handbook of blended learning: Global perspectives, local designs. US: John Wiley & Sons.
  • Byram, M. (1997). Teaching and assessing intercultural communicative competence. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.
  • Byram, M; Gribkova, B; Starkey, H; (2002) Developing the Intercultural Dimension in Language Teaching: a practical introduction for teachers. Language Policy Division, Directorate of School, Out-of-School and Higher Education, Council of Europe: Strasbourg, France.
  • Byram, M. (2012). Language awareness and (critical) cultural awareness–relationships, comparisons and contrasts. Language Awareness, 21(1-2), 5-13.
  • Braczyk, H. J., & Heidenreich, M. (1998). Regional governance structures in a globalized world. Regional innovation systems, 414, 440.
  • Carl III, W. J. (1996). Six Thinking Hats: Argumentativeness and Response to Thinking Model.
  • Chen, J. J., & Yang, S. C. (2014). Fostering foreign language learning through technology-enhanced intercultural projects. Language Learning & Technology 18(1), 57–75. Retrieved from http://llt.msu.edu/issues/february2014/chenyang.pdf
  • Clark, R. E. (1983). Reconsidering research on learning from media. Review of Educational Research, 53(4), 445-459.
  • Collins, A. (1991). The role of computer technology in restructuring schools. Phi Delta Kappan, 73(1), 28-36.
  • Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2017). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. London, UK: Sage publications.
  • Dave, K., Lawrence, S., & Pennock, D. M. (2003, May). Mining the peanut gallery: Opinion extraction and semantic classification of product reviews. In Proceedings of the 12th international conference on World Wide Web. ACM May, pp. 519-528.
  • De Bono, E. (1994). Parallel thinking: from Socratic to de Bono thinking. London, UK: Penguin.
  • Dey, I. (2003). Qualitative data analysis: A user friendly guide for social scientists. London, UK: Routledge.
  • Ding, X., Liu, B., & Yu, P. S. (2008). A holistic lexicon-based approach to opinion mining. In Proceedings of the 2008 international conference on web search and data mining. ACM February, pp. 231-240.
  • Elo, S., & Kyngäs, H. (2008). The qualitative content analysis process. Journal of advanced nursing, 62(1), 107-115.
  • Fantini, A. E., Arias-Galicia, F., & Guay, D. (2001). Globalization and 21st century competencies: Challenges for North American higher education. Boulder, CO: Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education.
  • Foucault, M. (1984). Polemics, politics and problematizations, based on an interview conducted by Paul Rabinow. In L. Davis. (Trans.), Essential works of Foucault (Vol. 1), Ethics, New York: New Press
  • Freiermuth, M. R., & Huang, H. C. (2012). Bringing Japan and Taiwan closer electronically: A look at an intercultural online synchronic chat task and its effect on motivation. Language Teaching Research, 16(1), 61-88.
  • Harasim, L. (2000). Shift happens: Online education as a new paradigm in learning. The Internet and higher education, 3(1-2), 41-61.
  • Jenkins, J. (2006). Current perspectives on teaching world Englishes and English as a lingua franca. TESOL quarterly, 40(1), 157-181.
  • Kachru, B. B. (1990). World Englishes and applied linguistics. World Englishes, 9(1), 3-20.
  • Kozma, R. B. (2001). Counterpoint theory of “learning with media.” In R. E. Clark (Ed.), Learning from media: Arguments, analysis, and evidence (pp. 137-178). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing Inc.
  • Kubota, R. (2001). Teaching world Englishes to native speakers of English in the USA. World Englishes, 20(1), 47-64.
  • Kuckartz, U. (2014). Qualitative text analysis: A guide to methods, practice and using software. London, UK: Sage.
  • Kuo, Y. C., Walker, A. E., Belland, B. R., Schroder, K. E., & Kuo, Y. T. (2014). A case study of integrating Interwise: Interaction, internet self-efficacy, and satisfaction in synchronous online learning environments. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 15(1).
  • Laurillard, D. (2002). Rethinking university teaching: A conversational framework for the effective use of learning technologies. London: Routledge.
  • Liu, B. (2012). Sentiment analysis and opinion mining. Synthesis lectures on human language technologies, 5(1), 1-167.
  • Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldana, J. (2013). Qualitative data analysis. London, UK: Sage.
  • Motion, J., & Leitch, S. (2007). A toolbox for public relations: The oeuvre of Michel Foucault. Public Relations Review, 33(3), 263-268.
  • Park, Y. J., & Bonk, C. J. (2007). Synchronous learning experiences: Distance and residential learners’ perspectives in a blended graduate course. Journal of Interactive Online Learning, 6(3), 245-264.
  • Porter, W. W., Graham, C. R., Spring, K. A., & Welch, K. R. (2014). Blended learning in higher education: Institutional adoption and implementation. Computers & Education, 75, 185-195.
  • Rosenfeld, H.M. (1978). Conversational control functions of nonverbal behavior. In: A.W. Siegman and S. Feldstein, eds. Nonverbal behavior and communication, 291-328. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
  • Royal, P. (2015). Untangling Text: Voyant Tools’ Knots for Text Analysis
  • An Example of How to Use Voyant’s Alternative Functionalities. Retrieved from https://medium.com/dh-tools-for-beginners/voyant-tools-2-0-less-common-tools-for-text-analysis-a922cfcd85cb
  • Saldaña, Z.W. (2018). Sentiment Analysis for Exploratory Data Analysis. The Programming Historian 7. Retrieved online from https://programminghistorian.org/en/lessons/sentiment-analysis.
  • So, H. J., & Brush, T. A. (2008). Student perceptions of collaborative learning, social presence and satisfaction in a blended learning environment: Relationships and critical factors. Computers & education, 51(1), 318-336.
  • Sinclair, S., & Rockwell, G. (2012). Teaching Computer-Assisted Text Analysis: Approaches to Learning New Methodologies. Digital Humanities Pedagogy: Practices, Principles, and Politics. Ed. Brett D. Hirsch. Cambridge: Open Book, 241-63.
  • Wang, C. M., & Reeves, T. C. (2007). Synchronous online learning experiences: The perspectives of international students from Taiwan. Educational Media International, 44(4), 339-356.
  • Wen-chi, V. W., Yen, L. L., & Marek, M. (2011). Using online EFL interaction to increase confidence, motivation, and ability. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 14(3), 118.
  • Yang, S. C., & Chen, Y. J. (2007). Technology-enhanced language learning: A case study. Computers in human behavior, 23(1), 860-879.
LICENSE
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.