This document discusses the #CulturaTándem project, which pairs students from different cultural backgrounds and locations for online research collaboration. The project aims to develop students' linguistic skills, intercultural competence, and digital and professional skills. Students work in cross-cultural "tandems" to research topics like ecotourism, indigenous peoples, and marketing. Survey results found that students improved research skills by investigating topics scientifically with a partner, exchanging information regularly in a foreign language, and incorporating different cultural perspectives. Working with an unknown partner from another culture and location helped students learn to accept different opinions, find common ground beyond borders, and appreciate openness to new ideas.

1. #CulturaTándem
Research and
citizenship
through online
collaboration
Lallana & Salamanca
Krakow April 25th, 2018

2. 3
Higher Education environment

3. Telecollaboration in HE
‘The future belongs to those who learn to work or team together with other
groups without regard to location, heritage, national and cultural difference’
(Grandin and Hedderich, 2009: 36)
• linguistic skills and intercultural communicative competence
• internationalism: prepare - replace - extend
• digital competences and professional skills
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4. #CulturaTándem
Participants Profile
• Studies
• Languages
• Experiences
Objectives
• Teachers’
• Students’
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Lallana, A & Salamanca, P (2017)
Virtual collaboration for the development of multilingual,
intercultural and professional competences through research in
tandems

5. 6
Lallana, A & Salamanca, P (2017)

6. Project
description
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Lallana, A & Salamanca, P (2017)

7. #CulturaTándem and Research
1. Advertising BMW online for the Latin American and German markets
2. Consequences of mass tourism (‘turismo basura’) for destination cities
(e.g. Barcelona, ​​Mallorca)
3. The role of indigenous people in ecotourism in Latin America
4. Spanglish in the US, identity and marketing
5. Quinoa and its discovery in the global north: superfood or super
marketing?
6. Social challenges of MNCs in developing countries: Benetton and the
Chilean mapuches
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8. 10Survey data, 2018, Lallana & Salamanca
Which of these skills have you practiced most?
Research skills

9. Collaborating for research
Covering an unknown topic in a
scientific manner;(...)
investigating and searching for
specific information on the
internet; simplifying and
reformulating information in
your own words [in a foreign
language]; and all the time
exchanging meaningful
information with my partner
regularly
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The biggest advantage of [researching] as a team and
with people from a different culture is that everyone can
contribute their ideas and points of view. This greatly
enriches the project and the result will be more varied,
because each person contributes to the project.
Two collaborators can reach more
than an individual person because
there is a greater source of
knowledge
“But it is not the same to complete a uni project on
your own, or even as a member of a ‘physical’ groups
that can meet face-to-face than researching with
someone you’ve never met in another location and at
the other end of your mobile phone or laptop”.

10. Collaborative task types
12
no longer language learners
nor language users but
researchers in the language
Based on O'Dowd & Waire (2009)

11. #CulturaTándem with unknown others
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Working with a person
we do not know is a
very different thing learn to work well with
others, to work with
strangers
we learned to know each
other and work together
when we did not know
anything about each other
learn how to get along
with people accept different opinions
A ‘third space’ (Guarda, 2013: 428), a space that “enable[s] the exchange
participants to feel part of a common group which transcend[s] the national and
cultural borders of the countries they belonged to”.

12. A transferable experience…. need to be open
and willing to work
on something that
was not my initial
idea
…. always very open to
new ideas and proposals
from the other
… we just had to find a
way to work together, not
only the topic, but the work
system.
Each had its own
rhythm…..we had to trust
that the other person did
his part
sometimes we misunderstood
each other ... when we realized the
misunderstanding, we apologize
both
… motivation to do my job
very well because I did not
want to disappoint my
partner
...difficult to (…) express, that we
do not agree with something.
Since we did not know each other,
we did not want to show
disrespect towards the other
person. Over time became easier.
“bad conscience for having
hindered the positive
experience of the other
tandem member in this
project"

13. Telecollaboration
● contributes towards the development
of shared ‘spaces’ indispensable for
cooperation
● enhances our capacity to transcend
own in-groups to create a new one
capitalizing on synergies and
differences
● is a suitable vehicle for the
development of global citizenship
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14. References
• Guarda, M. (2013): Negotiating a transcultural place in an English as a lingua franca telecollaboration
exchange. Unpublished PhD thesis. See http://paduaresearch.cab.unipd.it/5337/1/guarda_marta_tesi.pdf.
Last accessed 13 October 2017.
• Helm, F. (2015): The practices and challenges of telecollaboration in higher education in Europe. Language
Learning & Technology, 19(2), 197–217. Last accessed 13 October
2017.http://llt.msu.edu/issues/june2015/helm.pdf Last accessed 14 April 2018.
• Lallana, A. & Salamanca, P. (2017): #CulturaTándem, preparing students for today's multicultural societies.
A virtual exchange between the Regent’s University London and the University of Applied Languages SDI
Munich. En: Gross-Dinter, Ursula, Feuser, Florian y Ramos Méndez-Sahlender, Carmen (eds.): Zum Umgang
mit Migration, Zwischen Empörungsmodus und Lösungsorientierung. Transcript: Múnich.
• Lewis, T & O’Dowd, R (eds.) (2017): Online intercultural exchange, Policy, Pedagogy, Practice. Routledge:
UK.
• O'Dowd, R. & Waire, P. (2009) Critical issues in telecollaborative task design, Computer Assisted Language
Learning, 22: 2, 173-188, DOI: 10.1080/09588220902778369  
• UNESCO, Viewpoint (2015): How to foster global citizenship through education. See
http://en.unesco.org/news/global-citizenship-education-all-oneadvocate-s-story-0. Last accessed 4
November 2016

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© Lallana & Salamanca, 2017