1) The document describes a study that analyzed the development of intercultural competence in students participating in an online exchange project between secondary schools in Spain and France. 2) By coding student blog posts, forum discussions and diaries according to Byram's model of intercultural competence, the study found evidence of most categories, with the greatest number in interest in other cultures and knowledge of own/other cultures. 3) The ability to change perspective was the least demonstrated category, showing this aspect is more difficult to develop online than gaining cultural knowledge or interest in other cultures.

1. Development of
intercultural competence
in students of secondary
school: an eTwinning
project of
telecollaboration
PhD, UAM, Madrid
e Tw i n n i n g An n u a l C o n f e r e n c e -
M a l t a 2 0 1 7
E s t í b a l i z d e M i g u e l Va l l é s , E s p a ñ a
@ e s t i b a l i z 4 3
Page 1

2. Globalization
Education
Page 2
Intercultural
communicative
Competence
(ICC)
Information
and communications
hnology(ICT)
Living in this era of globalization
requires of all individuals more
diverse competencies and, currently,
requires the educational system to
focus on teaching students the skills
necessary for successfully mastering
the demands of this new and ever-

3. Collaboration on line has shown
its potential to stimulate
students’ intercultural
competence (Liaw, 2006; Vogt,
2006; Shenker, 2012; Vinagre,
2016).
Page 3
“It is through intercultural
competence that individuals
manage to function effectively
and successfully within their
culture and within other
cultures” (Vinagre, 2016)Intercultural awarness is one of
the less assessed key competence
for life-long learning (European
Comission’s repot on Education
and Training, 2010)

4. A contribution to the field (O’Dowd, 2003; Liaw, 2006;
Schenker, 2012; Vogt, 2006 y Vinagre 2016) through the
findings with:
- a larger number of participants;
- French as a Foreign Language;
- an eTwinning model;
- a combination of instruments
Objective 1:
Analyse the students’ development of ICC
in an eTwinning project
Page 4

5. Research Questions
What traces of the
different
categories of
Byram’s
(1997;2000)
model of ICC were
found in an online
exchange among
secondary school
students who
collaborated in an
e-Twinning
project?
If the answer to
the first research
question is
affirmative,
which categories
were more or
less present in
the student’s
production?
Is there a
difference
between the
findings in this
research and
the ones in
previous studies
(Liaw,2006;
O’Dowd,2003;
Shenker,2012;
Vinagre, 2016 y
Vogt, 2006; )?
(RQ1)
First
Research
Question
(RQ2)
Second
Research
Question
(RQ3)
Third
Research
Question
Page 5

6. eTwinning project:
Prêts pour un Erasmus
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
Category 1 Category 2 Category 3
Page 6
Secondary Schools involved: Juan de
Mairena, Madrid, Spain, and Georges
Imbert, Sarre-Union, France.
Period of time: one semester of the
academic year 2015-2016.
40 participants: 18 French students
/ 21 Spanish students

7. Page 7
The students worked together in
small groups in the TwinSpace,
exchanging personal and socio-
cultural information and corrections
about each other’s language (Spanish
and French) in discussion forums
with the aim to improve their
intercultural competence.

8. Tasks
Page 8

9. Byram’s (2000:4) model of
ICC
Page 9
Category A. Interest in knowing other people’s
way of life and introducing one’s own culture to
others
Category B. Ability to change perspective
Category C. Knowledge about one’s own and
others’ culture for intercultural communication
Category D. Knowledge about the intercultural
communication process

10. Examples of the Assessment
of ICC entries
Page 10

11. Page 11
Results of the Spanish students’
entries in the e-forums, blogs and
journals by category
The category B “ability to change
perspective” was the one with the
least number of entries.

12. Page 12
Results of the French students’
entries in the e-forums, blogs and
journals by category
The category B “ability to change
perspective” was the one with the
least number of entries.

13. Page 13
Results of the French and the Spanish
students’ entries in the e-forums,
blogs and journals by category
The category B “ability to change
perspective” was the one with the
least number of entries.

14. Conclusions
Page 14
RQ1: What traces of the different categories of
Byram’s (1997;2000) model of ICC were found in an
online exchange among secondary school students
who collaborated in an e-Twinning project?
After analysing the blogs, e-forums and
diaries we found traces of all the ICC
categories.
The number of evidences changes
reasonably according to the task developed
in each of the instruments used.

15. Page 15
There is an important difference between the
number of evidences found in Category A (i.e.
İnterest in knowing other people’s way of life
and introducing one’s own culture to others)
and Category C (i.e. Knowledge about one’s
own and others’ culture compared to Category
D (i.e., knowledge about intercultural
communication processes) and category B
(i.e., ability to change perspective)
Category A (1672, 64,18%). Forums (1628,
62,5%) y journals (34, 1,3%).
Category C (888,34,09%). Forums (832,
31,9%) and blogs (51,2%).
Category D (30, 1,15% ).
Diaries
Category B(15, 0,58%)
Blogs
RQ2: If the answer to the first research question is
affirmative, which categories were more or less
present in the student’s production?

16. O’Dowd (2003):
• there are evidences of the component b “ability
to change perspective”, Byram’s (1997) model of
ICC
Page 16
Vogt (2006):
• İt is not possible to measure attitudes with
the instruments described.
The findings from this study compared to recent studies said that:
Liaw (2006):
• this type of learning environment is conducive to the
development of knowledge and attitudes of intercultural
competence, but not necessarily to the development of
empathy and (meta)intercultural skills.
Shenker (2012):
• web found traces of the ICC objectives of
Byram’s (1997;2000) model of ICC
Vinagre (2016):
• web found traces of the ICC objectives of
Byram’s (1997;2000) model of ICC, an small
number of evidence from Category D and almost
none fron Category B.
RQ3: Is there a difference between the findings
from this research and the ones in previous
studies (Liaw,2006; O’Dowd,2003; Shenker,2012;
Vinagre, 2016 y Vogt, 2006; )?

17. Page 17
The findings of this
research will be part of
the TELNETCOM
project
(UAM, Madrid)

18. Page 18
Thank you very much
for listening