The Teacher’s Role in Telecollaborative Language Learning: The Case of Institutional Integrated Teletandem

Abstract

ABSTRACT Teletandeem is a model of telecollaboration in which pairs of speakers of different languages meet virtually and regularly in order to learn each other’s language. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the pedagogical implications of integrating teletandem into the foreign language syllabus, focusing on the professor’s dual role: teaching English in regular face-to-face lessons and mediating virtual autonomous and collaborative learning in teletandem. Learning diaries, produced by EFL students from a Language Teacher Education course, were collected during eight weeks of an institutional integrated teletandem project between a Brazilian and a British university. Our analysis focused on the teacher’s role in mediating foreign language learning both in the classroom and through the learning diaries. We present evidence on what the professor does so that teletandem practice can contribute to language learning in the classroom and, by the same token, how EFL lessons can aid in autonomous telecollaborative learning.