El efecto del uso de telecolaboración en la motivación de los alumnos: un estudio de caso

Abstract

This thesis presents a case study that examines the effect of telecollaboration (videocommunication) on students’ motivation to learn Spanish. To obtain data for this study, a telecollaboration project between a Dutch and a Spanish secondary school was set up. To measure motivation, the three Dutch students have filled in pre-, mid- and post-questionnaires prior and after the video calls. Also, they have been interviewed before and after the project. The questionnaires and the interviews asked for the students’ attitudes and opinions about the following topics: the learning situation, the desire to learn Spanish, acquiring Spanish, the Spanish-speaking community and intercultural communication. An analysis of the results shows that telecollaboration has a positive effect on the attitudes towards all topics and, therefore, on the students’ motivation to learn Spanish. The reasons the students give for this outcome is that they consider telecolaboration as more useful, instructive and amusing than ‘traditional’ classes. Since the organization of a telecollaboration project is quite complex, and because this is a reason for a lot of foreign language teachers for not implementing telecollaboration in their curriculum, although it can be a very effective method, we designed a manual for teachers who want to set up their own project. This manual shows how to set up a telecollaboration project effectively. It shows the tasks of the telecollaborative teacher and also the characteristics he/she needs. After that, a clear step-by-step plan is presented which shows how to set up a telecollaboration project. Finally, attention is paid to potential problems that may arise during (the organisation of) a telecollaboration project. Together with this, advice is given about how to avoid these problems.