e-learning through digital theatre : breaking down the tyranny of distance and limits of location

In this article, we report on a cross-disciplinary, cross-cultural digital exchange project between Australian Drama and Education students and Dutch English Language and Culture students, and examine the impact of the place-independent, technology-mediated communications and collaboration on their learning trajectories. The intensive, intercultural collaboration between the two groups of students resulted in a 50-minute group-devised, digital theatre play entitled Quarter Acre Dreaming. This play, performed through live interactive media by both Dutch and Australian students, traced the historical development of the Australian suburb, while integrating scenes of Dutch immigration into Australia. In the creative process, the students on either side of the globe interacted through Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC), and used videoconferencing and Skype for live rehearsals and discussions to advance their learning of English, their performance repertoire and cross-cultural understanding

Towards a Comprehensive Model of Negotiated Interaction in Computer-mediated Communication

In this paper we explore and identify emerging patterns of synchronous digital discourse trajectories between dyads of native (NS) and non-native speakers (NNS), with a particular focus on (absence of) negotiated interaction. We will present a new model of L2 learning interaction that is a schematic representation of two main types of hearer response that have been found after a trigger of non- understanding: Task-appropriate response (TAR) and face-appropriate response (FAR). In addition, we outline five different discourse trajectories. The model we propose is based on data derived from interactive task performances of groups of Dutch and Australian students in two telecollaboration projects. The discourse trajectories represented in our model provide us with useful insights into the complexities of digital interaction in an L2-learning environment and show that NNS-NS communication is more complex than traditional negotiation of meaning models suggest. We expect our model to contribute to a better understanding of L2 learning processes related to interaction in digital settings