Interactive Learning Between Chinese Students Learning English and English Students Leaning Chinese on the Platform of Wiki

This research investigates the interaction between English students learning Chinese in the UK and Chinese students learning English in China via a wiki platform. Activity theory and legitimate peripheral participation theory were employed as a theoretical framework; wiki was embedded as an interactive learning tool. The findings revealed that Chinese native speakers assisted English students learning Chinese as foreign language CFL by means of reorganizing word orders and restructuring sentence patterns. The usages of clarification and elaboration were more frequent than the usages of added and deleted information. Both CFL and English as foreign language EFL students interacted with each other in attending to language forms through the essay correction and revision process, and the interaction consequently enhanced their target language learning. The study suggests that wiki provides a dynamic platform, which encourages further integration into the syllabus to support foreign language learning.

[1]  Kevin Oliver,et al.  Leveraging Web 2.0 in the Redesign of a Graduate-Level Technology Integration Course , 2007 .

[2]  Klaus Schwienhorst.  Neither Here Nor There? Learner Autonomy and Intercultural Factors in CALL Environments , 2003 .

[3]  Rodney H. Jones,et al.  Interactional dynamics in on-line and face-to-face peer-tutoring sessions for second language writers , 2006 .

[4]  A. Astin.  What matters in college? : four critical years revisited , 1994 .

[5]  C. Schunn,et al.  Commenting on Writing , 2006 .

[6]  S. Thorne,et al.  Internet-mediated intercultural foreign language education , 2006 .

[7]  Jonathan Leakey,et al.  Told Like It Is! An Evaluation of an Integrated Oral Development Pilot Project , 2005 .

[8]  Christopher Blake.  Potential of Text-Based Internet Chats for Improving Oral Fluency in a Second Language. , 2009 .

[9]  Andreas Lund,et al.  Wikis: a collective approach to language production , 2008, ReCALL.

[10]  Paige Ware,et al.  Confidence and competition online: ESL student perspectives on web-based discussions in the classroom , 2004 .

[11]  Randall W. Sadler,et al.  The effect and affect of peer review in electronic versus traditional modes on L2 writing , 2003 .

[12]  Olga S. Villamil,et al.  Activating the ZPD: Mutual Scaffolding in L2 Peer Revision , 2000 .

[13]  Michael F. Young,et al.  Attitude and Self-Efficacy Change: English Language Learning in Virtual Worlds , 2009 .

[14]  Dawn Bikowski,et al.  Developing collaborative autonomous learning abilities in computer mediated language learning: attention to meaning among students in wiki space , 2010 .

[15]  Steve Wheeler,et al.  The good, the bad and the wiki: Evaluating student-generated content for collaborative learning , 2008, Br. J. Educ. Technol..

[16]  Vetta Vratulis,et al.  Social negotiations in a wiki environment: a case study with pre‐service teachers , 2008 .

[17]  Robin Mason,et al.  e-Learning and Social Networking Handbook: Resources for Higher Education , 2008 .

[18]  Nike Arnold,et al.  Future Foreign Language Teachers' Social and Cognitive Collaboration in an Online Environment , 2006 .

[19]  Y. Engeström,et al.  Activity theory and individual and social transformation. , 1999 .

[20]  Eric M. Meyers,et al.  From activity to learning: using cultural historical activity theory to model school library programmes and practices , 2007, Inf. Res..

[21]  Michael H. Long.  INPUT, INTERACTION, AND SECOND‐LANGUAGE ACQUISITION , 1981 .

[22]  Phil Benson,et al.  Teaching and Researching: Autonomy in Language Learning , 2001 .

[23]  Lina Lee,et al.  Synchronous online exchanges: a study of modification devices on non-native discourse , 2002 .

[24]  P. Anderson.  What is Web 2.0? Ideas, technologies and implications for education , 2007 .

[25]  Tim Barlow.  Web 2.0: Creating a Classroom without Walls. , 2008 .

[26]  Guglielmo Trentin,et al.  Using a wiki to evaluate individual contribution to a collaborative learning project , 2009, J. Comput. Assist. Learn..

[27]  L. Vygotsky.  Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes: Harvard University Press , 1978 .

[28]  D. McConnell.  E-Learning Groups and Communities , 2006 .

[29]  Greg Kessler,et al.  Student-Initiated Attention to Form in Wiki-Based Collaborative Writing. , 2009 .

[30]  J. Holmes,et al.  The Community of Practice: Theories and methodologies in language and gender research , 1999, Language in Society.

[31]  Raffaella Negretti,et al.  Web-based Activities and SLA: A Conversation Analysis Research Approach , 1999 .

[32]  David Self.  Audio or Visual ?: Some Thoughts on the Motivation of Children's Writing , 1969 .

[33]  Rebecca Wilson Lundin,et al.  Teaching with Wikis: Toward a Networked Pedagogy , 2008 .

[34]  Mark Endean,et al.  Team project work for distance learners in engineering – challenges and benefits , 2008 .

[35]  Bob Goodwin-Jones,et al.  Blogs and Wikis: Environments for On-Line Collaboration. , 2003 .

[36]  Robert J. Blake,et al.  Computer Mediated Communication: A Window on L2 Spanish Interlanguage , 2000 .

[37]  Susana M. Sotillo.  Discourse Functions and Syntactic Complexity in Synchronous and Asynchronous Communication , 2000 .

[38]  R. Light,et al.  Making the Most of College: Students Speak Their Minds , 2001 .

[39]  Robert N. St.  Social Scripts and the Three Theoretical Approaches to Culture , 2008 .

[40]  M. Swain.  Three functions of output in second language learning , 1995 .

[41]  Mike Levy.  CULTURE, CULTURE LEARNING AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES: TOWARDS A PEDAGOGICAL FRAMEWORK , 2007 .

[42]  Mark J. W. Lee,et al.  Social software and participatory learning: Pedagogical choices with technology affordances in the Web 2.0 era , 2007 .

[43]  F. Blackler.  Knowledge, Knowledge Work and Organizations: An Overview and Interpretation , 1995 .

[44]  Elaine DiGiovanni,et al.  Online Peer Review: An Alternative to Face-to-Face? , 2001 .

[45]  Xuesong Gao.  The ‘English corner’ as an out-of-class learning activity , 2008 .

[46]  Robert Vanderplank,et al.  Déjà vu? A decade of research on language laboratories, television and video in language learning , 2009, Language Teaching.

[47]  Rachel Lindner.  ESAP Students' Perceptions of Skills Learning in Computer-Mediated Intercultural Collaboration , 2011, Int. J. Comput. Assist. Lang. Learn. Teach..

[48]  Bin Zou.  Explorations of Language Teaching and Learning with Computational Assistance , 2012 .

[49]  Etienne Wenger,et al.  Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation , 1991 .

[50]  Shane Dawson,et al.  'Seeing' the learning community: An exploration of the development of a resource for monitoring online student networking , 2010, Br. J. Educ. Technol..

[51]  Michael Fitze,et al.  DISCOURSE AND PARTICIPATION IN ESL FACE-TO-FACE AND WRITTEN ELECTRONIC CONFERENCES , 2006 .