미국동료들과의 원격협력학습을 통한 한국 초등학생들의 상호문화간 의사소통 능력의 향상

Development of Korean Elementary School Students’ Intercultural Communicative Competence through Telecollaboration with American Peers.

The purpose of the study is to investigate effects of asynchronous telecollaboration with American peers on Korean elementary school students’ intercultural communicative competence(ICC) and their perception of the asynchronous telecollaboration. A total of 32 elementary school students of grade six divided into two groups, a control group of 16 students and an experimental group of 16 students, participated in the study. All participants’ ICC levels were valuated with 21 questions based on Fantini’s ICC assessment scale before and after the telecollaborative learning with American peers. While telecollaborating with 28 American peers of grade five, the experimental group shared information on 8 different topics for two academic semesters. On the completion of collaborating with their American peers, the experimental group was only expected to answer the 20 questions related to the experience on the telecollaboration with American peers. The study found that (1) the elementary school students benefit from asynchronous telecollaboration with American peers in developing their ICC, (2) especially, the telecollaboration is of a great use in developing their knowledge and awareness of other culture, and (3) the students perceived the experience of telecollaboration to be an effective learning in terms of satisfaction, understanding, and concentration on class. At last, the implication and the study limitations were given.