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September 30, 1999: This message was distributed by Papyrus News, a free e-mail distribution list on the global impact of information technology on language, literacy, and education. Feel free to forward this message to others, but please include this introductory paragraph. For information on subscribing or unsubscribing to Papyrus News see http://www.lll.hawaii.edu/web/faculty/markw/papyrus-news.html.
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People often ask if student use of online communication will result in informal chatty language use rather than skilled writing and communication. I usually respond that it depends on how the online work is organized by the teacher. I think informal communication has its role, but that the best online projects should result in critical, thougthful high-quality products that students share in online forums.
This article by Richard Kern discusses an e-mail exchange project between students in the US and France. I think the project is interesting both because of the formal writing assignments it resulted in, and also because of the critical, cross-cultural analysis that was involved in the process.
This article was originally published three years ago in a book I edited. I recently put it into ASCII text to share with a colleague, and I thought I'd take the opportunity to share it here as well.
Mark
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Reprinted with permission of author and publisher. Please cite as:
Kern, R. (1996). Computer-mediated communication: Using e-mail exchanges to explore personal histories in two cultures. In M. Warschauer (Ed.), _Telecollaboration in foreign language learning_ (pp. 105-119). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i Second Language Teaching and Curriculum Center.
Computer-Mediated Communication: Using E-Mail Exchanges to Explore Personal Histories in Two Cultures by Richard Kern, UC Berkeley
Abstract
Recently electronic mail (e-mail) has been increasingly used to promote language learning and cultural awareness through international communication. This paper presents a rationale for establishing content-based e-mail exchanges with peers from different countries, and cites examples of existing e-mail projects. The particular focus is an ongoing project designed to promote the learning of language, history, and culture through written dialogue between students in an elementary French class at the University of California at Berkeley and students in a history class at the Lycee Frederick Mistral in Fresnes, France. The principle topic of the exchange is family histories and how they intersect with history. A sample exchange between two students is discussed in detail, and future directions for the project are described. The paper stresses the primary importance of the teacher in organizing coherent and meaningful e-mail projects, to stimulate student motivation and to avoid superficial exchanges.
Introduction
The use of computers for interpersonal communication is a relatively recent phenomenon. Computer networks offer the promise of increasing student-student and student-teacher interactions not only locally but also globally, through resources such as the World Wide Web, newsgroups, electronic conferencing, and electronic mail (e-mail). Whereas foreign language students have traditionally been limited to fifty minutes of daily classroom interaction, they can now consult with one another and their teacher out of class. Moreover, they can interact with peers around the world whose language they are studying. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, I will discuss some of the merits and limitations of e-mail exchanges in language learning contexts, drawing on sociocultural theory to illuminate the potential benefits of computer-mediated communication for foreign language learning. Second, I will present a number of examples of e-mail projects in foreign language classrooms, focusing on one project that promotes learning of language, history, and culture through written dialogue between students in an elementary French class at Berkeley and a history class in a French high school.
Background
The idea of pen pal correspondence is familiar to most teachers. Students in a particular classroom write letters to partners in another, usually distant, classroom to exchange views on topics of common interest. Pen pal exchanges are common in a wide range of content areas (see, for example, Thompson's [1994] account of linking high school and college chemistry students), and they are particularly well suited to fostering cultural and linguistic awareness among foreign language students (Avots, 1991; Cononelos & Oliva, 1993; Hubatsch & Hofmann, 1994; Lunde, 1990; Sanaoui & Lapkin, 1992; Underwood, 1987). By writing to foreign peers, and reading their responses, language learners can glimpse other ways of seeing the world. Cultural perspectives sometimes converge and sometimes diverge in unexpected ways. Particular language structures and usages that seemed strange or arbitrary when studied from a textbook suddenly make sense in the context of meaningful interpersonal communication.
Despite their potential for expanding linguistic and cultural learning, pen pal exchanges have only rarely been a component of foreign language programs. In the past, the high cost of international mail, lengthy delivery lags, and teachers' difficulty in finding writing partners for their students were major obstacles. Use of e-mail over wide area networks, such as the Internet, reduces cost significantly, especially in colleges and universities that have direct connections to the Internet.1 Speed is another important advantage of e-mail communication: messages usually arrive in a matter of minutes and, at most, a couple of hours. Even finding pen pals can be facilitated by electronic communication. Specialized newsgroups and lists (such as The International E-Mail Classroom Connections list) serve as meeting places for teachers seeking partner classes for cross-cultural e-mail exchanges.2
E-mail does not, however, resolve all problems associated with pen pal exchanges. Differing class sizes can make pairing of partners difficult. Incommensurate language abilities in the two groups of students can lessen student motivation and make communication difficult. Student enthusiasm can rapidly wane after students' initial messages, when students often feel they have run out of things to say to their pen pal. Finally, and perhaps most problematic in the context of language learning, the ease and rapidity of e-mail exchange can lead to facile, glib communication-students' messages can remain perennially brief and chatty, with little development and elaboration of language or thought.
Consequently, educators now commonly advocate class exchanges, rather than individual pen pal exchanges, with focused, content-based curricular objectives (e.g., Avots, 1991) . Involving the whole class not only sidesteps the problems of unequal class sizes and differences in individual students' language ability but also promotes collaborative interaction within, as well as between, each of the participating classes. As Avots points out: "Writing one class to another, or one group within a class to another, allows students to interact with each other, to formulate ideas using the target language, and to practice peer editing skills" (p. 135). Avots also stresses the importance of providing specific guidelines to structure the ongoing correspondence. She proposes that teachers who organize electronic projects (1) set clear, curriculum-based objectives; (2) establish a time line with a definite ending; (3) respect the needs of members of the partner classroom, being sensitive to cultural differences; (4) involve students in the technology; (5) remain flexible; and (6) evaluate the outcome, involving students in the evaluation process (Avots, 1991) , p. 129.
Before describing a number of projects that provide such a structured approach, I will sketch a brief theoretical rationale for involving foreign language students in e-mail exchanges.
Learning Through Social Dialogue
According to the Russian psychologist Vygotsky (1978) , all learning is inherently social in nature. His theory of the zone of proximal development posits that learners benefit most from social interactions concerning tasks that they cannot do alone but can do in collaboration with more knowledgeable or more experienced individuals (p. 86). Like Vygotsky, Bakhtin (1986) recognized the fundamental importance of social interactions to thought and language: "Šour thought itself-philosophical, scientific, and artistic-is born and shaped in the process of interaction and struggle with others' thought, and this cannot but be reflected in the forms that verbally express our thought as well" (1986, p. 92) . For Bakhtin, all speech and writing is dialogical, and utterances (including writing) are constructed on the basis of the speaker/writer's past interactions with the thoughts of others and in anticipation of a responsive reaction from some specific or generalized other. The actual meaning of an utterance, therefore, "is understood against the background of other concrete utterances on the same theme, a background made up of contradictory opinions, points of view and value judgments" (1981 , p. 281).
Vygotsky's and Bakhtin's theories, by highlighting the importance of social interaction in understanding and learning, can help us to reconceptualize the role of computers in language teaching. Traditionally, computers have been used as a kind of substitute for the teacher, providing drills, tutorials, reference material, and corrective feedback. Cole and Griffin (1987) attribute such uses of computers to what they call the "computer as agent" metaphor, in which the computer-student interactive system is viewed as analogous to the teacher-student system. In this metaphor the learner has a one-on-one relationship with the computer. Human interaction is at best only simulated, and is limited to preprogrammed algorithms.
Cole and Griffin propose a second metaphor, which they call "computer as medium," in which computers do not replace people, but reorganize interactions among people. Computers are viewed as a means to connect with other individuals, with outside worlds. According to Cole and Griffin, "This metaphor emphasizes the potential of computers for reorganizing instruction within the classroom and for making possible the extension of education beyond the classroom" (p. 45).
One consequence of the current transition from a "computer as agent" metaphor to a "computer as medium" metaphor is a shift in the learner's stance from a primarily consultative mode (i.e., using a finite and authoritative informational base in order to carry out stipulated language-related tasks) to a communicative mode, in which learners interact, ask questions, provide explanations, compare interpretations, and work collaboratively with teachers, fellow students, and peers in other parts of the world toward mutual understanding. In Bakhtin's terms, they collaboratively produce the matrices of "contradictory opinions, points of view and value judgments" that make interpretation of meaning possible.
Another consequence is a shift in the role of the teacher, who, rather than delegating to the computer certain aspects of language instruction (e.g., drills and practice), becomes an integral participant in students' computer-mediated communication and learning. Teachers and learners use the computer as an additional channel through which to communicate-collectively and/or individually. Far from being "replaced" by the computer, teachers provide a scaffold for their students' learning with their own knowledge and experience-even when they are not immediately involved in a communicative exchange. As Linn (1994) points out, by discussing students' exchanges with them, teachers can guide students to appropriate understandings rather than letting them wander too far down unproductive paths (p. 11).
Examples of computer-mediated communication projects
An increasing number of foreign language educators are adopting the "computer as medium" metaphor in their use of technology. For example, Lunde (1990) offered students in a Japanese composition course the option of writing e-mail letters to native speakers at the University of Tokyo. Students who participated in the e-mail exchange "displayed marked improvement in their character production, reading comprehension, and word processing skills in their target language" (p. 76). Sanaoui and Lapkin (1992) , in a content-based course designed to promote French writing skills through culturally-relevant topics, connected high school students of French in Toronto with native speakers in Montreal. The anglophone students not only improved their French but also broadened their cultural awareness and assumed increased responsibility for their own learning.
Barson (1991) described a telecommunications project between two French classes at Stanford and Harvard. The two classes worked collaboratively to produce a newspaper: Le Pont Français. This cooperative venture involved using e-mail to communicate about various aspects of the project-from making editorial decisions to co-authoring articles. Barson cited collaboration with peers, involvement in meaningful activity, and insight into the writing process as important benefits to the students who participated in this project. Contrasting the dynamics of corrective feedback in e-mail exchanges versus in language classroom, Barson writes:
"The focus is shifted from "you did this wrong" to "you can do this better" with some help from the teacher, from friends, or on your own, or from the crisscrossing sectors of the electronic classroom community, made possible by the instrumentality of the computer" (p. 369).
Bee-Lay and Yee-Ping (1991) linked EFL students in Singapore and ESL students in Quebec, using fax machines for exchanging graphics and e-mail for exchanging text. Each class read two stories: one literary text from each culture. After reading each of the two texts, each group discussed issues raised in the stories (e.g., peer and parental pressure, cultural attitudes toward marriage, sex discrimination). They then prepared background material for their own stories (e.g., maps, explanations of Chinese names, Hindu offerings to the dead, the roles of fathers, etc.) and expressed in writing their reactions and responses to the readings (e.g., by writing essays, poems, small plays, debating points). Students from each group responded to the other group's reactions, interpretations, and questions. These responses were then discussed by the receiving group of students. The authors reported that students "learnt to look at and assess their work and the work of others from different perspectives;Š gained a rich insight into each other's lives and the culture of their respective countries;Š [and] gained a better understanding of the use of the computer as a communicative as well as a learning tool" (p. 288).
Cononelos and Oliva (1993) reported on a content-based course on contemporary issues in Italian culture in which advanced-level students discussed cultural issues with native speakers via the Internet. After doing background reading on social and political aspects of modern Italy, students were required to post three messages per week to an Italian newsgroup. Students were then required to reply to each response they received (an average of three per posting). They had the option of consulting with their teacher before posting messages or replying to responses. Cononelos and Oliva reported, however, that students often relied on one another, rather than the teacher, for feedback: "Although there was no formal peer-review procedure, students often asked each other for comments on their writing and discussed the "conversations" that were developing between themselves and their interlocutors" (p. 530). Responding to a questionnaire at the end of the course, the six students were enthusiastic, reporting greater confidence in their use of Italian and better writing skills as a consequence of their electronic exchanges.
In an ongoing project, Mark Mullen, at the University of California at Irvine, has created a composition course on argument and research called "Borders and Boundaries." The aim of the course is to present argument and research as techniques for negotiating and mediating the boundary areas between individuals, social groups, cultures, and nations. He has established a listserv discussion group to facilitate discussion between his students and classrooms overseas to get his students to think beyond their own local contexts. Topics in Mullen's course include: bodily limits, cultural and political borders, and intellectual and interpersonal boundaries. Students analyze how border definitions construct identities, communities, and modes of thought. In their writing assignments they explore the limits of their own position through research and argumentation.3
In the rest of this paper I will describe a content-based e-mail project designed to structure and develop cross-cultural dialogue between a group of French students at Berkeley with a group of high school students in France. Because this project is currently in progress, my discussion will be descriptive, focusing on an interchange between two of the students involved.
Family Histories and History:
Comparing stories from France and Berkeley
In the spring semester of 1995 my elementary (second semester) French class began an e-mail correspondence with a group of students from the Lycee Frederic Mistral in Fresnes, France. Earlier that year the French lyceens had published a book entitled L'Histoire, mon histoire, which was awarded the "Memories of Immigration" prize by the Foundation for Republican Integration in France. Their book was composed of individual responses to a question put to them by their history teacher, Sabine Contrepois: "In what way has your family been touched by history?" Because many of the students were members of immigrant families, their stories dealt with wars in Armenia, Spain, Algeria, Angola, Vietnam and the former Yugoslavia; repression in Poland, Portugal and Cameroon; colonization in Mali; slavery in the Antilles; political upheaval in Haiti; and resistance movements in Europe. Madame Contrepois' goal was to approach the study of history from a personal perspective, to illuminate the diversity of the students' cultural and historical backgrounds, and to give public voice to a traditionally disenfranchised class of young people. Their achievement was reported in numerous French newspapers, on national television, and in the New York Times (Riding, 1994) .
I contacted Madame Contrepois and proposed an e-mail exchange between her students and my French students at Berkeley. Like her students, mine were of diverse backgrounds and origins. How might their family experiences of immigration and acculturation be similar? how might they be different?
We began by reading the stories published in L'Histoire, mon histoire. My students watched segments of a video of the students' appearance on La Grande Famille, a French television show, to see and hear the young authors discuss their stories orally. My students then wrote their own accounts of how their own family histories intersected with history, and their essays were sent via e-mail to France. Both groups then freely exchanged questions, responses, and comments.
In order to help our students get to know each other in more general terms, we also asked both groups of students to respond to four questions: Who am I? What does Berkeley represent to me? What do I expect from this correspondence? Why did I pick the particular story that I told and not another one?
Exchanging stories: Julie and Carl
The following exchange took place between Carl, a nineteen-year-old sophomore majoring in American history at Berkeley, and Julie, a nineteen-year-old lyceenne studying for her brevet d'etudes professionelles (vocational certificate) in Fresnes. Julie was one of six students from the Lycee who introduced themselves via e-mail to our class. Her self- introduction, written in English, was as follows: Let me introduce myself: I am Julie L'Hote. I have just celebrated my nineteenth birthday. I am now in the second year of the two year course preparing a brevet which mainly deals with the sales techniques. My school is the "lycee de Fresnes". I live in Fresnes which is located south of the Paris area, in a flat, with my parents and my younger brother. I am very happy and moved at starting exchanging letters with students of one of the greatest universities in the States. I hope our letters will allow us to learn a lot about our differences and to know one another better and to come to an understanding. My text is called "la dechirure" because I tell about my father and my family coming to France after being born and growing up in Algeria. My words convey the sadness they felt when they had to go that heartrending period of their lives. I hope I will hear from you soon. I asked a group of students to read the essay that Julie had written for L'Histoire, mon histoire, and to respond to Julie via e-mail. Her story, in which she tells of her family's uneasy repatriation in France after the French-Algerian War, was accompanied by a color photocopy of her father's Algerian elementary school certificate, dated 1958.
LA DECHIRURE
Mon père, Serge, est ne en 1944 à Annaba en Algerie. La guerre d'Algerie eclate alors qu'il a dix ans. Huit ans plus tard il doit quitter son pays avec un sentiment de ranc¦ur.
Depuis des decennies, l'Algerie etait le pays de ma famille. Ils y sont nes, y ont vecu et certains y sont morts, notamment mon grand-père paternel. Algeriens et Français, appeles "pieds- noirs," vivaient en parfaite harmonie. Mais un jour, la difference de culture, de religion, de points de vue sur l'avenir de l'Algerie remit tout en cause. Les Algeriens commencèrent à se revolter et à demander leur independance.
Mon père a alors dix ans. Trop jeune pour comprendre, il côtoie toujours ses amis algeriens. En 1954, la guerre eclate vraiment. Les Algeriens et les pieds-noirs deviennent des ennemis. Les horreurs commencent. Je ne sais ce que ma famille a eprouve durant cette guerre. Par contre, je sais qu'il y a eu une veritable dechirure quand De Gaulle a donne l'independance en 1962. Ainsi ma famille a dû partir en France qui etait soi-disant son pays. En France, ma grand-mère et mes tantes pleuraient. L'Algerie leur manquait. La France n'etait pas leur pays. Je ne suis au courant que d'un evenement qui a marque mon père: il etait avec son meilleur ami, un arabe, pendant un bombardement. Celui- ci a saute sous ses yeux. Il n'avait que quatorze ans. Cela l'a vraiment choque.
Mon père parle peu de l'Algerie mais je sais qu'il y pense. Tandis que mes tantes et mon oncle en parlent souvent pendant les dîners de famille. Ils exteriorisent leur peine mais mon père, lui, se renferme sur lui-même. Je sais qu'il aime l'Algerie, qu'il n'a pas de rancune car il suit l'actualite et souhaite de tout c¦ur qu'elle s'en sorte. Il a promis à ma mère qu'il nous emmènerait tous là-bas, un jour.
THE RIFT
My father, Serge, was born in 1944 in Annaba in Algeria. The Algerian War broke out when he was ten. Eight years later he had to leave the country with a feeling of bitterness.
For decades, Algeria was the my family's country. They were born there, they lived there, and some died there, notably my paternal grandfather. The Algerians and the French, called "pieds-noirs" [black feet], lived in perfect harmony. But one day, differences in culture, religion, points of view on the future of Algeria put everything into question. The Algerians began to revolt and to demand their independence.
My father was 10 years old at the time. Too young to understand, he still frequented his Algerian friends. In 1954 the war really broke out. Algerians and pieds-noirs became enemies. The horrors began. I don't know what my family went through during that war. But I do know that there was a real rift when De Gaulle gave Algeria independence in 1962. Consequently my family had to leave for France, which was our so-called country. In France my grandmother and my aunts cried. They missed Algeria. France was not their country. I only know of one incident that affected my father: he was with his best friend, an Arab, during a bombing. His friend was blown up before his eyes. He was only 14. That was a real shock to him.
My father doesn't say much about Algeria but I know that he thinks about it. On the other hand, my aunts and my uncle often talk about it at family dinners. They externalize their pain but my father doesn't; he closes in on himself. I know that he loves Algeria, that he doesn't have hard feelings, because he follows the news and wishes with all his heart that it gets out of the mess it's in. He has promised my mother that he will take us all back there one day. Julie's e-mail message and her essay are clearly different in their level of content and elaboration. Because e-mail messages tend to be relatively brief and unelaborated, it is important to balance spontaneous e-mail messages with prepared essays in students' exchanges in order to provide enough content to spark students' interest and stimulate reflection. Carl's e-mail response to Julie (shown uncorrected and without accent marks) was as follows:4
Cher Julie,
J'ai lu votre histoire avec interet. La guerre d'Algerie n'est pas tres connue aux Etats-Unis. Donc, j'ai appris, de votre histoire, beaucoup d'information sur l'histoire d'Algerie et de France.
De plus, j'ai quelques questions pour vous. Vous avez dit que les "Algeriens et Francais...vivaient en perfaite harmonie," mais, tout a coup, les "Algeriens commencerent a se revolter." Dans votre opinion, qu'est-ce que c'etait la plus grande raison pour cet changement? Et pourquoi est-ce que les Francais appeles "pied-noirs"?
D'un autre cote, est-ce que votre pere se renferme encore sa peine sur lui-meme. Je pense qu'il y a certains choses pour chaque famille qui sont tres desagreables a discuter. Mais qu'est-ce que c'est le role de la publication de votre histoire sur votre famille? Parlent-ils plus facilement ces jours au sujet de la guerre? Ou est-ce que le sujet est encore tres desagreable? Je crois que la peine a cause de la separation des citoyens de leurs patrie est dificile a comprendre.
En fin, je suis content que vous connaissez Berkeley. Berkeley, et la Californie en general, ont des reputations bizarres. Beaucoup de gens, par exemple, pensent que tout l'etat est une grand plage, et les citoyens font toujours du surf. Bien sur, ce n'est pas le cas; nous sommes, en realite, tres ennuyeux.
Au revoir,
Carl
Dear Julie,
I read your story with interest. The Algerian War is not well known in the United States, so I learned a lot of information about Algerian and French history from your story.
Also, I have several questions for you. You said that "the Algerians and the FrenchŠ lived in perfect harmony," but, suddenly, "the Algerians began to revolt." In your opinion, what was the biggest reason for this change? And why are the French called "pieds-noirs"?
On the other hand, does your father still close in his pain on himself? I think that there are certain things in every family that are uncomfortable to talk about. But what effect has the publication of your story had on your family? Do they talk about the war more easily these days? Or is it still a very uncomfortable subject? I think that the pain from the separation of citizens from their country is hard to understand.
Finally, I'm happy that you know about Berkeley. Berkeley, and California in general, have weird reputations. Many people think, for example, that the whole state is a big beach, and its inhabitants are always surfing. Of course it's not the case; in reality we are quite boring.
Bye,
Carl
Carl's response shows evidence of content learning (i.e., about the French-Algerian War) but even more importantly, it reflects a good deal of thought about the details of Julie's account. His questions and comments are closely text-based, involving quotes and rephrasings of Julie's words. His first question is a challenging one: Carl identifies the contradiction between "living in perfect harmony" and mass revolt and invites Julie to explain her opinion on the underlying cause of the war. Then a vocabulary question concerning the meaning of "pied-noir." Then he shifts to a more personal level, asking about the impact of Julie's writing on her family's perspective on the war. In Carl's questions we see clear evidence of linguistic scaffolding (e.g., "Šest-ce que votre père se renferme encore sa peine sur lui-même), suggesting that this text-based social interaction is contributing to Carl's language learning.
In her response, Julie gives substantive answers to Carl's questions and shows a great deal more elaboration in her writing than she did in her initial e-mail message.
Carl,
Je tiens a te remercier de m'avoir ecrit et de t'etre interesse a mon texte. Je vais donc commencer par repondre a tes questions: Tu m'as demande pourquoi les Algeriens se sont revoltes? car l'Algerie etait un pays colonise par la France, et meme si mon pere et ma famille s'entendaient avec les Algeriens, beaucoup de colons les exploitaient, leur imposaient notre "invasion" de facon parfois brutale. Les Francais d'Algerie s'appelaient et sont toujours appeles "pieds noirs" a cause des bottes noires qu'ils portaient. Lorsque mon pere et ma famille parlent de l'Algerie, ils ne mentionnent jamais la guerre. J'ai rarement entendu le mot "guerre" dans leur discussion, ils preferent se rappeler des bons moments car c'est toute leur jeunesse. La publication de mon texte a emu ma famille car ils etaient contents que je m'interesse a eux mais sinon rien n'a change dans leur facon de penser. La separation de ma famille et de l'Algerie a ete une veritable dechirure car en France, ils n'etaient pas consideres comme Francais mais comme pieds noirs d'Algerie. Encore aujourd'hui ils sont encore un peu a part. Les gens du village de mon pere se reunissent chaque annee pour etre ensemble comme en Algerie. Il est vrai que les Francais pensent que la Californie est un Etat peuple de mannequins montes sur patins a roulettes ou sur un surf. C'est a cause des series americaines qui ont malheureusement envahi la television francaise. J'aimerais savoir ce que les Americains pensent de la France, de Paris, de la Cote d'Azur et bien sur des Francais.
Julie
Carl,
Thank you for writing me and for being interested in my text. I'm going to start by answering your questions: You asked me why the Algerians revolted? because Algeria was a country colonized by France, and even though my father and my family got along with the Algerians, many of the colonizers exploited them, imposed our "invasion" on them in sometimes brutal ways. The Algerian French were and still are called "pieds noirs" because of the black boots that they wore. When my father and my family talk about Algeria, they never mention the war. I have rarely heard the word "war" in their discussions; they prefer to remember the good times because it's their whole youth. The publication of my text touched my family because they were happy that I was interested in them, but otherwise nothing has changed in their way of thinking. My family's separation from Algeria was a real tearing away because in France they weren't considered as French but as pieds noirs from Algeria. Even today they are still a little apart from the rest. The people from my father's village get together every year to be together, as they were in Algeria. It's true that the French think that California is a state full of models on roller skates or on a surfboard. That's because of the American TV series that have unfortunately invaded French television. I would like to know what the Americans think of France, of Paris, of the Côte d'Azur and, of course, the French. Julie
Julie's response provides Carl with both content and language input. Her answers to his questions are thoughtful and informative. They could stimulate class discussion about links between colonization, immigration, and social cohesion. Or about America's "media colonization" of the world (note Julie's choice of the verb envahir [to invade] in her mention of American television shows in France). As it was, our classroom discussion of Julie's essay focused on the French-Algerian War: an important topic in the curriculum, given that in their next French course students would read Camus'"L'Hôte" (in which a French schoolteacher must confront issues of duty, brotherhood, and isolation in Algeria during the war).
Concerning language input, one immediately notices that Julie uses the personal pronoun tu rather than the pronoun vous that Carl had used in his letter. A number of the French correspondents directly addressed this issue in their exchanges with the American students, pointing out that young people getting to know each other use tu instead of vous. This type of sociolinguistic lesson in the context of real communication with foreign peers is invariably more effective than a didactic explanation of the French personal pronoun system in class.
In Julie's letter we also find many intertextual references (e.g., "tes questions"; "la publication de mon texteŠ"; "une veritable dechirure"), some of which involve restructured syntax, such as embedding (e.g., "Tu m'as demande pourquoi les Algeriens se sont revoltes?"; "Il est vrai que les Français pensent queŠ"). These references reinforce the comprehensibility of the interaction and provide a rich source of linguistic input to the learner. It is significant that despite the occurrence of phrases containing structures that Carl had not yet studied (e.g., "Je tiens à te remercierŠ"; "mais sinon rien n'a change"; "ils sont encore un peu à part") Julie's message was quite transparent to him. One could argue that Carl's understanding was facilitated by his knowledge of (indeed his contribution of) prior texts that led up to the current one. To return to Bakhtin's (1986) insistence on the dialogic quality of discourse, "Šthe immediate participants in communication, orienting themselves with respect to the situation and the preceding utterances, easily and quickly grasp the speaker's speech plan, his speech will. And from the very beginning of his words they sense the developing whole of the utterance" (pp. 77- 78).
Future Directions for the Project
Our pilot project has stimulated interest among other teachers at the Lycee Frederic Mistral and we plan to expand the project next year as follows:
On the American side, two sections of elementary French and their two instructors will be involved. On the French side, two classes (one vocational education, one general education) and seven teachers (from the disciplines of French, English, History, and Art) will participate in the project.
The project will evolve in three phases, organized by mode of expression (description, narration, and argumentation). We will begin with description of students' environments: their neighborhoods and cities, accompanied by photos, videos, and sound recordings (possibly transferred over the Internet). Some of the French students live in ghettos, others in privileged neighborhoods. The Berkeley students hail from various regions of the U.S. We anticipate that students' representations of their respective environments and the ways those representations are interpreted by the other group will stimulate very thought-provoking discussions. For example, How do young people in France and America perceive space, both public and private? How does the physical construction and layout of housing in the two countries reflect cultural values? The description phase of the project will also involve a self-portrait that outlines facts of birth, family, and schooling. Students will learn about details of one another's families and be able to compare aspects of the French and American educational systems.
The second, narrative, phase will begin with family narratives. Students will write about their family origins and how they came to live where they do. They will then narrate an historical event that has involved or confronted their family, and support their narrative with photos or other documentary evidence. The goal here is to raise students' consciousness of their own historical identity and to compare it to that of others (both within and outside their own culture).
The final, argumentative, phase of the project will involve questions such as: What does it mean to be American/French? How do the two groups of students understand the concept of "nationality"? What does it mean to be a foreigner in the U.S.? in France? What is the experience of a young immigrant in the two societies? What do young people in France and America expect of society? What of these expectations are tied to the national government? What are their worries concerning their own society? One goal of this phase of the project will be to understand the cultural presuppositions that underlie the students' texts-their own as well as those of the others. In other words, to consider not only the what of students' beliefs, attitude, and opinions but also to attempt to understand the why.
These three parts will be treated progressively during the school year. After each exchange of texts, a period of time will be set aside for individual students to correspond with one another to ask specific questions and provide feedback. At the end of each phase of the project students will submit a summary and analysis of the messages they sent and received, as well as of the classroom discussions that ensued.
Because this project is currently in progress, it is too early to assess the outcome. Nevertheless, student response has been overwhelmingly favorable. While ostensibly an exercise in communicative language use, this e-mail exchange has been at least as significant in enhancing students' cultural and historical awareness as well as their overall motivation in learning French. For example, in discussing "the French family" students are not restricted to studying textbook descriptions of fictional families-they learn about real families of various social backgrounds and traditions, living in different environments, each with their own particular perspective on the world. Students have expressed great satisfaction in learning about important historical events of which they had little or no previous knowledge, such as the Algerian war or the Armenian massacre of 1915. Many students have been pleasantly surprised to find that what they are learning in French class connects with what they are learning in their other courses in history, sociology, and anthropology.
Conclusion
E-mail is an important tool in foreign language education. It allows learners to communicate directly with native speakers for a real purpose and about substantive issues, thus supporting both language and content learning. Moreover, because of its written form, e-mail communication permits focused retrospective analysis and reflection on the communicative act itself, potentially leading students to greater awareness of how language is used in social discourse.
E-mail is not, however, a panacea. The degree to which computer-mediated communication promotes language and content learning, cultural awareness, and critical reflection depends fundamentally on the teachers who coordinate its use. Although computer technology offers exciting new possibilities for organizing meaningful literacy activities for language students, it also presents significant challenges. On a practical level, using networked computers can introduce administrative problems, technical problems, and teaching problems. On a theoretical level, use of computers can influence the way we view texts, the way we use language, and the way we practice literacy. Teachers' understanding of both practical and theoretical issues, as well as their ability to integrate computer use with other language activities in a meaningful way will ultimately determine the value of computer-mediated communication in foreign language education.
References
Avots, J. (1991). Linking the Foreign Language Classroom to the World. In J. K. Phillips (Ed.), Building Bridges and Making Connections (pp. 122-153). Middlebury, VT: Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.
Bakhtin, M. M. (1981). The Dialogic Imagination. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Bakhtin, M. M. (1986). Speech Genres and Other Late Essays (Vern W. McGee, Trans.). Austin: University of Texas Press.
Barson, J. (1991). The Virtual Classroom is Born: What Now? In B. F. Freed (Ed.), Foreign Language Acquisition Research and the Classroom (pp. 365-383). Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath.
Bee-Lay, S., & Yee-Ping, S. (1991). English by e-mail: Creating a global classroom via the medium of computer technology. ELT Journal, 45(4), 287-292.
Cole, M., & Griffin, P. (Eds.). (1987). Contextual Factors in Education. Madison, WI: Wisconsin Center for Education Research.
Cononelos, T., & Oliva, M. (1993). Using computer networks to enhance foreign language/culture education. Foreign Language Annals, 26(4), 527-34.
Hubatsch, I., & Hofmann, A. N. (1994). E-mail Projekt. San Francisco: Goethe Institute.
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Riding, A. (1994, November 25). Sad voyages to France: In one school many sagas. New York Times, p. A4.
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Thompson, K. (1994). Voices from the past. Science Teacher, 61(5), 44-49.
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Bio: Richard Kern is Assistant Professor and language program director in the French Department at the University of California at Berkeley. His research interests include reading, writing and the use of networked computers to facilitate communicative language use. He has published in The Modern Language Journal, Foreign Language Annals, Canadian Modern Language Review, and Studies in Second Language Acquisition.
1 Schools lacking permanent direct access to the Internet need only purchase a high speed modem, communication software, and subscribe to one of the increasing number of online service companies.
2 The International E-Mail Classroom Connections (IECC) mailing list is for those looking for an entire class of e-mail partners. Note that IECC should not be used to find individual penpals. To subscribe, send a message containing the word "subscribe" to <iecc-request@stolaf.edu>. To contribute, send a message to <iecc@stolaf.edu>. Further information on finding correspondence partners can be obtained by writing to International Pen Friends (Grosvenor Pl, Suite 712, Rockville, MD 20852 or, in Canada, 34775 McMillan Court, Abbotsford, B.C. V2S 5W4) or by subscribing toThe Letter Box -a quarterly that includes names, addresses and descriptions of people seeking pen pals (c/o Trish Rucker, P.O. Box 37, Decatur, GA 30031-0037). For information on electronic forums and tandems in French, English, German, and Spanish at TELECOM-Paris, contact James Benenson at <benenson@email.enst.fr >.
3 Mark Mullen can be contacted via e-mail at <eahg074@rigel.oac.uci.edu>.
4 The reader will no doubt notice that orthographic accents are missing from all the e-mail messages in French. Differing communications protocols currently make transmission of special characters (such as accents) problematic in e-mail, although as communication standards become more widely established this limitation will likely disappear.
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