A multilingual and multimodal exchange project between Japanese and Taiwanese university students

Toshihiko SUZUKI(Waseda Univ., Japan)toshisuz@outlook.com

I-Chung KE(Yuan Ze Univ., Taiwan)ichungke@saturn.yzu.edu.tw

Purpose of this presentation

• Share a multilingual and multimodal exchange project that mostly involves using online interface to communicate.

• Discuss some research methodological issues in using the data collected from the project.

Multilingual exchange project• YZU , TaiwanWaseda Uni., Japan • English as a lingua franca (ELF)• Japanese/Mandarin as a foreign

language • Using English, Japanese, and Mandarin

Both of us are English teachers

Multimodal project

• Online exchange using three media: – [A] asynchronous BBS – [B] LiveOn real-time chatting: Voice, text,

and screen (Software developed by Waseda U. distance learning center)

LiveOn real-time chatting• 6-week Live chatting, 50 mins per week• 2-3 students from each side as a group

Multimodal project

• Online exchange using three media: – [A] asynchronous BBS – [B] LiveOn real-time chatting: Voice, text,

and screen (Developed by Waseda U. distance learning center)

– [C] Video Conference in class• Mutual Face-to-Face visits in January/July

History of our exchange project• Exchange based on BBS (from 2009)

– Add-on in language courses/ voluntary• Exchange based on LiveOn (from 2011)

– Part of language practice/mandatory• Exchange based on Video Conference (2011~)

– Part of language practice/mandatory• Face-to-face exchange (2010~)

– Voluntary/ $$

• Elective course devoted to exchange (2013~)

Pedagogical purpose of the project

• Develop a sustainable curriculum model for foreign language teaching in the East Asia context

• Students develop (discursive) competence in L2/L3 use through multilingual (ELF) multimodal exchange communication

Multi-modality / Multi-literacy

• Communicate with more than one interface simultaneously

• More complicated, but could be more effective than mono-modal communication (face to face, telephone, email)

• Common in ELF communication in current digitalized world

Multilingualism

• English as a lingua franca (globalization)• Regional language (regionalization)• Second foreign language (competitive

advantage)• Beyond the boundary of ‘language’ =>

Translingualism: Communication as the ultimate goal

Researching Multilingual & Multimodal communication

Data preparation

• Interaction data: Videos, images, voices, and texts– For research on actual interactions– Transcribe voices and synchronize with images and

text-typing data =>meticulous!• Elicited data: questionnaires and interviews

– For research on self/peer perceptions– Multilingual questionnaires; interviews in

students’ L1 & translation into English

Issues

• Writing systems in transcribing voice data• Boundaries between different languages

and modalities• Research topics investigated so far

Written systems

• Multilingual speech data transcription• The same sound could be represented by

several writing systems. <Voice mode>– E.g. Sakura /さくら / 桜 , sushi/ すし / 寿司

• The same Mandarin character/Kanji has different meaning in Mandarin and Japanese. <Text mode>– E.g. 今 (today in M, now in J)、結構 (structure in

Mandarin, fine/good in Japanese)

Headache for transcribers & code-

mixing/switching research!

• Categorizing languages for what purposes?• Why differentiating modalities?• Transcription = data analysis?! =>Creates

language and modality categories from data• Translingual & transmodal interpretation of

holistic data?

Boundaries between different languages and modalities Quantitative

analysis

Multilingual researchers/ assistants needed!

Research topics investigated so far

• Pedagogical topics: how to teach/learn multilingual competence in multimodal contexts; curriculum and materials

• Communication strategies• Learner/user attitude, ideology, identity• Language use in such contexts, for example,

discourse markers and speech acts

Multilingual ELF interactions may transcend the NS-NNS

boundary, liberating language learners/users.

Look forward to connecting with teachers around the world to develop our students’ linguistic and modal competence!