English Teaching: Practice and Critique

Discussing culturally relevant books online: A cross-cultural blogging project

Volume 11 Number 4 December 2012

Hsiao-chien Lee (Foreign Languages Education Center, National Kaohsiung Marine University, Taiwan)

Carol Gilles (Learning, Teaching & Curriculum, University of Missouri, USA)

Learning, Teaching & Curriculum, University of Missouri, USA ABSTRACT: This article examines the process and results of a two-year crosscultural blogging project conducted between American fifth-graders (15 students) and Taiwanese tenth-graders (23 students). The two groups of students used a blog to correspond with each other and share their reading responses of culturally relevant picture books. The goal of the project was to provide the students with opportunities to appreciate reading texts relevant to their cultural experiences, while using the blog to engage in authentic conversations with and reflect on the experiences of people from another culture. Data were collected from multiple sources, including pre-project surveys, students' blog entries, students' retrospective interviews, and the researchers' field notes. Data analysis helped answer the research questions: What were the students' learning experiences, and what factors helped form the experiences? The findings suggest that students gained deeper understandings of another culture, as well as the texts, as they were offered opportunities to communicate authentically with people of another culture. They also displayed more confidence and greater critical thinking skills when discussing culturally relevant picture books. 

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