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The Effects of a Virtual Exchange
on Students’Interest in Learning
About Culture
Theresa Schenker
Yale University
Abstract: A12‐week electronic exchange was conducted between a third‐year
German college class in the United States and an advanced English high school class in
Germany. The exchange consisted of e‐mails between tandem partners, blogs,
videoconferences between both classes, and class essays. The study examined the effects
of participation in the semester‐long cross‐cultural, cross‐lingual exchange on students’
interest in learning about the target culture. The results showed that students’interest in
learning about culture was high before and after the exchange. Likewise, students
believed that learning about culture is an important part of foreign language learning.
The virtual exchange outlined here is an example of a standards‐based approach to
integrating language and culture instruction.
Key words: culture, e‐mail, 5 C’s, students’interest, virtual exchange
Introduction
The world is becoming more and more globalized and, as a result, in most
communities individuals are surrounded by people from diverse cultural or language
backgrounds (Block & Cameron, 2002). Strong communication skills are needed to
interact effectively with others who may not share one’s language, worldviews, or
cultural beliefs. In order to communicate successfully and efficiently not only abroad,
but also within one’s own diverse community, one needs cultural awareness as one of
the key competencies for everyday interactions in the 21st century.
Both cultural awareness and communication skills have been emphasized in a
number of key documents, including the Standards for Foreign Language Learning in
the 21st Century: “The United States must educate students who are linguistically and
culturally equipped to communicate successfully in a pluralistic American society
and abroad”(National Standards, 1999, p. 7). According to the Standards, foreign
language instruction should enable students to “communicate and to learn to
respond appropriately in a variety of cultures”(p. 245). Furthermore, the Standards
emphasize that “students cannot truly master the language until they have also
Theresa Schenker (PhD, Michigan State University) is Lector and Language
Program Director of German at Yale University, New Haven, CT.
Foreign Language Annals, Vol. 46, Iss. 3, pp. 491–507. ©2013 by American Council on the Teaching of Foreign
Languages.
DOI: 10.1111/flan.12041
Foreign Language Annals VOL. 46, NO. 3 491
mastered the cultural contexts in which the
language occurs”(p. 31). In order to do that,
students need to have “an understanding of
the interdependent and interactive relation-
ship of the perspectives, practices, and
products”(p. 257) of a culture. Similarly,
the American Association of Teachers of
German (AATG) Task Force on the Teach-
ing of Culture has emphasized that “cross‐
cultural understanding and intercultural
communication are more essential now
than ever, particularly because modern
means of communication and transport
bring us daily into contact with …[“other-
ness”] for which we need not only knowl-
edge, but also strategies to interpret, to
understand, and to put into perspective
what we are experiencing”(Schulz, Lalande,
Dykstra‐Pruim, Zimmer‐Loew, & James,
2005, p. 172).
In order to ensure that all learners have
the skills they will need to become success-
ful members both “in a—and for a—
changing world”(Schulz, 2007, p. 88), it
is critical that students develop deep cultural
awareness as well as language proficiency.
Consequently, it has been suggested that
culture should be at the very heart of foreign
language instruction (Sercu, 2005) and that
culture cannot be regarded as an “expend-
able fifth skill”(Kramsch, 1993, p. 1).
However, although there seems to be
consensus concerning the importance of
culture in the foreign language classroom,
few studies have investigated students’
interest in cultural learning in foreign
language classes. This study investigated
the effects of participation in a 12‐week
telecollaborative project between a third‐
year German class at a large Midwestern
university in the United States and an
advanced English class at a high school in
central Germany and reports students’
interest in learning about culture in their
foreign language class. As noted in the
description of the project, offered later in
this article, the virtual exchange allowed
learners to meet all five goal areas of the
Standards in an interconnected and person-
alized way and may provide an example
from which instructors in K–16 settings may
develop similar learning opportunities for
their students.
Review of Literature
For the purpose of the study reported here,
culture is understood as “the philosophical
perspectives, the behavioral practices, and
the products …of a society”(National
Standards, 1999, p. 47). There has been little
argument among language professionals
about the central role of culture in foreign
language classes (Bennett, 1997; Finger,
2008; Kern & Warschauer, 2000; Lochtman
& Kappel, 2008; Lovik, 2008; Samovar &
Porter, 1999; Schulz, 2008; Seelye, 1997;
Williams, Warren, & Olaniran, 2009). How-
ever, previous research has shown that the
majority of students do not share the
“consensus view that culture—however
understood—has a firm legitimate place in
the language classroom”(Chavez, 2002,
p. 135). Chavez noted that:
•“there is no immediate reason to accept
our students’interest in foreign language
culture as a fact”(2005, p. 31)
•“a sizeable portion of students”(2002,
p. 134) believe that culture in the foreign
language classroom competes with lan-
guage teaching
•only a minority of students believes that
culture is not teachable, or at least not in
the foreign language context (2002)
Similarly, Dechert and Kastner (1989)
revealed that there was a mismatch between
students’specific interests in regard to
learning about the target culture and the
topics covered by standard textbooks. Their
study concluded that undergraduate stu-
dents enrolled in German courses were most
interested in learning about topics con-
cerned with regular, everyday life.
Although the profession regards cultural
learning as crucial, it is critical to also
understand how culture can be included in
foreign language classes and to take students’
interests and motivations into consideration
492 FALL 2013
as well. By helping students to see the
relevance of or by increasing their curiosity
about cultural learning, students’interests in
and the professions’beliefs about what
should be taught can become more closely
aligned. Thus, the present study reports the
results of a 12‐week virtual exchange on
students’interest in culture learning. Specif-
ically, the study sought to answer the
following questions:
1. To what extent are American college
students studying German as a foreign
language and German high school students
studying English as a foreign language
interested in learning about German and
American culture? What effect does a
12‐week e‐mail exchange have on their
level of interest in learning about culture?
2. How important do American college
students studying German as a foreign
language and German high school stu-
dents studying English as a foreign
language find cultural learning in the
foreign language classroom? What effect
does a 12‐week e‐mail exchange have on
this evaluation?
Methodology
Participants
Nineteen American students and 31 German
students participated in the 12‐week virtual
exchange project. The American students
were enrolled in a third‐year German course
at a large midwestern university and com-
prised six males and 13 females who were
between 19 and 23 years old. Fourteen of the
19 American students were not taking any
other German classes during the semester of
the exchange. The other five students were
also enrolled in a German linguistics course,
or in a German linguistics and a German
literature course. Only two American stu-
dents indicated that they were taking this
German course for their major; many
students (47%) took the course out of
personal interest, and some took the course
to improve their German communication
skills (21%), because of German heritage
(11%), or to continue from high school
(11%). All but two of the American students
had previously spent time outside of the
United States. The American class was
selected because the level of a third‐year
German class was deemed high enough to
engage in cross‐cultural discussions with
native speakers.
The 31 eleventh grade German students
were between ages 15 and 19 and were
enrolled in two advanced English courses
taught by the same instructor at a small high
school in central Germany. Of the 31
German students who participated in the
project, complete data were only available
for 19 students, of which 11 were male and
eight were female. Twelve of the 19 German
students had previously spent time outside
of Germany. The German students were
taking English because of the important
role of English in the world (32%), because
it was a requirement (32%), or because of
personal interest (32%). The German high
school class was selected because the
semester schedule between German high
schools and U.S. universities aligned more
closely and thus allowed for a longer virtual
exchange. In addition, the school had
previously collaborated on a project with
the American university. Before the ex-
change started, the American students
selected one or two German students to be
their exchange partners based on short
descriptions sent to the American class by
the German students.
Although the other two sections of the
third‐year German class in the United States
were asked to volunteer to participate as a
control group by completing the pre‐and
post‐surveys at the beginning and end of the
semester, volunteer participation was too
small to be incorporated in the study.
Data Collection
Data were collected from surveys, e‐mail
transcripts, two videotaped videoconfer-
ences, and reflective blogs written by the U.S.
students.
Foreign Language Annals VOL. 46, NO. 3 493
Initial Survey
A survey
1
was used to measure students’
curiosity about German culture prior to
participation in the project. This survey
consisted of 14 Likert‐scale items and 10
open‐ended questions that investigated
students’background, interest in language
and culture, and cultural beliefs. The items
targeted included students’interest in
cultural learning (items 2, 5, 10, and 12)
and students’evaluation of the importance
of cultural knowledge (items 1, 3, 4, and 6).
The remainder of the Likert‐scale items
targeted students’opinions about the use of
telecollaboration for learning language and
culture and were not included in this study.
Students rated their agreement with the
statements on a scale from 1 (strongly
disagree) to 6 (strongly agree). The Ameri-
can students completed the surveys in class
and turned them in to the researcher at the
end of class. The German students complet-
ed the surveys outside of class and e‐mailed
them to the researcher during the first week
of the exchange.
E‐mails
After the individual components and require-
ments of the exchange were explained to both
classes, the partners were selected, and the
pre‐surveys were completed, students in both
classes were given a task sheet that detailed
the weekly discussion topics.
2
These topics
were selected based on the content covered in
both classes during the semester and included
a comparison of leisure time activities, the
role of sports, educational systems, national
pride, citizenship and immigration, multicul-
turalism, the role of family, violence, friend-
ship, and current events.
While students were allowed to discuss
other topics that were of interest to them, they
were required to discuss these assigned
weekly topics with their partner, or partners,
from the other institution in a minimum of
two e‐mails per week for the duration of the
12‐week exchange. In their first weekly
e‐mail, students were expected to answer
the discussion question; in their second
weekly e‐mail, students could respond to
their partners’e‐mail, provide follow‐up
information, and discuss the topic further.
All students wrote in their target language but
were both allowed, andencouraged,tocode‐
switch as well as give linguistic feedback to
their e‐mail partners. During semester breaks,
students were encouraged to continue ex-
changing e‐mails. The exchange was part of
the regular class work for the American
students, and they were graded on completing
all components. Participation in the exchange
was optional for the German students, and
they were not graded on the project. All
e‐mails were forwarded to the researcher but
not to the instructors of the courses.
Videoconferences
In addition to the e‐mail exchanges, two 60‐
minute videoconferences were conducted
between the two partner classes. The first
videoconference took place during the
second week of the exchange and was held
in English. The second videoconference
took place during the 13th week of the
exchange and was held in German. While
the instructor in Germany moderated the
first videoconference, a German student
moderated the second one. The students
chose the topics that they discussed during
the videoconferences, which included, for
example, politics, current events, fashion,
and the everyday life of German and
American students.
Blogs
The American students kept a bi‐weekly
blog in which they were asked to reflect on
the exchange. In addition, students had to
comment on at least one other student’s blog
every other week. The blogs were written in
the target language and designed as a
reflective tool in which students were able
to discuss problems or deal with uncertain-
ties, learn from each other, and share diverse
opinions on the assigned discussion topics.
The German students did not have access to
the blogs.
Post‐Survey
Post‐surveys were administered during the
last week of the exchange. As with the pre‐
494 FALL 2013
surveys, the American students completed
the surveys in class while the German
students completed them at home and
sent them via e‐mail to the researcher. In
addition to the 24 questions contained on
the pre‐survey, the post‐survey also includ-
ed 11 open‐ended questions that solicited
general feedback about the students’atti-
tudes toward language and culture learning.
Data Analysis
Statistical and qualitative analyses were
conducted on the data obtained from the
surveys of all 19 American students and
from the 19 German students for whom
complete data were available. First, a
repeated‐measures ANOVA with one be-
tween‐subjects variable (group belonging)
and one within‐subjects variable (time;
pretest and posttest) analyzed the data
obtained from the Likert‐scale items on
the pre‐and post‐surveys. The test revealed
differences in answer patterns between the
German and American classes as well as
changes within the classes from the pre‐to
post‐surveys.
The test of normality of distribution
revealed significantly non‐normal distribu-
tions for all variables, and the scores were
therefore ranked to allow the use of the
mixed‐design ANOVA (Field, 2009). Lev-
ene’s test showed a violation of the assump-
tion of homogeneity of variances for the
post‐survey scores for the variable “interest
in cultural learning”(p¼0.014). However,
this variable was already ranked due to the
non‐normal distribution. The analysis was
carried out with the awareness that this part
of the data did not meet the requirement for
homogeneity of variances.
The answers to the open‐ended ques-
tions as well as optional comments on the
Likert‐scale items on the pre‐and post‐
surveys were analyzed qualitatively. The
researcher coded the answers in order to
reveal patterns in students’perceptions of
the importance of cultural learning as well as
their interest in learning about culture in
their foreign language classes.
Results
Although students were expected to write a
minimum of 20 e‐mails, in reality students
wrote between 11 and 26 e‐mails, with the
majority of students (63%) writing 20 to 24
e‐mail messages. Students were not told how
many words to write in each e‐mail message.
Thus, the total number of words written by
the students over the course of the 12‐week
exchange ranged from 876 to 6,697 (Ameri-
can students) and from 1,024 to 8,926
(German students).
Topics
On the post‐survey, students rated their
enjoyment of discussing the assigned topics
on a scale from 1 (not enjoyable) to 5 (very
enjoyable). They were also asked if there
were additional topics they would have liked
to discuss. It is interesting to note that
students generally expressed interest in all of
the topics that were discussed; the average
level of interest overall was 3.5, the average
level of interest for Americans was 3.5, and
the average level of interest for Germans was
3.6. Everyday topics such as free‐time
activities, family life, and friends were
among the more highly ranked topics both
by the German and the American students.
Both classes ranked the topics of violence
and recent history lowest. Interestingly, the
topic of sports was ranked fairly highly by
the German students and lower by the U.S.
students. Figure 1 shows the class averages
for enjoyment of the assigned discussion
topics.
On open‐ended questions before the
exchange, German students expressed spe-
cific interest in learning about the target
country and the lifestyle of people, differ-
ences between the two countries, whether
what is taught in school about the target
culture was true, and “peculiarities”of the
target culture. The American students did
not indicate interest in specific topics before
the exchange. After the exchange, students
from both classes expressed interest in
discussing the following additional topics:
language in general, entertainment—music,
Foreign Language Annals VOL. 46, NO. 3 495
movies, and media—travel, art, and politics.
One American student suggested discussing
the most current events in each weekly e‐
mail before moving on to the assigned
discussion topic, and another student em-
phasized that more personal topics would be
best as these were easiest to write about.
Only one German student mentioned that
fewer assigned topics and more freedom to
discuss anything would have made for a
more enjoyable exchange.
Interest in Cultural Learning
Quantitative Data
Using a rating scale from 1 to 6 (6 being the
highest), students rated their interest in
learning about culture in their foreign
language classroom on the pre‐and post‐
surveys. Table 1 summarizes the averages
for both classes.
3
As shown in Table 1,
students’initial interest in cultural learning
was very high in both classes. On the post‐
survey, both classes had a slightly lower, but
still very high, average for the variable
interest in cultural learning. Both before
and after participating in the exchange, the
American students expressed a marginally
higher interest in cultural learning than did
the German students. The repeated‐meas-
ures ANOVA showed no statistically signifi-
cant within‐subjects effects, F(1) ¼.000,
p>0.05, and also did not show statistically
significant between‐subjects effects, F
(1) ¼3.339, p>0.5. This indicates that
the two classes did not differ in statistically
significant ways in their interest in learning
about culture and that students’interest in
learning about culture was initially, and
remained consistently, very high.
Qualitative Data
Before participating in the exchange, 84% of
the American students’and 79% of the
German students’responses to open‐ended
questions also showed a very positive
attitude toward learning about the target
culture. Almost all students reported enjoy-
ing learning about culture and explained
that they were enthusiastic about learning
about the target culture, fascinated by it,
interested in it, and very excited about the
prospect of learning more about culture.
On the post‐survey, 79% of the students
(30 of 38) continued to express an un-
changed but still very strong positive
attitude about, and interest in, learning
about the target culture. In addition, 18% of
students (three German and four American
students) explained that their interest in
learning about the target culture had
increased, with 3 of the 19 German students
specifically mentioning that because of the
exchange, they were more excited about
FIGURE 1
Enjoyment of Discussion Topics
496 FALL 2013
their English class and looked forward to
going to class more. In contrast, on the post‐
survey, only one American student men-
tioned a negative change in his attitude
toward cultural learning. In a follow‐up
interview, he explained that he had become
somewhat disillusioned once he realized
that racist tendencies could be present in
both cultures, and he thus regarded German
culture with greater disinterest.
Thus, students’responses to the open‐
ended questions consistently supported the
general statistical results and confirmed that
students did not become bored or lose
interest in communicating with their part-
ners about each new cultural topic over the
course of the 12‐week exchange.
Importance of Cultural Learning
Using the same rating scale from 1 to 6 (6
being the highest), students rated the
importance of including cultural learning
in the foreign language classroom both
before and after participating in the cross‐
cultural exchange. Table 2 summarizes the
averages for both classes. First, the average
importance of learning about culture for
both classes increased during the 12‐week
period under consideration. The results of
comparing the two classes on the variable
importance of cultural learning in foreign
language classes showed that both classes
deemed cultural learning to be an important
part of foreign language classes, with the
American class on average finding cultural
learning more important than the German
class. The repeated‐measures ANOVA
showed no statistically significant within‐
subjects effects, F(1) ¼.000, p>0.05;
thus, although both classes showed in-
creases from pre‐to post‐survey in the
averages for this variable, the changes from
pre‐to post‐survey were not statistically
significant. However, the repeated‐measures
TABLE 1
Chart of Students’Interest in Cultural Learning
Class Interest in Cultural
Learning Before
Exchange
Interest in Cultural
Learning After Exchange
German Class 5.61 5.35
N¼19 (SD: 0.49) (SD: 0.77)
U.S. Class 5.84 5.75
N¼19 (SD: 0.32) (SD: 0.29)
TABLE 2
Chart of Students’View of the Importance of Cultural Learning
Class Importance of
Cultural Learning
Before Exchange
Importance of
Cultural Learning
After Exchange
German Class 4.78 4.88
N¼19 (SD: 0.79) (SD: 0.77)
U.S. Class 5.42 5.55
N¼19 (SD: 0.79) (SD: 0.40)
Foreign Language Annals VOL. 46, NO. 3 497
ANOVA showed statistically significant
between‐subjects effects, F(1) ¼13.214,
p¼0.001, indicating that the American
class valued culture as a part of foreign
language instruction significantly more than
the German class did.
In addition to rating the importance of
culture learning highly on the Likert‐scale
items, 6 of the 19 American students added
optional comments explaining why they
found it important to learn about culture
while learning a foreign language. They
mentioned, for example, the connection
between language and culture (E001,
E018), that knowing culture is important
“in learning the context of the language”
(E002), “in order to understand language
development”(E012), and because it “helps
progress the language”(E003). On the post‐
surveys, five American students also added
optional comments on the Likert‐scale items
expressing a similar opinion. Students
emphasized that “You must learn about
the culture [because] culture plays a role in
language learning”(E006) and that “culture
teaches a lot about the country as well as
why people say certain things”(E017). They
also mentioned that knowing culture helped
when learning the language and that
language and culture are interconnected.
On both the pre‐and post‐surveys, the
American students commented positively
on the importance of culture in foreign
language instruction.
Of all the students for whom data were
collected on the pre‐survey, only one student
from the American class (E018) did not
express a positive attitude about the impor-
tance of culture, noting before the exchange
that the target culture “sometimes feels
irrelevant and Vergangenheitsbewältigung
[coming to terms with the past] got overdone
last semester.”After completing the ex-
change, this student stated that she liked
learning German but “not as much the
culture.”Nonetheless, this same student did
acknowledge the connection between lan-
guage and culture before the exchange,
commenting on the pre‐survey that “culture
and language go together”and that “culture
influences the language and vice versa.”The
student’s assessment of the importance of
cultural learning appears to have been
impacted by her previous experience of
learning about culture, which seemed to
have focused more exclusively on historical
events and perspectives rather than a broader
range of topics.
Like their American counterparts, most
German students indicated on the pre‐
survey that learning about culture was
very important. Some of their arguments
included the role of culture in understand-
ing the language, the way members of the
target community think, and behavioral
norms including both speech and gestures
so as to avoid offending others as well as to
communicate more effectively. Post‐survey
responses of the German students revealed
a similar assessment of the role of culture
in foreign language learning. Congruent
with many comments by the American
students, many German students again
remarked that learning culture was impor-
tant in order to better learn and speak
the language. One student, for example,
explained that “um eine Sprache auch
erfolgreich anzuwenden müsste man auch
kulturelle Hintergründe kennen [in order to
be able to use a language successfully one
would also have to know the cultural
backgrounds]”(K003).
Four German students also believed
that culture should be more explicitly taught
in their foreign language classes or that they
should learn to draw more connections
between language and culture. In contrast,
four other German students did not find
cultural learning to be as important, noting
that culture already played an important role
in their English classes and that they had
learned, or were already learning, enough
about culture. Three other students, who
had emphasized the importance of learning
the English language, explained in their
answers that knowing the target culture was
not important, absolutely necessary, or
relevant in order to learn the language.
Thus, only a minority of German students,
16 and 21%, respectively, believed that
498 FALL 2013
culture learning was not important for
learning a language and that culture did
not have to be emphasized in their English
courses. In summary, the overwhelming
majority of German and American students
believed in the importance of cultural
learning as part of foreign language instruc-
tion both before and after the exchange.
Discussion and Summary
The virtual exchange project reported here
investigated (1) students’interest in cultural
learning and (2) students’beliefs about the
importance of learning about culture in
their language classes. The results revealed
that, both before and after participation
in the electronic cross‐cultural exchange,
both the American and the German students
were highly interested in learning about
culture in the foreign language classroom
and that they believed that learning about
the target culture should be included in their
foreign language classes. Although few
significant differences were found, the
findings still have important implications
for curriculum design and instruction.
First, the American students deemed
cultural learning to be significantly more
important than the German students, per-
haps due to differences in the role of culture
in foreign language curricula in German
and U.S. educational institutions. In
Germany, foreign languages and cultures
play a much larger role and students become
acquainted with other languages and cul-
tures both at an earlier age and throughout
their education. In contrast, in many
language classes in the United States,
instructors may incorporate culture on an
inconsistent basis, emphasize only a few
aspects of culture, or neglect the teaching of
culture because they see linguistic compe-
tence or curriculum coverage as the ultimate
learning goals (Lang‐Melcher, 2000). Stu-
dents’beliefs about the essential relationship
between language and culture combined
with the profession’s understanding of the
importance of culture in foreign language
learning calls for increased attention
toward, and class time devoted to, culture
in postsecondary education.
In addition to preferring a stronger
focus on an integrated approach of teaching
language and culture, students reported
having the greatest interest in learning about
varied topics related to daily living, a finding
that replicates an earlier study on students’
cultural interests in German classes (De-
chert & Kastner, 1989). This suggests that
there has been little change in the aspects of
German culture about which students enjoy
learning most. Thus, providing students
with the opportunity to explore an array of
cultural practices, products, and perspec-
tives by means of a virtual exchange not
only addresses their interests but also
prepares them to live in a pluralistic and
multicultural society at home and, in
addition, may prepare them to more suc-
cessfully integrate into and appreciate the
culture when abroad.
While other studies have reported an
increase in students’learning interest and
motivation because of participation in
synchronous computer‐mediated commu-
nication (Donaldson & Kötter, 1999;
Sun, 2009), this study confirmed that
students’motivation remained high
throughout the 12‐week, primarily asyn-
chronous, exchange. The fact that students’
interest in learning about the target culture
did not decrease can be regarded as a
positive effect of the exchange. A similar
result also emerged after a six‐week tele-
collaborative exchange (Schenker, 2012).
This further confirms Cohen’s (2005) sug-
gestion that an e‐mail partnership may be a
successful tool for motivating students to
learn more about the target language and
culture.
As instructors often have difficulties
effectively incorporating culture throughout
the foreign language curriculum, a virtual
exchange of the nature outlined in this study
can offer a comprehensive, standards‐based
approach to thoroughly and methodically
integrating language and culture during
instruction. Not only does a virtual
exchange with members of the target
Foreign Language Annals VOL. 46, NO. 3 499
community give students increased oppor-
tunities for cultural learning, but it also
simultaneously offers them opportunities
for meaningful, personal, and authentic
communication as well as opportunities to
engage in cross‐cultural and cross‐lingual
comparisons and thus better understand
their own language and culture.
Perhaps of greater importance, virtual
exchanges like the one described here
provide students with opportunities to
become part of, and connect with, a learning
community that extends beyond the class-
room. It is particularly important to note
that, once relationships were established,
many students contacted their partners
outside of the context of the exchange via
Facebook and Skype, and some students met
each other face‐to‐face during subsequent
study abroad trips. These benefits highlight
the exchange’s important function in help-
ing students to become lifelong learners of
language and culture. Thus, including
virtual exchanges in foreign language edu-
cation allows instructors to target almost all
of the goal areas of the National Standards
(1999) by offering opportunities for stu-
dents to:
engage in interpersonal, interpretive, and
presentational communication in a lan-
guage other than English (Standards 1.1,
1.2, and 1.3);
understand the practices, products, and
perspectives of the target culture and
compare those with one’s own (Standards
2.1, 2.2 and 4.2);
connect with others and their diverse
points of view (Standard 3.1); and
participate in multilingual communities
at home and abroad (Standard 5.1).
Virtual exchanges can be incorporated
at all levels of K–16 foreign language
instruction using a variety of approaches
including asynchronous e‐mail exchanges,
discussion forums and blogs, synchronous
class‐on‐class videoconferences, text‐or
voice‐based chat exchanges, or class‐on‐
class participation in a chat room.
Limitations and Future
Research
Lack of a control group was a limitation in
this study. Including a control group that
does not participate in a virtual exchange
would help validate the effects of virtual
exchanges. In addition, because students’
initial interest in cultural learning was very
high, measuring change was difficult. To
minimize the ceiling effect in future studies,
a more nuanced assessment of students’
interest, both before and after the exchange,
should be considered. Additional open‐
ended questions specifically targeting
students’interests along with a finer assess-
ment scale and oral interviews could also
provide the data necessary to triangulate the
effects of the virtual exchange on students’
interest in cultural learning. Moreover, a
larger sample focusing on majors and non‐
majors both in different languages and at
different levels of language learning would
help answer the research questions.
Conclusion
After conducting a study on students’
motivations for learning Spanish as a foreign
language, Ely (1986) suggested that in order
to increase students’interest in learning
about the target culture, “various aspects of
that culture can be presented in an appro-
priately sensitive, sophisticated, informa-
tive, and attractive manner”(p. 32).
Similarly, 2 of the 10 recommendations
made by Dörnyei and Csizér (1998) about
how to best motivate learners were (1) mak-
ing the language class interesting and
(2) promoting learner autonomy. The
virtual exchange conducted in this study
presents an example of how language classes
could be made more interesting and become
more fully standards‐based while also fos-
tering student autonomy through tandem e‐
mail partnerships. The information that
students received about German culture
through the virtual exchange may be a good
example of how culture can be presented in
an attractive way to maintain high levels of
interest and hopefully motivate learners to
500 FALL 2013
continue to study, and to find ways to use,
the new language within and beyond their
educational experiences. Combining part-
ner e‐mails with group‐to‐group videocon-
ferences and reflective blogs allowed
students not only to get to know one or
two exchange partners more closely, but
also to learn from the opinions and
experiences of the other students from
both classes. This made the exchange a
truly collaborative, cross‐cultural learning
experience through which all students
became members of a learning community.
The virtual exchange presented in this
article models a truly standards‐based
approach to language education that gives
students the opportunity to enhance their
understanding of German culture, improve
their language skills through authentic
open‐ended communication as well as
guided comparative discussions, and be-
come members of cross‐cultural and cross‐
lingual communities inside and outside of
their classroom. It is an ideal project to
successfully combine the learning of lan-
guage and culture in a student‐centered
manner.
Notes
1. See Appendix for survey.
2. See Appendix for complete list of topics
and schedule of project.
3. In this article, German class refers to the
German students in Germany enrolled in
the advanced English course. U.S. class
refers to the U.S. students in the United
States enrolled in the German course.
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Submitted October 2, 2012
Accepted May 31, 2013
APPENDIX
Survey Culture and Language Learning
(A) Please answer the following questions.
Name: ______________________________ Major: __________________________
Gender: FMAge: 15‐17 18‐20 21‐23 24‐26 27‐29 30‐32 33‐35
1. Why are you studying German?
2. What German classes are you taking this semester?
3. What is culture? (How would you define culture?)
4. What skills (or knowledge) do you think you need for successfully communicating with
people from a different cultural background?
5. How do you think you can best learn a foreign language?
6. Do you think connecting language learners online can help you develop your language
skills? Explain!
7. Are you aware of differences and similarities between German and U.S. culture? (Give
some examples!)
8. What is your attitude toward (a) learning German and (b) about German culture?
502 FALL 2013
9. How would you evaluate your skills for communicating with people from a different
cultural background?
10. How would you evaluate your knowledge of German history, politics, and social norms,
and the way these have shaped German life and culture?
(B) Please indicate your agreement/disagreement with the following statements by
choosing:
(1) strongly disagree (2) disagree (3) somewhat disagree (4) somewhat agree (5) agree
(6) strongly agree
You may add additional comments in the space below each statement.
1. When learning a foreign language, it
is not important to learn about the
foreign culture.
1 2345 6
strongly strongly
disagree agree
Explain:
2. I am interested in learning more
about German culture.
1 2345 6
strongly strongly
Explain: disagree agree
3. There should be a strong focus on
culture in foreign language classes.
1 2345 6
strongly strongly
Explain: disagree agree
4. It is important to learn about the
foreign culture when learning a
foreign language.
1 2345 6
strongly strongly
disagree agree
Explain:
5. I have no interest in gaining more
knowledge about German culture.
1 2345 6
strongly strongly
Explain: disagree agree
6. There is no need to emphasize
culture in foreign language classes.
1 2345 6
strongly strongly
Explain: disagree agree
7. Communicating via the Internet with
students from Germany does not
intrigue me.
1 2345 6
strongly strongly
disagree agree
Explain:
8. Using online communication with
Germans does not have an impact on
my German language skills.
1 2345 6
strongly strongly
disagree agree
Explain:
9. I can learn a lot about German
culture by talking to German
speakers online.
1 2345 6
strongly strongly
disagree agree
Explain:
10. I find no pleasure in learning about
other cultures.
1 2345 6
strongly strongly
Explain: disagree agree
Foreign Language Annals VOL. 46, NO. 3 503
11. Please rate the following items by importance. (1 ¼most important; 5 ¼least important)
In my foreign language classes:
____ I am particularly interested in learning how to write better in the foreign language.
____ I am particularly interested in learning how to speak in the foreign language.
____ I am particularly interested in learning how to read in the foreign language.
____ I am particularly interest in learning how to understand (listening to) the language.
____ I am particularly interested in learning more about the culture.
Post‐Survey Only:
C. Please answer the following questions! You may write as much or as little as you want.
1. What did you like about the e‐mail exchange?
2. What did you learn from the e‐mail exchange?
3. Did you encounter any problems with the e‐mail exchange? If so, what were they and how
were they resolved?
4. Do you consider yourself to be a more successful intercultural communicator because of
what you learned from the exchange? If so why? If not, why not?
5. Do you think your language skills have improved because of the e‐mail exchange? If so,
can you explain how (or in which areas)?
6. What have you learned about German culture or language, or communicating with
individuals from Germany, that you did not know before the exchange?
7. Has your attitude toward learning German, or learning about German culture, or toward
individuals from Germany changed because of your participation in the exchange? If so,
how?
8. Did you learn anything about yourself or your own culture through the exchange? If yes,
what?
9. Are there other topics you would have liked to discuss?
10. Do you have further comments about the e‐mail exchange, the blogs, or the
videoconferences?
11. Below is a list of topics you discussed during the e‐mail exchange. Please rate each topic
from 1 to 5 (1 ¼enjoyable, 5 ¼enjoyable) according to your enjoyment of discussing
the topic!
11. Communicating electronically with
speakers from Germany can help me
improve my language skills.
1 2345 6
strongly strongly
disagree agree
Explain:
12. I enjoy learning about other cul-
tures.
1 2345 6
strongly strongly
Explain: disagree agree
13. Communicating electronically with
speakers from the target language is
not a good way to learn more about
the target culture.
1 2345 6
strongly strongly
disagree agree
Explain:
14. I am interested in communicating
online with students from Germany.
1 2345 6
strongly strongly
Explain: disagree agree
504 FALL 2013
a. ___ Free time
b. ___ Sports
c. ___Educational systems
d. ___ German and U.S. identity
e. ___ Multiculturalism
f. ___ Family
g. ___ Friends
h. ___ Violence
i. ___ Recent History
j. ___ Culture
Virtual Exchange Schedule and E‐Mail Topics
Week 1
Explanation of exchange in class and selection of partners
Completion of pre‐surveys in class
Week 2
First, informal contact between partners
Videoconference 1 (in English)
Week 3
E‐mail topic: What do students do in their free time in Germany and the United States?
What do students like to read? Do students read the same things in school or at university
as they like to read in their free time? Do you have a favorite book?
E‐mails 1 and 2
Week 4
Winter break in Germany; no official tasks; students should try to maintain contact
Week 5
E‐mail topic: What is the role of sports in the United States and Germany? Do you play
any sports or are you fan of a specific sport?
E‐mails 3 and 4
Blog entry 1
Blog reaction 1 (write a comment on one of your classmate’s blogs)
Week 6
E‐mail topic: Describe the educational system in Germany or the United States! How do
the educational systems differ? What do students study at high school and at university?
Have there been any trends or recent changes to the educational systems? What do you
think of the two educational systems?
E‐mails 5 and 6
Foreign Language Annals VOL. 46, NO. 3 505
Week 7
E‐mail topic: What does it mean to be German or U.S.‐American? Is this a matter of
citizenship alone, or what makes a person German/American? What do you know about
the laws of immigration and naturalization in your country? What do you think about
these laws and migration in general?
E‐mails 7 and 8
Blog entry 2
Blog reaction 2
Week 8
E‐mail topic: What do you think about multiculturalism? What do you think characterizes
multiculturalism? What are advantages and disadvantages of a multicultural society?
E‐mails 9 and 10
Spring Break in the USA
No official topics; no official tasks; students should try to maintain
contact
Week 9
E‐mail topic: What role does family play in your life? What is your family life like? What
does a typical day look like in your home? Have the roles everyone has in your family
changed over time? How important is family for the individual and for the society in
Germany and the United States?
E‐mails 11 and 12
Blog entry 3
Blog reaction 3
Week 10
E‐mail topic: One topic in the novel Der Mond isst die Sterne auf is violence. Are there
instances of violence in your environment, and how do you and others deal with this? Do
you think there are instances where violence is morally justified?
E‐mails 13 and 14
Week 11
E‐mail topic: What does it mean to be a good friend? What role do friends play in your
life? How do students of your age spend their time together? How important is friendship
to you?
E‐mails 15 and 16
Blog entry 4
Blog reaction 4
Week 12
E‐mail topic: What role do recent historical events play in the Germany and the United
States (e.g., 9/11 or the economic crisis, the introduction of the euro)
E‐mails 17 and 18
506 FALL 2013
Week 13
E‐mail topic: In your opinion, what are the greatest differences between German and U.S.
culture? Are there similarities as well? What do you think is typically German or
typically U.S.‐American? Do you have prejudices or stereotypes about the other culture, or
do you know any about your own that other people might have? How could you help
eliminate stereotypes and prejudices?
E‐mails 19 and 20
Blog entry 5
Blog reaction 5
Videoconference 2 (in German)
Week 14
Easter break in Germany
No official tasks; students should try to maintain contact
Week 15
Easter break in Germany
No official tasks; students should try to maintain contact
Completion of post‐surveys in class
Final in‐class discussion and wrap‐up of exchange
Foreign Language Annals VOL. 46, NO. 3 507
