Intercultural competence in synchronous communication between native and non-native speakers of Spanish

Abstract

This paper discusses to what extent synchronous communication via Skype by Argentine university students of History and Danish university studentsof Spanish contributed to fostering intercultural competence in the twogroups of participants. Intercultural gains are considered both as part of theplanned tasks to be solved by the participants (intentional learning) and in thespontaneous communication that arose in the course of the Skype conversations (incidental learning). The overall objective of this telecollaboration project has been the promotion of intercultural competence, with particular focus on thelearning and teaching of Argentine regional history. Several tools, synchronousand asynchronous, were used for this purpose. The focus of the present paperwill be the analysis of instances of intercultural awareness observed in Skypeconversations, and of the affordances and obstacles that this modality of communication seems to pose for the native and non-native participants.