Faculty Collaboration Issues in the Internet-based Intercultural Language Learning and Teaching Projects
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to identify the issues related to the faculty-coordinators and school administrators that contribute to successful and unsuccessful telecommunications projects. In an Internet-based connection, US pre-service teachers and Taiwanese college students were matched one-on-one to practice online English teaching/learning. During this connection, seven faculty-coordinators from different cultural backgrounds were involved in planning and moderating the correspondence. This study investigates the data collected from these coordinators. The sources of data include coordinators’ e-mail correspondence, formal interviews, and project documents. The research data are analyzed following the naturalistic paradigm. The results of this study will provide insights for distance foreign language educators and the school administrators on establishing teacher training sessions in distance education and assist their designs for online courses or tele-connections in the future.