engaging study abroad students in intercultural learning through blogging and ethnographic...

FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANNALS · VOL. 45, NO. 1 7

Lina Lee (PhD, University of Texas at Austin) is Professor of Spanish at the Univer-sity of New Hampshire, Durham.

Engaging Study Abroad Students in Intercultural Learning Through Blogging and Ethnographic Interviews

Lina LeeUniversity of New Hampshire

Abstract: The study involved 16 American undergraduate students who used weekly blogs and conducted ethnographic interviews with native speakers to develop their intercul-tural competence over the course of one semester abroad. Selected blog entries, post-surveys, and fi nal interviews were collected and analyzed to report the fi ndings. The results show that blog tasks afforded additional opportunities for students to refl ect upon cross-cultural issues and exchange cultural perspectives with native informants. Blog entries indicate that students demonstrated various stages of intercultural competence from understanding cul-tural differences to demonstrating attitudes of openness and appreciation for the target cul-ture. The study concludes that the accessibility to networking, the option of using the fi rst language (L1) for self-refl ection, and effective strategies for interpersonal communication are essential to maximize the potential of blogs for intercultural learning.

Key words: blogs, ethnographic interviews, intercultural learning, study abroad

IntroductionWith the ever-increasing mobility of people throughout the world, globalization has cre-ated a pluralistic community of diversity and co-existence. The need for foreign language (L2) learners to develop intercultural communicative competence (ICC) has been strongly advocated as an essential component in L2 instruction. According to Byram (1997), ICC encompasses a constantly evolving process of developing cultural knowledge, the skills of discovery and interaction with others, open attitudes, and critical awareness. Common belief suggests that formal classroom instruction alone is not suffi cient and that close interaction with native speakers (NSs) through cultural immersion is vital for students to gain ICC. Accordingly, many L2 programs have integrated overseas experience as part of degree requirements into their curriculum. However, simply living abroad does not automatically lead to linguistic gains and intercultural awareness (Byram & Feng, 2006; Freed, 1995; Pellegrino, 2005). Given that many students struggle to understand cross-cultural issues encountered during their sojourns abroad, how can we maximize their study abroad (SA) experience and engage them in meaningful intercultural exchanges?

Foreign Language Annals, Vol. 45, Iss. 1, pp. 7–21. © 2012 by American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. DOI: 10.111/j.1944-9720.2012.01164.x.

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Among other approaches to intercul-tural learning, blog technology has been increasingly used to foster cross-cultural communication and awareness (Ducate & Lomicka, 2008; Elola & Oskoz, 2008; Lee, 2009b; Pinkman, 2005). Given that blogs are asynchronous modes of computer-mediated communication (CMC), students write at their own pace without time pres-sure, which allows them to refl ect critically upon the content (Hourigan & Murray, 2010; Lee, 2010). In addition to encour-aging self-refl ection, blogs evolve into a dynamic and interactive network where students share and exchange ideas through responses with comments. L2 researchers have stressed that intercultural learning should move away from focusing on factual knowledge gains to examining the process of developing ICC (Bateman, 2002). To this end, ethnographic interviews as part of CMC have been employed to promote the understanding of deep cultural meanings from the point of view of a culture’s mem-bers (Byram & Feng, 2006; O’Dowd, 2006). Through the lenses of an insider’s perspec-tive, students learn about themselves by refl ecting on their own values and beliefs.

To expand the existing research and share further insights on how digital tech-nologies support intercultural learning, this study explores how the use of asynchronous CMC via blogs in conjunction with face-to-face (FTF) interaction with native informants fosters the development of students’ intercul-tural knowledge and skills in the SA setting.

Review of the LiteratureDevelopment of ICCWhile there may never be a consensus among L2 educators as to how to develop and assess ICC, Byram’s (1997) ICC model as a concep-tual framework consisting of four interrelated components—knowledge, skills, attitudes, and awareness—appears to be the most frequently adapted approach (see Byram, 1997, pp. 50–63 for details). Within this framework, the goal is to promote in-depth cultural learning that goes beyond the super-

fi cial “facts only” approach. To become com-petent intercultural speakers, learners need to be open-minded to people of other cul-tures so that they understand cross-cultural perspectives with a nonjudgmental attitude and respect (Bennett, 1993). In the process of developing ICC, learners are encouraged to critically refl ect upon cultural similarities and differences and further develop the abil-ity to tolerate differences that allow them to handle everyday situations encountered in the host country (Byram, 2000). Once learn-ers develop their cultural awareness through personal discovery and social engagements, they reduce their ethnocentrism and show appreciation for other cultures. Deardorff (2006) concluded that the more positive the attitude that students show,, the more knowl-edge and skills they will develop. Further-more, the more often students refl ect upon cross-cultural issues, the higher the degree of ICC they will achieve.

Students can achieve ICC through FTF in an immersion context (e.g., SA) or CMC exchange (e.g., telecollaboration). Within the immersion setting, researchers have employed both quantitative and qualitative methods, such as surveys (e.g., Deardorff, 2006), refl ective journals (e.g., Jackson, 2005), and cultural portfolios (e.g., Byram, 2005) to understand the process of intercul-tural learning and document its outcomes. The results showed that learners devel-oped various stages of ICC from adapta-tion to integration to the local community (Burnett & Gardner, 2006) and gained in-depth understanding of the host culture (Alred, Byram, & Fleming, 2003; Schuetze, 2008). For example, in her study using a pretest and posttest to measure students’ cross-cultural adaptability and sensitiv-ity, Williams (2005) found that the major-ity of the students exhibited a greater change in their intercultural skills after one semester studying abroad. Researchers have discussed a number of possible fac-tors infl uencing the success of SA, includ-ing active interaction with the host culture and families (Kinginger, 2004; Knight & Schmidt-Rinehart, 2010; Wilkinson, 2002),


cultural awareness. For example, Ducate and Lomicka (2008) found that L2 learners benefi ted from reading the blogs of NSs. As a result, their reading skills and vocabulary in the target language were enhanced. Using Byram’s (2000) assessment guidelines, Elola and Oskoz (2008) reported that the use of blogs enabled both SA and at-home stu-dents not only to exchange cultural knowl-edge from personal perspectives but also to develop their ICC. Similarly, in her recent study of Spanish-American intercultural exchange, Lee (2009b) found that various blog tasks afforded unique opportunities for students to exchange cultural perspectives and raise their awareness of cross-cultural issues. Despite the positive effects of blogs on intercultural learning, Carney (2007) argued that the post-comment structure of blogs results in brief exchange and lack of continuity. Thus, instructors should fi nd ways, such as using guided questions, to engage students in refl ective thinking in order to develop a deeper cultural exchange.

In addition to blog exchanges, learner ethnography often fosters real-world inter-action in which an insider perspective is revealed in order to better understand cross-cultural differences. According to Spradley (1980), “Ethnography offers us the chance to step outside of our narrow cultural back-grounds, to set aside our socially inherited ethnocentrism, if only for a brief period, and to apprehend the world from the viewpoint of other human beings who live by differ-ent meaning systems” (pp. vii–viii). To this view, ethnography relies primarily on an in-depth understanding of the values, beliefs, and attitudes underlying the behaviors of others through fi rst-hand observations (L. Q. Allen, 2000). Research fi ndings have shown that ethnography promotes learners’ openness and curiosity toward the target culture and raises cross-cultural aware-ness (Bateman, 2002; Roberts, 2003). For example, Su (2008) examined the effects of using the ethnographic interview pro-ject on the development of students’ inter-cultural awareness and skills. The fi ndings indicated that Taiwanese students learned

self-identifying (Pellegrino, 2005), and lan-guage skills and motivations (L. Q. Allen, 2000; DuFon & Churchill, 2006; Isabelli-Garcia, 2006; Jackson, 2008).

When FTF interaction is not possible, efforts have been made to use CMC for intercultural exchange (e.g., Belz, 2003; Lee, 2009b; O’Dowd & Ritter, 2006). Research fi ndings revealed that in addition to linguistic and pragmatic gains (Kinginger & Belz, 2005), students gained cross-cultural perspectives through critical refl ec-tion and interacting with NSs (Abrams, 2002; Liaw, 2006; O’Dowd, 2006). For example, the results of the study conducted by Jin and Erben (2007) showed that stu-dents of Chinese developed greater inter-cultural sensitivity and showed respect for cultural differences through an online exchange via instant messenger. The pro-cess of analyzing and refl ecting on native informants’ perspectives enables students as outsiders to learn about the cultural frame-work governing the what, how, and why of insiders’ expressions in everyday interac-tions. Successful intercultural exchange via CMC, however, relies on openness toward the target culture and willingness to resolve misunderstandings (O’Dowd, 2006).

Intercultural Learning: Blogging and Ethnographic Interviewing Apart from Web 1.0 technology (e-mail, chat, discussion board), instructors have increasingly employed blogs as one of the Web 2.0 tools for different instructional purposes (e.g., Armstrong & Retterer, 2008; Bloch, 2007; Churchill, 2009; Lee, 2009a; Murray & Hourigan, 2008; Pinkman, 2005). For example, personal blogs are collections of online journals that foster refl ective learning (e.g., Lee, 2010; Yang, 2009), whereas collective blogs involve an entire class or small groups of students who collaboratively construct L2 knowl-edge (Lee, 2009b). Using a socio-cognitive approach, researchers have designed blogs primarily for cross-cultural exchange to promote global communication and inter-

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ject in fall 2009. All participants completed a questionnaire concerning their personal, educational, and linguistic backgrounds. They ranged from 18 to 22 years old. The students consisted of sophomores (n � 7), juniors (n � 8), and a senior (n � 1). The majority of the students were either Span-ish majors (n � 7) or minors (n � 6). The majority of the students had three years of Spanish in high school and had completed one full year of college-level intermediate Spanish. Thus, they had suffi cient language skills2 to participate in the project. Most of them did not have the experience of deal-ing with NSs prior to their SA. During the course of one semester abroad, students lived with host families, took classes at the CML, and participated in cultural activities arranged by the SA programs. None of them had used blogs prior to the project.

NSs (n � 26) ranging in age from 17 to 64 from local communities and the University of Granada agreed to partici-pate in the project. More than 70% of the NSs (n � 19) had experience dealing with American students, as they were host fam-ily members with whom the students lived or conversation exchange partners from the CML. In addition to having regular interac-tions with the students at home or outside of class, the NSs assisted students in ethno-graphic interviews3 and participated in the class blog discussions.

ProcedureAs part of the coursework, students car-ried out three types of blog tasks in Spanish throughout the semester (see Table 1). For personal blogs, students were encouraged to observe and refl ect upon cultural differences through which they would bring their own perspectives to underlying values of the host culture. Personal blogs were intended to promote self-expression and self-refl ection rather than idea exchange. Students there-fore were not required to read and comment on each other’s posts. As the students were still developing their interlanguage and did not have suffi cient linguistic knowledge to

to view their own culture in new ways and increased their confi dence in using the tar-get language to communicate with English speakers. Similarly, Jackson (2008) reported on an ethnographic case study of Chinese students living abroad showing that stu-dents’ progress in their intercultural sensi-tivity and understanding increased after a 5-week SA in England.

Based on the above discussions on ICC, blog technology, and ethnographic approaches to intercultural learning, the current study aimed to (1) develop learn-ers’ intercultural knowledge and awareness through refl ective blogs, and (2) foster cross-cultural communication through ethno-graphic interviews with native informants.

MethodologySetting and GoalsThe project involved 16 American stu-dents from two SA programs sponsored by the Center of Modern Languages (CML) at the University of Granada in Spain. The researcher and the partner instructor were resident directors, and they each taught a similar course regarding the language and culture of Spain. To provide students with increased opportunities to explore the target culture and interact with NSs outside of class, they worked closely to design the project, which was part of the course assignments outlined in the syllabus.1 Blog technology fostered critical refl ection on cross-cultural issues, whereas FTF interviews offered real-time intercultural dialogue with NSs. The course management system Blackboard sup-plemented course materials and organized assignments. The researcher and partner instructor adopted Blogger, a free software program, to create blogs because they were not available in Blackboard at the researcher’s institution. Students received a brief training on how to use Blogger in a computer lab at the beginning of the semester.

ParticipantsSixteen American students from two SA programs in Spain participated in the pro-


In addition to personal blogs, the researcher set up a class blog to open an exchange space where students shared and negotiated their understanding of cul-tural issues through responses with com-ments. For weekly assignments, students read topic-specifi c readings, participated in

make error correction, the instructor pro-vided them with feedback by writing com-ments on incorrect usage of lexical items and grammatical structures on their entries. After receiving the instructor’s feedback via e-mail, students made error corrections by editing the entries on their blogs.

TABLE 1

Description of Three Types of Blogs

Blog Type Description of Task Time Period

Personal blog

Each student is responsible for keeping a personal blog. The blog serves as a personal diary in which you write refl ective observations about various aspects of the Spanish culture and address cultural differences from your own perspectives. To make meaningful cross-cultural observations, you should pay attention to current events, popular culture, native speakers’ behaviors and attitudes, and your surroundings (e.g., at home, on the street, or in school). You are required to write three weekly entries through which you critically refl ect on the chosen topics. Each entry should have approximately 150–200 words in Spanish. You are strongly encouraged to take pictures from cultural activities and incorporate them into your blog.

September 2 to October 29

Class blog After completing weekly assignments on readings, cultural activities, and/or ethnographic interviews, you should post a 200-word entry to share your observations. You are strongly encouraged to ask questions regarding the assigned topic and make comments on others’ postings. Be sure to upload each interview to the blog for others to view. It is recommended that you use external resources (e.g., YouTube video clips, external links) to support the content.

September 3 to November 24

Project blog

For this project, you choose a topic that interests you the most and create a blog to compile and share information. You are required to read a minimum of three articles and conduct a minimum of two interviews with expert speakers to fi nd out their own perspectives about the topic. You analyze the readings and interviews, and then write about your own observations. Be sure to upload the interviews and add additional sources (e.g., newspapers, podcasts, videos) to the blog.

November 10 to December 8

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quantitative (post-surveys). The online sur-vey consisted of 10 statements. A 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (1 � Strongly Disagree) to 5 (5 � Strongly Agree) gauged students’ reactions to the project. Students indicated their level of satisfaction by ranking each statement from 1 to 5. Open-ended fi nal interview questions were used to obtain additional observations and offer suggestions for improvement. Selective post-ings from personal and class blogs6 provided additional evidence to illustrate and support the fi ndings. Using Bennett’s (1993) intercul-tural sensitivity7 and Byram’s (1997) model of ICC,8 the researcher performed a content analysis of blog entries to determine if inter-cultural learning took place. The discussion centers around two major fi ndings: (1) the effectiveness of refl ective blogs on the devel-opment of ICC, and (2) the affordances of ethnographic interviews for ICC.

Findings and DiscussionThe Effectiveness of Refl ective Blogs on the Development of ICC Based on the mean score displayed in Table 2, students reacted positively to the project. The high rating indicates that they were satisfi ed with the results (state-ment 10). For many students, the project afforded them increased opportunities to interact with local people in a meaningful way, as this student explained during the fi nal interview:

For me, the project opened doors to all kinds of learning from observing peo-ple’s behaviors and attitudes toward others to exchanging cross-cultural perspectives with native speakers. This project helped me to gain a better understanding of the Spanish culture and I learned to appreciate it.

More than 80% of the students viewed blogs as an effective tool for intercultural learning (statement 1). They enjoyed the experience and found it rewarding. The fol-lowing quotation illustrates the student’s positive view of blogging:

cultural activities (e.g., fi lms, plays, excur-sions), and conducted interviews with NSs. For example, one of topics was about immi-grants in Spain. Students fi rst read the poem Piénsalo (“Think About It”) by the Spanish poet Luis García Montero and viewed YouTube video clips regarding immigra-tion issues. They then attended the play La vida por delante, a story about immigrants, in a local theater. Finally, they interviewed their NS partners to gain individual perspec-tives on immigration issues. It should be noted that ethnographic interviews were an integral part of blog assignments. To facili-tate the interviewing process, the instructor provided students with guidelines and they spent one class practicing interview tech-niques, such as asking structural and contrast questions (see Spradley, 1979, for informa-tion). All interviews were recorded using a digital audio or video recorder4 owned by one of the SA programs. Students uploaded the recorded interviews5 to the class blog for viewing. Finally, students spent 5 weeks conducting a cultural project by choosing a particular aspect of Spanish culture that most interested them (see Table 1 for details).

At the end of the semester, the researcher created an online survey hosted by SurveyMonkey.com to gauge students’ views of the effectiveness of blogs and FTF interviews for intercultural learning. More than 90% of the students (n � 15) vol-untarily completed the post-survey. The researcher also conducted fi nal interviews to gather additional feedback and to secure an in-depth understanding of how students’ experiences with the blog project affected the way they viewed intercultural learning. Final interviews took place within a group of three or four students to create an inter-active dialogue between the students and the researcher. Each group interview lasted approximately one hour and was recorded digitally for data analysis.

Data Collection and AnalysisData collection included both qualitative data (blog entries, fi nal interviews) and


themselves fully using the L2. The fi nding suggests that the use of the fi rst language (L1) should be an option because it would allow students to better refl ect on their cross-cultural perspectives, as supported by CMC researchers (Elola & Oskoz, 2008; O’Dowd, 2006).

The high rating (mean � 4.13) of blog types used for the project indicates that the majority of the students were in favor of using personalized and interactive blogs (statement 2). Nearly 80% of the students agreed that they benefi ted from writing blog refl ections and receiving valuable com-ments from their peers (statement 3). The most striking fi nding was that regular blog-ging allowed SA students to demonstrate the various stages of their intercultural competence. Students initially expressed feelings of discomfort and somewhat nega-tive attitudes toward the host culture. Sen-tences like No me gusta… (“I don’t like…”) and Me parece raro… (“It seems odd to me…”) or words like “weird,” “bizarre,” “strange,”

Blogging is the best way to keep track of your thoughts over time. It’s like writing a personal online journal that gives you freedom to express yourself and refl ect upon everyday experiences. Looking back what I wrote early [sic], I now realize how much my perceptions of stereotypes have changed. I think every study abroad student should keep a personal blog.

The above comment suggests that blog-ging is a powerful tool for self-refl ection, as reported in Lee’s recent (2010) blog study. Moreover, students noted that regular blog-ging held them accountable for their own learning and decision making. To this end, blogging promotes autonomous learning. Less-self-regulated students, however, found maintaining three weekly entries chal-lenging, as they admitted that they often procrastinated and failed to complete the assignments in a timely manner. Other stu-dents experienced diffi culties expressing

TABLE 2

Student Perspectives of the Blog Project

Statements of the Survey Mean SD

1. Blogging was an effective way to gain cultural knowledge and awareness.

4.07 0.59

2. I liked how each type of blog (personal, class, and project blog) was implemented in the project.

4.13 0.52

3. I benefi ted from writing refl ective entries and reading my peers’ entries and comments.

3.87 0.35

4. I preferred writing blog entries to the paper format writing. 3.47 0.64

5. Tasks for the blog assignments (e.g., free and instructor-chosen topics) were interesting and stimulating.

4.33 0.49

6. I enjoyed conducting oral interviews with native speakers. 4.20 0.56

7. I found ethnographic interviews engaging and informative. 4.13 0.52

8. Ethnographic interviews allowed me to gain valuable insights into the host culture.

4.27 0.59

9. Refl ecting upon the informants’ responses/comments helped me better understand my own culture.

4.07 0.46

10. Overall, I had a positive experience with the project. 4.20 0.68

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The students’ blog posts were arranged in chronological order and were archived, allowing for easy retrieval. After review-ing the entries written by this student, the researcher noted that the entries from the third and seventh week demonstrated his ability to change cultural perspectives:

Mi señora siempre me dice que no puedo duchar para mas que cinco minutos. No se por que. Otra cosa es que ella quiere que yo regreso a casa antes de la medianoche si yo salgo con mis amigos. Cosas asi no entiendo y a veces me molesta. Creo que en los Estados Unidos la gente tiene mas libertad para hacer cosas. (Week 3)

(My host mom always tells me that I cannot take a shower for more than fi ve minutes. I don’t know why. Another thing is that she wants me to come home before midnight if I go out with my friends. Things like that I don’t understand and sometimes it bothers me. I think in the United States people have more freedom to do things.)

The above entry shows that the student found housing rules restrictive. By the sev-enth week, he manifested a better under-standing of host living conditions that led him to refl ect on his own culture:

Ahora entiendo por que mi senora me pide apagar la luz cuando no estoy en mi habitacion. El agua y la electricidad son muy caros en España. Creo que son bue-nos habitos. Nosotros no ponemos mucha atencion en cosas asi y gastamos dema-siado. (Week 7)

(Now I understand why my host mom asks me to turn off the light when I am not in my room. Water and electricity are expensive in Spain. I think they are good habits. We do not pay much attention on things like this and we spend too much.)

The fi nding seems to suggest that the bet-ter the attitude the students have toward the host culture, the more it helps them develop intercultural awareness, as pro-posed by Deardorff (2006).

and “surprised” appeared repeatedly to describe their reactions to culture shock at the beginning of blogging. The follow-ing excerpts demonstrate students’ aware-ness of cultural similarities and differences (translated to English):

It is weird that my host mom often gives me cookies for breakfast and we eat a fresh piece of fruit or yogurt after lunch. In the United States we would have pies or cakes for dessert. I do miss fresh baked bagels and donuts in Dunkin’ Donuts.

I’m surprised that here in Spain it’s per-fectly fi ne not to leave tips in restau-rants or tip taxi drivers. I still don’t like the idea of not tipping people for the service. I work as a waitress in the U.S. and I would want people to tip me.

These reactions echo the fi ndings reported in Elola and Oskoz (2008) indicating that blogs enabled SA students to demonstrate their ability to compare and contrast the two cultures, which is fundamental for the development of ICC.

Furthermore, cross-cultural refl ections through blogging revealed that SA students felt capable of dealing with cross-cultural challenges by seeing things from a different point of view (Byram, 2000). For example, this student commented in her blog on the traditional lecture style used by the Spanish professors9:

Clases son muy diferentes. Los profesores hablan todo el tiempo y no hay discu-siones entre nosotros. Es muy difi cil sen-tarse en la clase para dos horas pero los profesores saben mucho y piensan que los estudiantes deben aprender mas sobre la literatura y cultura. Estoy aprendiendo mucho.

(Classes are very different. Professors talk all the time and there are no dis-cussions among us. It is diffi cult to sit in the class for two hours but professors know a lot and they think that students should learn more about the literature and culture. I’m learning a lot.)


or stay in school to do my homework. In school, there were not enough com-puters so I often had to wait to use one. I couldn’t really participate in blog dis-cussions because I had limited access to the Internet.

The comments confi rm those reported in previous studies of CMC indicating that the accessibility of networking becomes essen-tial for network-based learning and further affects students’ motivation (Thorne, 2003; Ware, 2005).

Regarding blog tasks, most students were satisfi ed with both free and instructor-assigned topics (statement 5). They found that using a variety of topics enabled them to explore many facets of the target culture. Table 3 illustrates sample topics for each type of task, which served as a point of departure for blog assignments. While some entries were personal observations about class discussions (e.g., media and press, ethnic diversity in the region of Andalusia), other postings were self-refl ections on cul-tural products, practices, and perspectives (e.g., Spanish food and tips, Western infl u-ence, clothing and fashion, verbal and non-verbal behaviors). In some cases, blog tasks required students to get involved in cultural activities ranging from attending a concert to participating in a cooking lesson. As a result, task-based instruction provided SA students with additional opportunities to interact with the host culture, as reported in previous SA studies (H. W. Allen & Herron, 2003; Knight & Schmidt-Rinehart, 2010).

The Affordances of Ethnographic Interviews for ICCAs shown in Table 2, ethnographic inter-views received a high rating (4.20 out of 5), demonstrating that the majority of the students enjoyed working with NSs (state-ment 6) and found FTF interviews useful and informative (statement 7). Comments drawn from the fi nal interviews showed that ethnography as part of blog tasks not only increased students’ confi dence in using the target language but also facilitated the

In the process of assimilating to the target culture, SA students learned to grow away from ethnocentrism to ethnorela-tivism defi ned10 by Bennett (1993), as illustrated in the following blog posting (translated to English):

I don’t feel that my life in Spain is dif-ferent because I’m used to many things here. When I return to the U.S., the life is going to seem strange. I remember that I have written about my cultural shock, such as food, schedule, and no heat at home. Now I’m totally used to my day being put on pause for 3 hours a day and to eating dinner at 9 p.m. I actually enjoy taking a nap after a big lunch, which I found strange before.

This refl ection illustrates the student’s vari-ous stages of intercultural sensitivity from feeling “strange” (ethnocentric stage) to actually “accepting” and “adapting” (eth-norelative stage) to cultural differences, which helped the student become more interculturally competent.

The post-survey data showed that nearly 70% of the students preferred the blogs to the paper journal writing (state-ment 4). Students found blogging appeal-ing, as they wrote for a broad audience beyond just the instructor (Lee, 2010). They also applauded the availability of using media sources and hyperlinks to sup-port the text content. Some students main-tained that blogging gave them a sense of belonging, as they collaboratively shared and exchanged cultural perspectives in the class blog. However, almost 30% of stu-dents suffered a lack of access to a computer at the host institution or to the Internet in the host family’s house. As a result, these students were frustrated by not being able to participate actively in the blogs. One student, for example, expressed her disap-pointment during the fi nal interview:

I wish I had an option to use paper like a notebook to write journal entries. There was no Internet in my host house so I had to either go to an Internet café

16 SPRING 2012

NS: The truth is that not everyone watches or goes to bullfi ghting shows. I have never seen one and I am against the idea of killing animals. The same thing can be said about fl amenco. Some Spaniards cannot stand fl amenco music. I grew up listening to Paco de Lucia and Moraito. I am passionate about fl amenco. In fact, my friends and I play in a small bar near the Elvira street. You are welcome to come …

Student: Thank you for the invitation. I would like to come. It is interesting to hear what you have just said. I thought all Spaniards were passionate about this sport. It seems to be an important tradition and central to the cultural identity. Now I see that what I think as an American about bullfi ghting is just an example of many stereotypes.

As illustrated in the above example, the informant revealed his own beliefs and atti-tudes toward the traditional Spanish culture that raised questions for the student who drew new meaning, modifi ed perceptions, and more awareness of cultural norms and practices.

process of developing their ICC. The high ratings for statements 8 and 9 indicated that the students viewed the use of inter-views as an effective means of enhancing their understandings of both cultures. Dur-ing the fi nal interview, one student enthusi-astically said:

I would not have gained a deeper understanding of certain aspects of the Spanish culture had I not had the opportunity to interview my host father. It was interesting to learn about the host culture from personal views shared by real people not from a text-book. I became more aware of how I feel about my own culture by listening to and analyzing the information that emerged from the interviews. For me, it is the best way to get to know people from other cultures.

Through the opportunity to interact with native informants, students could also recognize their own perceptions of gener-alizations and stereotypes, as evident in the following excerpt (translated from Spanish):

TABLE 3

Sample Topics for Each Blog Type

Task/Blog Type Sample Topics

Student-chosen topics/personal blog

Schedule, meals, and nap Streets, garbage, and recycling Mediterranean diet, fi nger food, and tipping Family life (host family) and school (classes) Social behaviors and manners

Instructor-selected topics/class blog

Animal rights (e.g., bullfi ghting) Mass communication, television programs, and press Immigration, ethnic groups, and racism Lifestyle and expressions (e.g., no pasa nada)Food and thoughts

Topics of interest/project blog University system and scholarships Health care system and fl u Economic and political issues Immigration in Spain and in the United States Living environment and recycling


Moreover, ethnographic interviews allowed SA students to understand how meaning is used according to its con-text. When translated literally from Span-ish, some words may sound like offensive insults. Depending on the tone and how well one knows the other person, it may not necessarily be treated as an insult. Other-wise, there is a likelihood of confusion and misunderstanding. For example, one stu-dent felt offended by the native informant who constantly used the expression Es de puta madre (“It is incredibly cool”) during the interview. Although puta is a very vulgar slang word, it is commonly used in Spain, especially among young people. Obviously, the student took the direct translation and misinterpreted the praising expression meaning “excellent” in Spanish. The fi nd-ing suggests that it is important to intro-duce students to the local language (e.g., slang, idioms) because they certainly will not always hear textbook Spanish during their overseas sojourn.

Effective cross-cultural communica-tion translates to pragmatic skills guided by norms of the host society, such as tutear—addressing someone using tú (informal “you”) in social situations in Spain. The following is an interview observation about the use of style and register reported in the student’s blog (translated from Spanish):

Today I interviewed my political sci-ence professor. I was surprised that he asked me to address him using tú. I really did not feel comfortable doing that. In my Spanish classes, I learned that the informal tú is used when speaking to family members or close acquaintances. I got confused. He jok-ingly said to me that it would make him feel younger … and of course we laughed. I guess it all depends on the person not the rule.

It is possible that the informant viewed the professor-student relationship as a casual one, and the use of tú was a way to shorten the social distance and diminish the percep-tion of the professor as an authority fi gure

In the process of analyzing and refl ect-ing on the intangible cultural practices (little “c”) shared by native informants, SA students developed a self-awareness of their own beliefs and values, as shown in the following blog post:

Una de mis frases favoritas es “No pasa nada.” Es una expresión muy interesante que me explicó mi compañero de entre-vista. El me dijo que en España la gente trata disfrutar la vida lo mas posible. No preocupa mucho para la vida. Me gusta esta actitud mucho. Obseciono mucho para vivir ‘perfectamente’ que he perdido cosas que me hacen alegres y saludables, como amigos, comida y diversion—y tapas en Granada, por supuerto. España me ha enseñado relajarse más.

(One of my favorite phrases is “It’s not a big deal.” It’s a very interesting expres-sion that my interview partner explained to me. He told me that in Spain people try to enjoy the life as much as possible. They don’t worry much about the life. I like this attitude a lot. I obsess on liv-ing perfectly that I have missed things that make me happy and healthy, like friends, food and fun—and fi nger food in Granada, of course. Spain has taught me to relax more.)

The above quotation demonstrates positive results of using ethnographic interviews, as reported in Bateman’s study (2002) show-ing “an increase in understanding of and respect for Spanish speakers” (p. 327).

One signifi cant benefi t arising from students’ blog refl ections is how FTF inter-views created optimal conditions for them to interact socially with NSs during which they practiced using a variety of speech acts including greetings (e.g., “Hi, how are you?”), showing appreciation (e.g., “Thank you for your time and help!”), making requests (e.g., “Could you tell me more about this?”), and apologizing (e.g., “Sorry for being late!”). In many instances, the stu-dents demonstrated their pragmatic compe-tence during their exchanges with NSs.

18 SPRING 2012

Pedagogical Implications and Conclusion The current study explored the effective-ness of using blogs in conjunction with FTF ethnographic interviews on the devel-opment of SA students’ ICC. The fi ndings of this study are noteworthy and point to pedagogical implications. First, the appli-cation of blog technology itself does not guarantee the success of learning outcomes. Task-based learning is meaningful for stu-dents to actively engage in the learning process through the use of both free and instructor-assigned topics (Lee, 2010). Sec-ond, the combined method of using blogs and ethnographic interviews prove to be effective in empowering SA students’ inter-cultural awareness and communication. Third, FTF interaction with NSs exposes SA students to fi rst-hand cultural observations and pragmatic behaviors within social con-texts. Thus, researchers should incorporate native informants into intercultural learn-ing projects to increase meaningful and authentic communication. Fourth, in addi-tion to blogs, scholars should explore freely available social mediums such as Facebook or Twitter, as they have the potential to create social networking for intercultural exchanges. Finally, Internet access from the host family and school is an essential attrib-ute of successful intercultural learning. Pro-gram directors and instructors should make an effort to ensure that students have access to the Internet on a regular basis.

To conclude, the development of learn-ers’ ICC should be the core of L2 instruction in the age of globalization (Thorne, 2003). While immersion experience through direct contact with the host culture is indispensa-ble to gaining high levels of language and cultural profi ciency (Davidson, 2007), the use of combined CMC and FTF exchange and well-designed tasks afford SA students increased opportunities to interact with the host people and culture. The results of this study showed that the majority of the stu-dents had a positive and rewarding experi-ence with blogging. Most of the students acknowledged that they would not have

so that the student felt more comfortable conversing. Lee (2007) stressed that the best way to gain pragmatic competence is through interaction with NSs within the target cultural context. The results show that FTF ethnographic interviews exposed SA students to sociolinguistic dimensions of the Spanish language in a dynamic and authentic manner.

Ethnographic interviews put students in charge of an extensive listening exercise such that they had to pay close attention to their informants’ responses. The follow-ing blog posting is an example of how the student responded to her peer’s comment on the benefi cial effect that ethnographic interviews had on listening comprehension (translated from Spanish):

I had a similar experience. Although it was amazing to hear my host mom talk about what she believed about Catholi-cism, she spoke very fast with a heavy Andalusian accent. In many words fi nal consonants were dropped. It was quite challenging for me. I felt embarrassed when I had to ask her to repeat herself several times. Overall it was a good lis-tening practice for me.

While the majority of the students found interviews worthwhile, a few students (n � 4) noted that the interviews put both the ethnographer and informant in an asym-metrical relationship. One student said dur-ing the fi nal interview: “The turn-taking appeared less balanced, as I asked almost all questions and my partner did most of the talking.” It is likely that the student just fol-lowed the model provided by the researcher to complete the assignment and did not know how to interact with her partner. As L. Q. Allen (2000) suggested, the ethnogra-pher needs to be trained how to effectively conduct the interview by listening carefully to the informant and asking probing ques-tions to “build on what the informant has said until the topic is exhausted” (p. 53). One of the possible ways of enhancing interviewing techniques is the use of role-plays with guided questions.


6. Note that the researcher selected only personal and group blogs from the third, fi fth, and seventh sessions to reduce the sizable corpus of data in order to main-tain consistent and systematic analysis.

7. Intercultural sensitivity refers to learn-ers’ reactions to cultural differences that help their ICC with native speakers.

8. ICC involves knowledge (products and practices of the target culture), skills (abil-ity to acquire new knowledge and interact with native encounters), attitude (curios-ity, openness, and readiness to disbelief) and critical cultural awareness (ability to evaluate information critically).

9. All examples presented in this article were taken from the current study and without any corrections. While accents, tildes, and umlauts are supported in Blogger, students often do not use them.

10. According to Bennett (1993), develop-ing intercultural competence requires different cultural experiences through which learners go through ethnocentric stages of denial, defense, and minimiza-tion to ethnorelative stages of accept-ance, adaptation, and integration.

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Submitted September 26, 2010

Accepted November 20, 2011

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