Teletandem within the Context of closely-related languages: a Portuguese-Spanish interinstitutional experience

Abstract

This paper is part of an ongoing research project aimed at observingthe ways that Brazilian undergraduate students who are majoring inPortuguese and Spanish as part of a Foreign Languages and Literatures(FLL) degree program organize and implement the teaching ofPortuguese for Spanish speakers within a teletandem context. We soughtto evaluate the organization of the content of Portuguese language thatthey are teaching and the impact made by teletandem practices on theprofessional development of these student-teachers in both languages.Methodologically, the study is grounded on critical qualitative research.Data analysis suggests that, because Portuguese an d Spanish are closelyrelated languages with a high level of inter-comprehension, the virtuallearning context of teletandem requires the presence of a teacher-mediatorto conduct the mediation sessions with focused attention to contrastinglinguistic and cultural aspects between both languages.