Teletandem and telepresence: Rethinking the cultural component in language teaching and language teacher education

Abstract

This articles discusses some of the results of a qualitative ethnographicresearch on foreign language teacher’s conceptions of culture in anextension course for continuing education in the virtual collaborativelearning context of “Teletandem Brazil: foreign languages for all”,UNESP. The results have implications for the fi elds of language teachingand learning mediated by new technologies and teacher education. Theysuggest that telepresence in teletandem provided a means for dialogicallyundergoing the complexities of cultural experiences. Grounded in real worldinteraction, these experiences can lead to the change of the knowledge baseof language teacher education for intercultural communication and theteaching and learning of culture. Culture can, then, be dissociated fromthe idea of a homogeneous, fi xed and transparent body of knowledge.