Multi-dimensional foreign language education: The case of an Etwinning project

Abstract

As a kind of telecollaboration eTwinning initiation was launched in 2005 by European Commission. Turkey has been the most effective user of eTwinning platform with the number of schools, teachers and projects as well as prizes despite the fact that it was included into the platform in 2009. However, there appears a lack of scientific research covering the role of eTwinning on EFL in the literature. That is why this study aims to find out the role of eTwinning in EFL Turkish context. The study also seeks to portray an eTwinning project in detail from the participants' perspectives and its potential to improve multidimensional skills of the participants. It was conducted in a qualitative nature- a case study, since the purpose is to convey the perceptions of the participants and to present a detailed process of the project. The participants included 11 high school students and their teacher from Turkey and 12 high school students and their teacher from Azerbaijan. The data were collected through participant observation, interviews, project documents on Twinspace and a structured interview ensuring standard data and triangulation. The qualitative data obtained from the observation, interviews and the project documents were analyzed through content analysis and the quantitative data from the structured interview were analyzed through SPSS (version 23). The study revealed that the participants find the project promising in terms of English language improvement, ICT use, boosting ICC and affective issues such as values education and establishing good relationships. The project, on the other hand, was not without challenges and they were covered in a separate part within the findings.