A glance beyond fixed cultural representations in telecollaborative activities

Abstract

Cultural representations, in Risager’s words (2007, p. 180), “convey images or narratives of culture and society in particular contexts”, enabling people to exchange ideas about preconstructed images related to other cultures. In telecollaboration (which is defined by O'Dowd (2013, 2016) as the use of digital technologies in the context of distant foreign language classes), cultural representations come into play when individuals meet. Drawing on scholars such as Byram (1997), Kramsch (1993, 2014), Risager (2007), Lopes and Freschi (2016) and O’Dowd (2019), this qualitative study (PATTON, 1985) aimed at discussing the way in which a glance beyond fixed cultural representations was made possible in telecollaborative activities. For the analysis, data from telecollaborative sessions and from an interview were included. The excerpts analyzed in this study represent three interactive episodes where the following cultural topic was discussed: “Programa Bolsa Família”. The outcomes showed that a look beyond fixed cultural representations was accomplished through pedagogical mediation, in the sense that questions subsequently to the telecollaborative session were needed for this look. It can be claimed that there is an evident need for the discussion about fixed cultural representations in telecollaborative activities, bearing in mind that such discussion was of paramount importance for a look beyond cultural essentialism.