Learner Development College & University Education Research-Oriented Short Presentation
Investigating the Impact of a Teletandem Online Language Exchange
Teletandem is an online language exchange, where two students learning each other’s languages are paired to practise their languages and support each other’s learning online. The researchers administered a survey and several interviews to investigate the experiences of teletandem participants from a Japanese and an Australian university, specifically focussing on the programme’s impact on students’ motivation to learn, their autonomous learning skills, and their identities as language learners and users.
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Katherine Thornton is a learning advisor and director of the self-access centre at Otemon Gakuin University. Her research interests include multilingualism and language policy in non-classroom language learning spaces, social learning spaces and L2 social identities.
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Levi is a Lecturer in World Languages at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia. He has been involved in language education across the secondary and tertiary sectors for more than 18 years in both Australia and Japan. His PhD thesis won the 2021 Michael Clyne Prize for the best thesis in immigrant bilingualism and language contact, awarded jointly by the Australian Linguistic Society and the Applied Linguistics Association of Australia. Levi’s research explores the intersections between academic mobility, language learning and technology use.