Perceptions Of E Mentors Of The Language Practice Sessions Designed For Peers From Another Country
Author(s):
Drorit Ram (presenting / submitting) Doly Levi (presenting)
Conference:
ECER 2014
Network:
20. Research in Innovative Intercultural Learning Environments
Format:
Paper

Session Information

20 SES 09, Using New Technologies and Unusual Visual Methods Transforming Intercultural Teaching and Learning

Paper Session

Time:
2014-09-04
11:00-12:30
Room:
B322 Sala de Aulas
Chair:
Gyöngyvér Pataki

Contribution

Previous studies on peer-tutoring when peers are of equal status (Colvin, 2007) suggest that peer-tutoring may be beneficial to tutors in higher education (Topping, 1996), especially in refining their pedagogical skills (Watson, 2006; Kilburg & Hockett, 2007). Peer mentoring was also found to be essential for personal and social development and resulted in acquisition of collaboration skills, confidence and self-esteem (Iqbal, Kousar & Ajmal, 2011). Moreover, in a peer-to-peer a synchronic e-mentoring in which sophomore students tutored freshmen students the social support given by mentors was identified as significant, and mentoring styles were identified (De Smet; Van Keer & Valcke, 2008). E mentoring may offer cognitive challenges as well as support where both sides are involved in a dialogue and shared activities. This process of mentoring is related to effective learning, and success depends on relationships between the mentor and the peer and is associated with cognitive, personal and social development (Perkins, 1992). Peer mentoring is most influential to beginning teachers (Allen, Russel & Maetzker, 1997; Rose, 2005). It can promote self-efficacy of mentoring peers and is linked to satisfaction of beginning teachers regarding their practices and professional development (Watson, 2006; Kilburg & Hockett, 2007). E mentoring was found as enabling open and supportive relationships, friendship and unity among mentors and their peers as well as maintaining relationships across space, time, geography and culture (Bierema & Merriam, 2002). It was found that collaborative cross-national e mentoring and e learning promotes trust among peers (Hoter, Shonfeld & Ganayem, 2009).

In this study twenty student teachers from Israel led peer- to- peer e-mentoring sessions of ten students from Poland for two hours once a week for fourteen weeks. In the synchronic peer-to-peer e-mentoring sessions the mentors, native Hebrew speakers who were pre-service teachers from Levinsky Teachers College in Israel, taught their ten peers, Polish speakers who were undergraduate students from Poznan University in Poland, and who were taking Hebrew as an additional language. The purpose of the e-mentoring sessions was the promotion of oral skills in Hebrew of the students from Poland as well as the refinement of pedagogical skills of the e mentors from Israel. The sessions planned by e mentors included discussions in Hebrew of cross cultural themes that were chosen by e mentors and uploaded onto a site.  In each e mentoring session two e mentors led the session while the other e mentors observed them and reflected upon the e mentors' practices in their personal diaries. In these reflections they wrote what they thought about the way the session was conducted by the two e mentors, and added suggestions for improvement. The purpose of the study was to reveal e mentors' perceptions of their experiences as e mentors in the pedagogical, personal, technological and cultural aspects. 

Method

The study is qualitative in nature and integrates quantitative data from questionnaires. It is a phenomenological study where a phenomenon is studied within a specific context in order to find out what meanings people make of their experiences (Smith, Flower, & Larkin, 2009). Data collection included reflections that all e mentors wrote following each session of e-mentoring that they have conducted and following each e mentoring session that their colleagues have conducted (280 reflections), questionnaires they all filled out when e mentoring sessions had ended (20 questionnaires), and interviews with four e mentors that were carried out after e mentoring sessions had ended. The four e mentors that were interviewed were chosen on the basis of their insightful reflections. In the structured section of the interview they were asked to describe their experience in e mentoring from their points of view, and in the unstructured section they were asked to add anything they found appropriate. The questionnaires were composed in order to check how e mentors perceived the following aspects in their experience in e mentoring: pedagogical, personal, technological and cultural. A thematic analysis of reflections and interviews was carried out, and frequencies were calculated based on the data obtained from questionnaires.

Expected Outcomes

The findings yielded four aspects of e mentoring: pedagogical, personal, technological and cultural. In the pedagogical aspect the e mentors benfited in designing appropriate tasks and mediating them. All e mentors argued that they have developed an understanding of planning units that meet the needs of learners of another culture. In the personal aspect e mentors reported a positive change in their self-confidence, and an increase in their sense of self-efficacy. In the technological aspect the e mentors reported acquiring skills in operating highly technological environments.In the fourth aspect, the cultural aspect, three major facets emerged: sensitivity and empathy, reciprocity, and globalization. E mentors demonstrated sensitivity and empathy towards their peers, emphasized their exposure to learning about other people in other places, and embraced the expansion of knowledge of both e mentors and their peers on issues that were relevant to both groups and cultures.The findings corroborate results of previous studies on the benefits of e mentoring to mentors in higher education in the pedagogical, personal, technological and cultural aspects. This study could contribute to further exploration of initiatives of intercultural e mentoring of students in higher education in the domain of practicing oral skills in a foreign language. The study could also add to existing knowledge and insights regarding pedagogical perceptions of mentors who teach peers from another culture online, and may call for further evidence as to the benefits of such practices in advanced technological environments in higher education.

References

Allen, T.D.; Russell, J.A. & Maetzker, S. (1997). Formal peer mentoring: Factors related to proteges' satisfaction and willingness to mentor others. Group & Organization Management, 22(4), 488-507. Bierema, L.L.& Merriam, S.B. (2002). E-mentoring: Using computer-mediated communication to enhance the mentoring process. Innovative Higher Education, 26(3), 211-227. Colvin, J. (2007). Peer tutoring and social dynamics in higher education. Mentoring & Tutoring, 15(2), 165-181. De Smet, M; Van Keer, H; Valcke, M. (2008). Blending asynchronous discussion groups and peer tutoring in higher education; An exploratory study of online peer tutoring behavior. Computers & Education 50 (1), 207-223, January 2008. Hoter, E., Shonfeld, M., & Ganayem, A. (2009). ICT in the service of multiculturalism. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, Vol 10 (2). RetrievedDecember 30 2011 from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/601/1207 Iqbal, M.J.; Kousar, N. & Ajmal, M. (2011). Collaborative learning: Myth for distance learning? International Journal of Academic Research 3 (4), 605-608. Kilburg, G. & Hockett, E. (2007). E-mentoring: Providing support for teacher education graduates in their first year of teaching. In C. Crawford et al. (Eds.).Proceedings of Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education International Perkins, D. (1992). Smart School – from training memories to educating minds.NewYork:The Free Press. Rose, G.L. (2005). Group differences in graduate students' concepts of the ideal mentor.Research in Higher Education, 46(1), 53-80. Smith, J.A., Flowers, P.,& Larkin, M. (2009) Interpretive phenomenological analysis:Theory, Method and research. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage. Topping, K.J. (1996). The effectiveness of peer tutoring in further and and higher education: A typology and review of the literature. Higher Education 32: 321-345. Watson, S. (2006). Virtual mentoring in higher education: Teacher education and cyber-connections. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 18(3), 168-179.

Author Information

Drorit Ram (presenting / submitting)
Levinsky College of Education
Tel Aviv
Doly Levi (presenting)
levinsky College of Education
International School
Holon

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