ABSTRACT

In this cross-cultural telecollaborative study, students enrolled in an introductory linguistics class at a university in the midwestern United States (n = 32) (U.S. students hereafter) and a university in Turkey (n = 32) (TR students hereafter) were linked through project-based learning (PBL). Students cross-culturally and telecollaboratively completed first and second language acquisition projects, and worked in pairs to debate ideas, analyze real language data and draw conclusions, report findings in writing, and reflect upon their learning processes and products. Employing a qualitative approach, we aim to provide insights into students’ perceptions of cross-cultural telecollaborative PBL in an introduction to linguistics course, and self- and peer assessments of cross-cultural telecollaborative PBL performance and processes. Qualitative data were collected through students’ written reflections. Our findings demonstrated positive perceptions of the cross-cultural telecollaborative PBL for both TR and U.S. students while students’ perceptions became more positive towards the end of the second project. Perceptions of TR students were more positive than their U.S. counterparts. Our study offers insights for effective PBL experiences in cross-cultural telecollaborative contexts as well as enriches the PBL and telecollaborative learning literature.