To prepare U.S. preservice teachers for online teaching and reaching diverse learners, and to provide English instruction to Taiwanese students, American and Taiwanese university students corresponded via email. U.S. preservice teachers explored theory and practice of online instruction, corresponded as tutors to teach English language and American culture, and reflected upon their experiences. Taiwanese students practiced English and exchanged cultural information. This research explores documentation of the online teaching and learning experience in order to identify benefits and limitations of online teaching and learning, online teaching strategies, and cultural aspects associated with cross-cultural collaboration.

Keywords: distance learning, telecommunications, teacher training, ESL

An email correspondence partnership between U.S. and Taiwanese university students facilitated U.S. preservice teacher (PST) preparation for online teaching and for reaching diverse learners, as well as Taiwanese students English learning. While PSTs practiced online teaching, Taiwanese learners of English corresponded in English as part of a multidimensional language learning program at Fu Jen Catholic University in Taiwan. The correspondence provided for authentic teaching activity for the U.S. PSTs.

The current educational reform movement focuses on improving PST processes and outcomes through field-based practice. The movement reflects the belief that university students learn how to teach by observing, conducting, and reflecting upon authentic activities (Goodlad, 1988; Lieberman, 1995; Sizer, 1993). In the information age, innovative authentic activities should include using telecommunications technologies as tools for connecting teachers with learners.

Typically, PSTs have never taught online and few have experienced formal online learning. They have no models or knowledge with which to link the new experience of online teaching. A constructivist view of learning suggests that students be provided with a variety of resources and approaches to learning a new skill (Dunlap & Grabinger, 1996). Therefore, in an undergraduate teacher preparation course in educational technology, we provided PSTs with opportunities to (a) explore theory relevant to online instruction, (b) view examples, (c) practice teaching online in an authentic setting, (d) collaborate for broad understanding, and (e) reflect regarding online teaching.

At Fu Jen Catholic University the multiple dimensions of the language program provide "solid English language training as well as basic groundings in literature, linguistics, and Western and world cultures" (Department of English Language and Literature, 1998). Language learning is multidimensional in that it involves linguistic structures, cultural concepts, and nonverbal concepts (Gonzalez, Schallart, De Rivera, Flores, Perrodin, 1999). In order to fulfill these dimensions, Fu Jen strives to provide authentic opportunities for students to converse and correspond with English speakers.

Learners acquire second languages through acts of communication rather than through isolated study of language forms and semantic structures (Gonzalez, et at., 1999). Taiwan is a geographically isolated island in Asia with an official language of Mandarin Chinese. Typically, Taiwanese learners of English-as-a-second-language (ESL) or English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) do not have much opportunity to communicate with native English speakers. In addition, one-on-one practice time and frequent or detailed discussion of cultural issues are usually limited. In this project, the use of telecommunications allowed for authentic acts of communication, one-on-one interaction, and detailed discussion.

Three theoretical assumptions support the activities associated with this project: 1) social constructivist pedagogy can foster both learning how to teach and language acquisition, 2) collaborative learning experiences can foster construction of meaning, and 3) technology can foster collaborative, and learning about culture. Social constructivism is the paradigm or world view that recognizes learning as the process of constructing meaning about, or making sense of, our experiences (Candy, 1991). According to Vygotsky (1978), our interpretation of the world is derived largely from the social environment in which we experience events. Vygotsky's notions encompass the transformation of students into independent thinkers through a social interaction process mediated by language and assisted by a mentor. Learning about language and culture are facilitated by supportive individualized learning activities that address the learnerís current language and literacy capacities or "zones of proximal development." Similarly, Krashen (1981) theorized that language acquisition can be achieved successfully if learners are provided with enough comprehensible input that not only attends to their current level of language competency, but also aims a bit beyond the current stage.

Learning networks allow students to virtually cross international borders for collaboration so that "learners actively construct knowledge by formulating ideas into words that are shared with and built upon through the reactions and responses of others" (Harasim, Hiltz, Teles, & Turoff, 1995, p. 4). Technology-enhanced cross-classroom collaboration allows learners to communicate ideas and exchange views with distant partners from around the world whose perspectives might dramatically differ from their own. By working in networked groups and learning authentic tasks, learners are encouraged to develop personal meaning.

As telecommunications become available in schools, school teachers need to be able to use them to serve their students. Schools are rapidly acquiring necessary hardware and software so that teachers and their students can apply telecommunications to teaching and learning. In 1995 only three percent of school classrooms, labs and media centers had Internet connections (Heaviside, Malitz, & Carpenter, 1995). A recent study, however, indicated that 57% of U.S. classrooms have direct access to the Internet (Quality Education Data, 1999). Romiszowski and Ravitz (1997) investigated teachersí perceptions of electronic teaching and found that the reward is "tremendous satisfaction in working towards the goal of developing independent, questioning learners" (p. 673). Communication between teachers and students can be enhanced through computer-conferencing and email connections. For instance, teachers can answer studentsí questions and provide brief tutorials for students who are having difficulties. However, teaching online is not easy. It is new to all teachers and students and should be learned through mentoring associated with experiences that are as authentic as possible (Young, 1993). Therefore, teacher preparation programs are well advised to include online, supervised teaching experiences in the use of telecommunications for delivery of instruction.

In addition to learning how to teach online, teachers need to be prepared to address the needs of students from diverse cultures. As school demographics change, teachers are confronted with the need to teach students of differing cultural influences and encourage academic achievement for all types of learners (Banks & Banks, 1993). A study of Texas employers identified a lack of skills associated with multicultural awareness in college graduates (Zey, Luedke, & Murdock, 1999). Requisite skills cited in the study included: written and verbal presentation skills for diverse audiences, acknowledgement of multiple perspectives, application of sound judgment, ability to work in multicultural teams, flexibility in adapting to change, and ethical decision making. Such skills are increasingly required for success in the life. In preparation for teaching diverse students and for multicultural awareness, PSTs can expand their experiences with multicultural learners by using the Internet to communicate and collaborate with students across international boundaries.

Likewise, second language learners need to practice their language skills in an authentic setting. In previous studies, email correspondence with native English speakers proved highly beneficial for learning English language and writing skills, communication skills, and intercultural understanding (Kamhi-Stein, 1997; Soh & Soon, 1991; Zeitz & Kueny, 1998).

The PSTsí assignment was toó1) Experience and practice online teaching; 2) Establish friendships with a student of another culture; 3) Exchange cultural information; 4) Improve online communication skills; 5) Identify the benefits and limitations of online learning; and 6) Identify the benefits and limitations of online teaching.

In addition, the two collaborating teachers in Taiwan set the following objectives for their students: 1) Write with American students about topics that interest them; 2) Improve English composition skills; 3) Experience online learning; and 4) Exchange cultural information.

Readings and Strategies Explored

To prepare the PSTs for the difficult task of online teaching, we provided them with a lecture, discussion, supportive readings, example tutorial correspondences, and a web site of resources. The digital pictures of the PSTs and the Taiwanese students on the Web site facilitated social presence during online correspondence (Gunawardena, 1994). In addition the Web site (http://www.eng.fju.tw/cultural_connections.htm) included a downloadable lecture, the expected online correspondence process guidelines, a formative evaluation survey, sample correspondences, and samples of participantsí reflections. PSTs read on topics such as effective facilitation of computer conferencing (Berge, 1997; Cifuentes, Murphy, Segur, & Kodali, 1997), interactivity in online environments (Gunawardena, 1992), transactional distance (Moore, 1993), and text-based instruction (Jonassen, 1982). In addition, we used a FirstClass™ electronic bulletin-board system to model online instruction in mock tutorials. PSTs "lurked" while we demonstrated delivery of online lesson cycles in language and social studies (Gagne, Briggs, & Wager, 1992).

The Correspondence Process

The American PSTs were assigned to correspond weekly and send at least eight messages during two months. They began with an introduction of themselves and their intentions to provide instruction in English language or American culture. In a second message, they established the needs of their keypals by 1) asking what their partners needed to learn and how they might help, and 2) examining samples of their partnersí writing to ascertain their capabilities. The rest of the correspondences (a minimum of six) were supposed to include instruction in English language and American and Taiwanese cultures. PSTs began instructing their partners while attending to their capability levels.

Similarly, Taiwanese students were to introduce themselves in the first letter. The second message was to explain their needs of assistance from their partners and to help the PSTs establish the learning goals that ranged from understanding Shakespeareís English, practicing conversational English, and reading novels, to becoming acquainted with American culture. The subsequent messages were to interact with the PSTs on the selected goals.

This research explores the documentation of these online teaching and learning experiences to identify some online teaching strategies, benefits and limitations of online teaching and learning, and cultural aspects associated with this cross-cultural collaboration.

We used ethnographic methods to explore the data. During the preparation processes, correspondences, and follow-up activities, participants documented their work and insights regarding their experiences. We applied content analyses approaches, as described by Emerson, Fretz, and Shaw (1995), to all data sources.

Participants

Thirty-seven American university PSTs preparing to teach English, social studies, political science, economics and/or history at the secondary level were paired with Taiwanese university level students majoring in English language and literature. Thirty-five PSTs were Caucasian, one was Hispanic, and one was Asian. All were American citizens. Twenty-five were female and twelve were male. They ranged in age from 19 to 22 years except for one 46-year old female PST. All Taiwanese partners were from Taiwan except for one who was from Hong Kong. Thirty-four were female and three were male. They ranged from 19 to 20 years old.

The researchers were from the U.S. and Taiwan representing the two cultures involved in the collaboration. They brought to the research diverse experience and perspectives and thus, were able to provide rich interpretations of the data and insight through pooled judgement (Foreman, 1948; Merriam, 1998).

Data Sources

Data sources included the following: (a) printouts of the correspondences, (b) PSTís formative evaluations, (c) PSTís reflective journal entries, and (d) surveys of Taiwanese partners. PSTs printed out both the email messages from their partners and their own messages. In the middle of the correspondence, they filled out a formative evaluation that was delivered and collected via the Web. After the assigned correspondence was completed they were instructed to reflect upon the following in their journals: 1) online learning, 2) online teaching, 3) benefits and limitations of the experience, 4) cultural aspects of the experience, and 5) any other concepts that they thought were relevant. At the end of the assigned correspondence, the Taiwanese partners filled out a survey (Liu, 1998) consisting of eleven questions and/or topics.

Procedure

During and upon completion of data collection, we used the two-phase process of content analyses, open coding and focused coding, as proposed by Emerson, Fretz, and Shaw (1995).

For focused coding analyses, the authors independently compiled and numbered each PSTs correspondence, formative evaluation, and reflective journal (P1-P37) and color coded their contents according to the categories that emerged during open coding as well as the following pre-identified categories: benefits of online education, limitations of online education, strategies for online teaching, and cultural aspects. For the purposes of this report, we identified representative comments from each category. Taiwanese studentsí numbers corresponded to their U.S. partner (T1-T37) and were used to identify surveys. A coding system such as the one described above lends credibility to qualitative data (Merriam, 1998).

During focused coding, we rated the effectiveness of the instruction in each correspondence as "very effective," "effective," or "ineffective." In order to do this, we recorded the Taiwanese studentsí rating of their learning from the collaboration. Twenty students rated their learning as "a lot"; eleven circled "OK"; no students circled "a little" or "nothing". The remaining six students chose not to rate their learning. Next, we examined the PSTsí comments regarding the quality of the experience. If they disagreed with the Taiwanese studentsí ratings of the experience, then we turned to the correspondence to use our judgements regarding the quality of the interaction. We (the researchers) then gained consensus regarding the effectiveness of each correspondence.

Means and standard deviations of very effective, effective, and ineffective groups were then calculated on four criteria: number of messages sent by U.S. tutors, number of messages sent by Taiwanese students, number of the types of instructional strategies used, and the frequency of the strategies applied.

In addition, we quantified instructional strategies used by the PSTs. Data and integrative memos (Emerson, Fretz, & Shaw, 1995) were entered under captions identified during open coding. We then elaborated upon the patterns, themes, and variations that emerged in order to develop theoretical propositions regarding strategies for successful online teaching and learning and aspects of cross-cultural collaboration (Miles & Huberman, 1994).

Fourteen correspondences were "very effective," eighteen were "effective," and five were "ineffective". The number of messages sent by U.S. tutors, number of messages sent by Taiwanese students, number of types of instructional strategies used, and the frequency of the strategies applied were highest for very effective pairs. The groups with effective instructions were next, with ineffective groups displaying the lowest levels of activity. The tutors and the Taiwanese students in the effective pairs met the minimum requirement in sending the number of email messages to each other and the very effective pairs surpassed the requirement. The pairs who were rated as ineffective did not correspond as frequently as was required by the courses (see table 1).

Benefits of Online Education

Most reactions to first online teaching experiences were positive. The participants identified the following benefits: online experience, time for details and individualized instruction with students, authentic language learning, and cultural exchange.

First, PSTs emphasized the importance of telecommunications as a means of having experiences teachers and learners cannot have otherwise: "This project has been wonderful for me! I have never really discussed other cultures with an international student before" [P35]. In addition, PSTs learned to value online instruction through the activity. For example, a PST commented, "I now see that such connections offer great learning opportunities Ö that would not be available in the typical class setting" [P3]. Another PST wrote- "This has given me the opportunity to contemplate how I might use this in my classroom in the future, because I do think it was an interesting learning tool overall" [P22]. The process helped PSTs to acquire skills of effective online teaching as well as teaching in general. "I learned how to be an effective teacher by researching and preparing lessons, listening to the needs of my student, and creating a friendly teacher-student relationship" [P24]. Also, "I did learn the importance of planning ahead and being prepared to change plans to accommodate unseen problems" [P27].

In addition to experiencing online-teaching, the correspondence allowed PSTs to be responsive to an individual learnerís needs and provided "experience with personalized instruction" [P26]. With one-on-one instruction, "Time can be spent on the details of a subject that the individual is having trouble with" [P27].

Third, the Taiwanese students valued the opportunity for authentic language learning through writing practice with an American reader who could provide writing models and give feedback. "I can know how my composition is in foreignersí view, and get their suggestions directly. I can find my shortcomings on writing and then improve them" [T33]. Taiwanese benefited from being provided with authentic dialog via email. "I saw some different writing ways compared to my usual ones. Itís nice and fresh for me" [T35]. Students suggested that the writing skills they learned through the correspondence transferred to increased speaking skill. "By connecting with my pal, I learn how to improve my writing ability. I also learn how to improve my speaking ability" [T32].

Fourth, students benefited from the opportunity for cultural exchange. Students reflected on their experiences and concluded that online instruction "allows students to learn about other cultures and teach students about their own, . . . practice their communications skills such as writing, and teach others what they know"[P2].

The Taiwanese students valued the opportunity to study under the direction of a native U.S. speaker and particularly enjoyed learning about the American perspective from a peer. "I hear about different festivals from a native citizen rather than from a book" [T28]. While some students struggled with the language, they still were able to express complex concepts learned through the correspondence. For instance, "I think this experience can make me learn more about American history. According to Gís letter, I can know that how do Americans afraid of communism and how to against it" [T20].

Limitations Of Online Education

Participants identified five limitations associated with the online teaching/learning experience: vulnerability to technical failure, constraints of email, dependence on an unresponsive partner, sense of detachment, and time.

First, although technical failure occurred in only one set of keypals, it still provided a minor psychological nuisance as others became aware of the possibility of electronic difficulties. PSTs commented that "The fact that technology can malfunction poses a problem for both groups since there is no other way to communication" [P8]. One PST identified his concern over "the risk of computer failure and time lost to waiting for the problem to be solved" [P1].

Second, email as the correspondence tool restricted both the PSTs and the Taiwanese students to transfer text-based messages. Only one PST sent a graphic attachment that was a festive Halloween card. PSTs expressed frustration that they were unable to use audio or visual aids to help their students. One said, "Proof reading a paragraph over email and without the possibility of speaking made it very difficult"[P35]. Another noted, "I couldnít draw pictures or diagrams to help"[P10]. The Taiwanese students also felt limited by electronic correspondence. "The limitation is that it is hard to express my feelings or specific things or explain in English" [T25]. "Many things cannot be shown through writing" [T18].

Third, slow or no responses from partners on both ends led to frustration. A partner on one end might have been satisfied while a partner on the other end wasnít. For instance, some PSTs complained of lack of responsiveness on the part of their partners: "I had a student who would not respond in a timely manner and sometimes did not respond to certain messages" [P33]. "My biggest problem was trying to get L to write me back. I just got really tired of writing and receiving a four-sentence response. L wrote just to chit-chat. I think she is just trying to make sure she sends nine messages" [P34]. One student provided a rationale for lack of participation, "We are supposed to respond to each other once a week, but sometimes students get overloaded with work"[P28].

Some Taiwanese students also complained of lack of responsiveness on the part of their American partners. When asked whether or not their partner responded to their entries, eight Taiwanese offered that their partners only responded sometimes and three students complained that their partners seldom responded to their email. Inability to know just when a response might come contributed to a feeling of detachment; and detachment led to misunderstandings: "I havenít heard your response of my essay and about my family. Are you mad at me?" [T1].

A fourth limitation, sense of detachment, created difficulties for the PSTs as they tried to assess student needs and progress. A PST said "I found it difficult to assess exactly what V needed to learn"[P29]. "I donít know if the student is really learningÖwhen you are teaching students over email you cannot see if the ëlightí of understanding is going off as you can if you are teaching face-to-face" [P33]. "We are limited because we donít know what is happening on the other side" [P28]. Similarly, the Taiwanese students lacked clarity regarding their PSTs expectations. "I find it is difficult to ask questions because I donít know what does she know" [T26].

The last limitation, time, affected correspondence in two very different ways. Time-zone differences often associated with international collaboration interfered with participantsí abilities to meet in real-time and online teaching and learning proved to be time consuming for all participants. The time-zone difference between Taiwan and America limited the ability to meet synchronously through videoconferencing or electronic chats. PSTs expressed the wish to see their online students and communicate in real-time. Also, due to the differences in the length of a semester in both countries, the connection could be established for a maximum of two months within the context of the courses. However, parties at both sites could continue their online teaching and learning experience independently of the courses if they wished to after the designated time.

PSTs and Taiwanese learners needed a great deal of time to accomplish their tasks while the instructors spent an inordinate amount of time grading the activity. As a result of the time consuming nature of online instruction, both PSTs and Taiwanese students expressed the wish that they could correspond for a longer period of time. Indeed, in unsolicited comments six PSTs offered that to get the most out of the experience the correspondence should last the whole semester, and eighteen PSTs offered that they and their partner plan to continue to correspond beyond the semester.

Strategies For Online Teaching

Online teaching strategies used by the PSTs fell into the following categories: facilitative information, questions and answers from tutor to student, questions and answers from student to tutor, topic discussion, problem solving, critique of writing, and recommendations for metacognition (see figure 1). Tutors provided facilitative information forty-one times by including references to books or WWW sites that they felt would be helpful for language learning. A Taiwanese student claimed that "Those websitesÖare interesting and I really can learn something from it" [T8]. Another example of facilitative information provided by a PST [P32] was the Halloween graphic as part of an explanation of Halloween traditions.

Both PSTs and students asked questions to learn from the correspondence. We did not count all questions within each correspondence, as many questions were merely conversational. However, we did count questions that were explicitly asked for instructional purposes. PSTs asked 119 instructional questions. One question was meant to begin a dialog about journalistic approaches. The PST asked, "Have you taken any journalism classes? If you have, do they teach you the same concepts [as described in an earlier message] or is journalism different there?" [P10]. Another question came up while a PST and her student touched upon the topic of politics, "What is the government like? Do you have anything like states?" [P22]. Taiwanese students asked 33 questions of their tutors to elicit information or skill learning. For example, "The first homework for our linguistics is gestures! Could you give some suggestions? Thank you first" [T35].

The bulk of the email correspondences consisted of topic discussions. The only discussions that we counted were those that had explicit instructional purposes. There were many discussions that we did not count as instructional; still, we counted 83 topic discussions. Topics included but were not limited to movie favorites, celebrations and holidays, travel experiences, school life, study habits, hobbies, religion, and personal philosophy.

PSTs engaged students in fifty-three problem-solving activities and many of these were quite creative and interesting as lessons. For instance, one PST gave his student verbal riddles to solve in writing. He wrote, "I think that riddles are very positive in teaching because people read them several times hoping to find a clue to answer the riddle. If they enjoy the riddle they often learn it by heart in order to use it with someone else" [P3]. A very creative PST provided her student with directions to follow regarding scenarios that she also provided:

Some PSTs also spent an enormous amount of time helping their students to correct the essays or email messages they composed and sent to Texas. Fifty-nine critiques on either the papers or email messages were completed by PSTs. An easy approach to providing a critique involved highlighting language mistakes with numbers or asterisks and making corrections in replies to their students. In an example from a highly effective correspondence, the tutor wrote in his message to the student:

Only three PSTs provided their students with metacognitive strategies. Two of the PSTs provided two metacognitive strategies and one PST provided one metacognitive strategy. An example was when a PST provided her student with this suggestion: " . . . for memorizing the dynasties, . . . put them in order on a timeline and write a couple of things you think of when you see the name." That same tutor also wrote advice to her student, "To help with sentences that I did not understand, sometimes, I would try to rewrite them in my own words" [P31].

Very effective correspondences supplied almost twice as many facilitative pieces of information as did effective correspondences. Ineffective correspondences supplied no facilitative pieces of information. Similarly, question and answer strategies were employed most by the very effective pairs and were also used well by the effective pairs. However, the ineffective pairs did not engage in questioning. Ineffective pairs did engage in some discussion during their correspondences, but not nearly as frequently as the very effective and effective pairs.

The comparative frequencies of problem solving and critique of writing across the three levels of effectiveness were dramatic and unexpected. PSTs in very effective pairs provided problems for their students to solve over three times as much as did the effective pairs. Only one problem was posed by an ineffective pair and the student in that pair chose not to solve the problem, saying that it was "too boring" [T11]. Surprisingly, PSTs in effective pairs provided more critique of writing than did the very effective pairs, and no ineffective PSTs critiqued writing. Metacognitive strategies were provided by very few PSTs and were supplied in similar frequency by very effective and effective PSTs and were not given at all by ineffective PSTs.

Very effective PSTs used all of the identified instructional strategies. They provided facilitative information, engaged in questioning and answering, carried on discussions, and posed problems more than did the other pairs. Likewise, effective PSTs used all of the identified instructional strategies. However, they critiqued writing and provided metacognitive strategies more than did the other pairs. Ineffective pairs employed only two instructional strategies: topic discussion and problem solving.

Cultural Aspects

Cultural differences and similarities affected the project. Differences in beliefs about the role of the teacher emerged as an important theme in the correspondences. Also, the correspondences were permeated with evidence of the extent to which participants valued learning about the otherís culture and their appreciation of each other.

Role of the teacher.

Taiwanese citizens are educated in Confucianism that teaches students to respect teachers as ultimate authority figures whose opinions should not be challenged (Liu, 1999). A common teaching in Chinese culture follows--"Heaven, Mother Earth, emperors, parents, and teachers are most worthy of respect." Taiwanese students regarded their online tutors as knowledgeable authority figures and, therefore, expressed their nervousness about coming in contact with them. For instance, one student commented on her feelings towards her partner, "She feels like my tutor or my teacher and feels very serious. So I donít feel free to chat with her" [T6]. Another student found his learning attitude affected by the look of his tutor, "After seeing her picture, I think she looks like a teacher. Then I start to feel nervous while writing the messages, because it seems to me that I am writing formal letters to my teacher" [T4].

Taiwanese students viewed the relationship as they would their relationship with a Taiwanese teacher, even in this cross-cultural connection. They expected the U.S. tutors to play the role of the teacher and did not acknowledge that the U.S. PSTs approached the activity as students of teaching and live in a culture that does not revere teachers as highly. In fact, many of the PSTs resisted taking on the role of the teacher and instead chose to correspond by initiating friendly topic discussions. Such partnerships proved less effective in terms of language learning than those in which the PST was willing to take the role of the teacher. Those partnerships were most effective in which the U.S. tutors played the role of the teacher by applying multiple teaching strategies and by messaging regularly.

Appreciation of Cultural Awareness and Keypals.

The most positive outcome of the connection was the pleasure that the participants exhibited regarding learning about the cultures of Taiwan and the U.S. and establishing friendships. In order to fulfill the objective of cultural exchange, the partners shared with each other topics such as festivals, foods, religions, philosophies, and sports. One PST explained the process of sharing:

Several Taiwanese acknowledged differences between cultures and PSTs acknowledged lack of knowledge of Taiwanese cultural norms. A Taiwanese remarked that, "I figured out that the way we think, we talk, and we write is quite different" [T31]. One PST commented that he had learned how to "see things through a different culture and see how culture changes what we consider the norm" [P10] and many PSTs expressed that they had been ignorant prior to the exchange. As a Taiwanese pointed out in response to her experience: "Öwe would celebrate those festivals same as hers, like Christmas. But she does not celebrate our festivals in her country, like the Lunar New Year. Besides, she even has got no idea about our culture" [T4]. Taiwanese are Westernized in that they celebrate U.S. holidays and speak English, while the PSTs revealed little knowledge of Eastern cultures.

Although personal exchange was not required in the assignment, many partners became friends and therefore began to share personal information. Cultural exchange led to expression of personal needs, beliefs, and feelings. In response to an expressed need, one PST helped her partner to accomplish her course assignments, which were to write papers on aspects of American culture: "I have been able to inform her about the American culture which has been a topic for many of her projects. For example, I helped her [report on] McDonalds and KFC; food typical to our region; what my meaning of success would beÖ" [P25]. She also expressed the importance of her religious views: "The most important thing about me is that I am a Christian. I enjoy going to church and just getting closer to God in my lifeÖ. Are you familiar with this religion?" [P25].

A Taiwanese student expressed her feelings about her partner saying, "YOU ARE A GREAT TUTOR" [T3]. Similarly, PSTs complimented their partners. In a final message a PST wrote, "I am thankful that we have had the opportunity to get to know one anotherÖ. You are such a smart young woman and I know you will succeed in your field. Thank you for teaching me so much about Taiwan and yourself!" [P29].

One PST wrote about her experiences as a single mother and her partner disclosed her heartbreak over a recent breakup with her boyfriend. They comforted and advised each other. The partners established fondness for each other and caring relationships as expressed by one student--"Itís a happy thing to hear from you" [T35]. Indeed, as mentioned before, many of the partners intended to continue corresponding after the semester was over.

The authentic experiences designed to meet the objectives of both the PSTs and the Taiwanese studentsí courses proved effective. PSTs learned about teaching online as well as teaching in general by applying instructional strategies with real learners. Likewise, the Taiwanese students in Taiwan received instruction from native English language speakers and were able to communicate within the American culture. Such authenticity could only be attained through application of distance technologies. As a result of their experiences, participants constructed elaborate understandings of the cultures of teaching and language learning.

This research indicates that educational endeavors are wise to infuse authentic activities facilitated by telecommunications technologies into their curricula. Such infusion becomes possible as more schools go online. In this partnership, benefits derived from telecommunications infusion included learning how to use telecommunications to increase expertise in content areas under study, providing for individualized instruction, improving language and communication skills in English, and providing for cultural exchange.

However, limitations of telecommunications infusion may arise. Participants may feel a lack of humanity in the telecommunications environment. As a result, they may become unresponsive or resentful of time expenditures. In addition, they may feel unqualified to meet course objectives via email correspondence. To overcome these limitations, instructors should provide substantial opportunities for human interaction among partners and guidance for teaching and learning online. The use of tools that allow future participants to have synchronous chats and visual contacts via desktop videoconferencing, in addition to their email correspondence, might encourage the human relationship between partners. Guidance for online teaching might include examination of effective online teaching as well as modeling of each of the strategies for online teaching identified in this research. In addition, strategies for online learning need to be identified in future research so instructors can provide online learners with guidance.

The most effective online teaching and learning among partners in this study included application of a variety of strategies and frequent messaging and strategy use. While some PSTs used a variety of strategies and provided excellent instruction, their Taiwanese partners were not necessarily responsive. Likewise, some PSTs did not provide quality instruction for some Taiwanese students who were ready and willing to learn. Therefore, due to lack of participation on the part of one partner, some pairs were not as effective as they could have been. Motivation can impact the extent of participation in distance learning. For some of the participants in this study, distance collaboration was difficult and time consuming. When the participants perceived that the extent of effort expended did not match the amount of learning, or that the concepts learned were irrelevant to their personal goals, they lost their motivation. However when both the PSTs and Taiwanese students were motivated and devoted to the connection, they taught better and learned more. The more the pairs interacted through writing, the more they were able to practice teaching and learning; and more practice meant higher perceived effectiveness.

This research identified categories of instructional strategies that can guide further teacher preparation efforts and indicated that use of the full range of strategies is most effective in online environments. Strategies identified were: facilitative information, questions and answers from tutor to student, questions and answers from student to tutor, topic discussion, problem solving, critique of writing, and recommendations for metacognition. We recommend that future research expand upon our list of strategies and investigate methods to prepare teachers for application of all identified strategies.

Online learning environments lend themselves well to constructivist learning in that transactional distance (Moore, 1993) encourages teachers to maintain a facilitative role rather than an authoritative role. Very effective tutors in our partnership took a facilitative role by investing time in providing their partners with "facilitative information" in the form of references to resources so that the learners could go beyond the partnership to learn on their own.

Problem solving strategies distinguished the highly effective correspondences from the less effective correspondences. Although the highly effective pairs provided less critique of writing than did the effective pairs, this does not indicate that critique in a correspondence should be avoided. In fact, based upon this research we recommend use of critique of writing coupled with appropriate problem solving strategies in response to language problems identified in the critique. Developing problem solving exercises involves more time and creativity on the part of the teacher than does a simple critique, but appears to pay off in the learnersí perception of teacher effectiveness.

Our findings regarding the role of the teacher are consistent with Hofestedeís (1986) theory that describes a large "power distance" between teachers and learners in Taiwan and a low "power distance" between teachers and learners in the U.S. That is, Taiwanese learners tolerate unequal power between teachers and learners while U.S. learners do not. In our partnership, the most effective pairs were those in which the U.S. tutors adopted the role of the effective teacher by applying multiple strategies and by messaging often.

In preparation for future connections, partners in this project will read Hofestedeís examination and comparison of our cultures in order to enhance understanding of experiences. For instance, according to Hofestede, Taiwanese and U.S. citizens differ in that Taiwan is a collectivistic culture while the U.S is an individualistic culture. Knowledge of differences are likely to contribute positively to the correspondence.

Collis and Remmers (1997) describe issues related to online cross-cultural communication. They pointed out that to allow successful online cross-cultural contact, at least four issues have to be taken into consideration: communication and interaction, language, content, and representation form. First, communication and interaction are easily misinterpreted across cultures, as was the case in some of our correspondences. According to Collis and Remmers, more communication and interaction are not necessarily better than less, and well-structured communication by an individual with standing may be preferable. Second, because language includes verbal and nonverbal communication, those developing cross-cultural online instruction must be sensitive to cultural differences in communication styles. Third, designers must choose course content where the cross-cultural aspects are either of minimal relevance or integral to the content. In our partnership, cross-cultural aspects were integral to the content. Last, visuals can overcome problems associated with text-based language. In our case being able to see each other proved important, but learners were limited to text-based communication. In the future we will encourage pairs to include visuals as attached documents to facilitate communication.

Due to the positive reactions to the online teaching experience, we will continue to collaborate with Taiwanese professors for pairing students for online teaching and learning. Printouts of correspondences and PSTsí reflective journals indicated that objectives for the American PSTs were met. Most importantly, from our perspective, PSTs acquired skill in online teaching. Taiwanese professors have expressed the wish to continue the correspondence and have indicated that their objectives are also being met through the connection.

In addition, we have created a web-based forum for computer-conferencing among future correspondents. This forum supports student ownership of learning processes and nontraditional communication patterns so that students can revisit, revise, and build on their own ideas and those of their peers, without the teacher mediating these interactions (Tiessen & Ward, 1998).

As almost all schools and students will be connected to the Internet and provided with telecommunications tools in the coming century, it is necessary that PSTs be prepared to use these tools as inservice teachers. Teacher preparation and training programs in universities can respond to this need by providing instruction in online teaching skills and reaching diverse learners. Exploring theory and examples, practicing teaching online, collaborating for understanding, and reflecting regarding online teaching and learning can bring PSTs to a level of acceptance and competence in the new mode of instructional delivery. Likewise, language learning can be facilitated via telecommunications partnerships with native speakers who might apply the strategies that we identified in this research and share understanding of cultural phenomena.
 
 

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Table 1

Means and Standard Deviations Regarding Correspondences

	Very Effective (n=14)	Effective (n=18)	Ineffective (n=5)
U.S. messages  n SD Mean	-- 138 3.25 9.86	-- 139 2.52 7,72	-- 17 2.07 3.40
Taiwanese messages  n SD Mean	-- 127 1.82 9.07	-- 140 1.96 7.78	-- 24 3.19 4.80
Types of strategies n SD Mean	-- 51 1.34 3.64	-- 53 1.43 2.94	-- 2 0.89 0.40
Frequencies of Applied Strategies  n SD Mean	-- 217 7.25 15.00	-- 169 5.23 9.05	-- 6 2.68 1.20

 
 
 

Figure 1. Instructional strategies used during correspondences.