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=Recent Projects • Third Space in Online Discussion (Mark Pegrum & Stephen Bax)=

overview / Third Space Trial 1 / Third Space Trial 2

This page gives an overview of the Third Space in Online Discussion project, run by Mark Pegrum and Stephen Bax. It contains a synopsis of the project, details of funding, a list of papers presented or published to date, a visitors' map, and contact information for the researchers. 
 * Synopsis**

In view of the ongoing processes of globalisation or indeed “glocalisation” – a term which captures the tension between homogenisation and diversity – we believe that language teachers have a crucial role to play in helping students negotiate interpersonal and intercultural divides, retaining a sense of individual and cultural difference even as they open themselves to new worldviews and the potential for shifts in their own identities. Before this can happen, however, teachers themselves need extensive experience of negotiating such divides in their own lives, including their learning and teaching practices. Thanks to the advent of e-learning technologies such as online discussion forums, which minimise geographical and practical barriers to intercultural encounters, today’s education programmes can give teachers some of the necessary exposure.

Our study is a based on a series of international trials of online discussion forums for language teachers. Third Space Trial 1 took place in February 2007, and Third Space Trial 2 took place in February 2008.

Our starting point for analysing the interactions in these forums is the notion of the **third space****.** In the past this and related terms have been used to refer to a space between recognised cultures where participants must negotiate cultural differences. A third space may foster intercultural learning in tandem with a growth in “epistemological humility” (Ess, 2007) – essentially, the recognition that one’s own perspective on the world is not the only one. We have extended this notion to focus on an **educational third space,** which we define as a third space which is purposely exploited or fostered in an educational context for educational purposes; which, in line with social constructivist pedagogy, is mediated by a teacher or teachers but involves the joint deconstruction and reconstruction of knowledge and understanding by all participants; and whose success may be measured by the presence of intercultural learning and/or a growth in epistemological humility. We believe that asynchronous discussion boards (DBs) can be a valuable forum for the emergence of this kind of space, given their interactive, reflective and – potentially – democratic nature.

However, a successful educational third space does not emerge automatically from online contact, whether on DBs or in any other forum, and accounts abound of failed intercultural communication in both educational and non-educational contexts. It is therefore essential to evaluate the success of any such space by seeking evidence of key social indicators, such as willingness to interact across cultural divides, and key cognitive indicators, such as openness to shifts in views or perspectives. The presence of such indicators, which can be determined through **computer-mediated discourse analysis**, would be suggestive of the occurrence of intercultural learning and a growth in epistemological humility.

In our project, we have drawn on but substantially modified coding schemes used in past studies of intercultural competence and the third space online to construct our own **comprehensive coding scheme** tailored to the data at hand. The results of our discourse analysis to date, complemented by system statistics and post-forum feedback, suggest that while a number of factors limited fuller development, there was some evidence of intercultural learning and the growth of epistemological humility – and hence the development of a successful educational third space – in our 2007 forums.

Work is currently continuing on coding the full set of data from the 2008 forums.

[The above text draws in part on Pegrum, M. (2009). //Seeking a third space in intercultural education: What discourse analysis tells us.// Paper delivered at [|Cutting Edges 2009: Discourse, Context and Language Education], University of Canterbury Christ Church, UK, 25-27 June.]


 * Funding**


 * May 2008: Funding from CRADLE, the Centre for Research, Assessment and Development in Language and Education, Canterbury Christ Church University, to fund the coding and analysis of the final part of the 2007 forum data.
 * January 2008: Funding from CRADLE, the Centre for Research, Assessment and Development in Language and Education, Canterbury Christ Church University, to fund the coding and analysis of the first part of the 2007 forum data.
 * December 2007: Funding from UWA/GSE Teaching & Learning Fund to purchase and set up new a Linux server to support the Moodle VLE.


 * Papers**

Bax, S., & Pegrum, M. (2010). Lurking in multicultural online educational forums: 'I wasn’t invited to the party’. In A.T. Ragusa (Ed.), //Interaction in communication technologies & virtual learning environments: Human factors// (pp.145-159). Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference.

Pegrum, M. (2009b). //Seeking a third space in intercultural education: What discourse analysis tells us.// Opening plenary at [|Cutting Edges 2009: Discourse, Context and Language Education], University of Canterbury Christ Church, UK, 25-27 June. [[|handout 1]] [[|handout 2]] [[|handout 3]]

Pegrum, M. (2009a). //Building a third space in intercultural education.// Paper Presented at the Open University, Milton Keynes, 18 June. [[|handout 1]] [[|handout 2]] [[|handout 3]]

Bax, S. (2008b). //’I wasn’t invited to the party’: Lurking in multicultural online educational forums. CRADLE// Research Seminar, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK, 14 November.

Bax, S. (2008a). //’I wasn’t invited to the party’: Lurking in multicultural online educational forums.// Research Seminar, University of Brighton, UK, 7 November.

Bax, S. (2007b). //Approaches to discourse: Analysing internet discourse in an online teacher development project.// Research Seminar, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK, 23 November.

Bax, S. (2007a). //Teachers talking across continents: Analysing internet discourse in an online teacher development project.// Research Seminar, University of Brighton, UK, 7 November.

Pegrum, M., & Bax, S. (2007). //Catering to diversity through asynchronous online discussion: Linking teachers across continents.// Paper presented at Diversity: A Catalyst for Innovation - the 20th [|English Australia] Conference, Sydney, Australia 13-15 September. [[|slides]] [[|handout 1] ] [[|handout 2]] [[|handout 3]]


 * Visitors**

media type="custom" key="182493"

Locations of visitors since 6 Sep 2010


 * Contact**

Please feel free to use the attached [|messages board] to send us comments, suggestions or questions. Alternatively, you may contact Mark Pegrum directly. We welcome feedback from anyone interested in this area.