Language Learning Journal

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Tandem: a vehicle for language and intercultural

learning

Mike Calvert

To cite this article: Mike Calvert (1999) Tandem: a vehicle for language and intercultural
learning, Language Learning Journal, 19:1, 56-60, DOI: 10.1080/09571739985200111

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Language Learning Joumal, June 1999, No 19, 56-60

Tandem: a vehicle for language

and intercultural learning
Mike Calvert
Division of Education, University of Sheffield

In essence, tandem language learning involves native speakers of different languages studying the others' language and culture to
mutual advantage. Its growing popularity is easy to explain. It is economical, flexible and open to a wide range of applications includ-
ing e-mail. The article gives an up-to-date introduction to tandem learning and concentrates mainly on two important areas: face-to-
face tandem work for students and pupils.

INTRODUCTION • to learn more about one another's character and

culture;
Language teaching and learning has changed dra- • to help one another improve their language
matically in the last thirty years. From the dry, skills, and often also
decontextualised grammar translation for a minor- • to exchange additional knowledge - for exam-
ity, we have moved to an awareness of the need for, pie, about their professional life.
and entitlement of, all young learners to have access
to the language and culture of other countries. Find- When students of different languages work
ing more effective ways of learning and practising together they are both 'expert users' of their own
language and bringing together young people of dif- language and have a wealth of cultural and linguis-
ferent nationalities is a growing challenge. Tandem tic knowledge that they can share. It must be
"Tandem learning learning offers a variety of solutions and possibili- stressed that they are not (in almost all cases) teach-
offers a vadety of ties to a wide range of learners both in educational ers of their own language and should not be encour-
solutions" institutions and in professional contexts. aged to teach, but learners of the other language
In a previous article on tandem learning which able to draw on the strengths of the other in terms
appeared in the journal (Calvert, 1992: 17-19), the of cultural and linguistic knowledge. Their partners
focus was on tandem courses for university stu- offer a native speaker model to listen to, converse
dents which, at the time, represented the main area with, obtain information from and be corrected by.
of activity for colleagues at the Universities of This facility of having access to a native speaker of
Bochum, Oviedo and Sheffield. Since then the the language that one is learning leads not only to
application of the same tandem principles has language learning but also intercultural learning.
extended dramatically and it is the intention of this And, in addition to finding out about the culture of
article to provide an overview of the developments the other country there is, or can be, a hidden cur-
to date and, at the same time, focus particularly on riculum, which is the promoting of positive atti-
course independent tandem learning in colleges and tudes towards people of different nationalities and
schools. the rejection of xenophobic tendencies.
It could be argued that the above describes the
sorts of learning that take place when students
WHAT IS TANDEM LEARNING? study or work abroad or when they have extended
contact with native speakers in their own country.
Tandem language learning is essentially the study- Whilst this is true, there are aspects of tandem
ing of the language and culture of another language learning which enhance the quality o f the learning
with native speakers of that language to mutual and, thereby, increase the benefits of this type of
advantage. It can be defined as: work.
Underpinning the approach are three key princi-
a form of open learning whereby two people ples: reciprocity, responsibility and autonomy. First
with different native languages work together of all, tandem learning is reciprocal. Success relies
in pairs in order: on the mutual dependence and support that learners
56 Language Learning Journal
 TANDEM: A VEHICLE FOR LANGUAGEAND INTERCULTURALLEARNING

provide for each other. Because both partners are t~ distance, developments in communications tech-
learners there is a great incentive to work together nology have offered scope for a variety of applica-
and maximise the other's learning. tions. Amongst these e-mail stands out as the most
Linked to this principle is that of responsibility successful vehicle for tandem work. Following the
both for the partner and for one's own learning. success of the German-English (Bochum-Rhode
Each relies on the other for commitment, for appro- Island) e-mail forum, Brammerts and colleagues at
priate correction, for lively, stimulating communi- Bochum set up the International E-Mail Tandem
cation and encouragement. Both partners should Network with funding from Brussels. The goal of
contribute equally to their work together and bene- the Network is 'to create, in the international com-
fit to the same extent. This means not only spend- puter network, the Internet, the technical, organisa-
ing the same amount of time in each language but tional and didactic requirements for students of the
devoting the same amount of energy and interest in participating institutions - and eventually more
the work and concern for the other's success and universities - to work together across national
understanding. Such a responsibility requires toler- boundaries in order to learn languages from one "Such a
ance and understanding. another and to learn more about one another's cul- responsibility
Learners are also responsible for their own ture by learning in tandem' (Brammerts and Little, requirestolerance
learning. They must decide what they learn, how 1996). and under-
much they learn and how they learn. Since in many Initially, the work included the universities of standing"
cases the learning goals of the partners are differ- Sheffield and Oviedo and later 11 European univer-
ent, they must articulate their needs and be clear sities, Rhode Island and other institutions such as
about how they might derive the maximum benefit the Goethe-Institut in Lima, Matsuyama University
from the tandem experience. in Japan, Yonsei-University Seoul and the Univer-
The third principle is that of learner autonomy. sit6 de Montr6al. There are, at the time of writing,
First of all, students need to have an adequate 29 subnets ranging from the predictable English-
awareness of what it is to learn a language and what German to the less common German-Croatian/Ger-
is special about the tandem learning situation. They man-Korean. It is not possible to do justice to the
need to recognise: what the learners need at a given work of this group in a short article and those inter-
moment; what they can expect from their partner; ested are referred to the web sites (www.uni-trier.de
what it takes to learn properly and rigorously (e.g. and www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/rub-slf/Index.html).
dealing with recurrent errors systematically rather In addition to the work on e-mail, the group
than adopting a surface approach). have also been working on synchronous communi-
Learners need to have the ability to identify their cation via computers: tele-conferencing and MOOs
own errors and elicit corrections from their partners (see Calvert, 1996). Developments include target-
when appropriate. They need to recognise that ing specific student groups (e.g. engineering stu-
native speakers will not always correct certain dents of languages) and designing materials and
errors which do not hinder communication, such as approaches to facilitate reciprocal learning.
errors of pronunciation, nor will they necessarily
give reliable grammar rules. These skills do not
simply apply to tandem learning, but have a general FACE-TO FACE TANDEM
application in any interaction with native speakers LEARNING
(when visiting a foreign country, listening to for-
eign media, etc.). Whilst tandem courses provided the focus for
Experience has shown us that students' aware- improvement and development in the 1980s, it is
ness of, and ability to, apply such skills is often now the case that course independent tandem work
limited and, whilst the tandem formula offers an has overtaken these in terms of usage. The value of
enviable degree of contact with a native speaker, intensive courses is beyond any doubt but, in prac-
the opportunities are not always taken full advan- tical terms, course independent or so-called
tage of. 'autonomous tandems' have been seen to be a much
more economical, flexible, time efficient and
accessible way of generating tandem activity.
AN OVERVIEW OF Teachers and lecturers interested in tandem courses
DEVELOPMENTS are referred to the LLJ article 'Working in tandem:
peddling an old idea' (Calvert, 1992), although
The increased interest and activity in tandem learn- even the courses described there have been radi-
ing has been dramatic. In terms of face-to-face tan- cally overhauled in recent years.
dem learning, we have seen the development from Brammerts began experimenting with
tandem courses involving university students from autonomous tandems in the early 1990s and the
Bochum, Oviedo, Sheffield and latterly Mit- success was such that it was copied by other institu-
th6gskolan H~iarn6sand in Sweden to course inde- tions including Sheffield University. In the case of
pendent tandem schemes (see below) adopted at Bochum, the department in which Brammerts was
different universities and often linked to courses working was giving German lessons to a large
and/or systems of accreditation. In terms of tandem number of foreign students. These students and

No 19 June 1999 57
M CALVERT
German native speakers who wanted to learn other available by the teachers or can be accessed on the
languages were brought together and the system WWW (www.tandem.uni-trier.de).
has grown from there. It is now well established Attendance can and has been formalised by
and, by word of mouth, more and more partici- accrediting attendance as part of a module (or as a
pants join the scheme, lecturers and students alike. schein, in Germany). Attendance for a set number
The organisational demands are not great and no of hours, a portfolio of material and compulsory
money changes hands. What follows attempts to attendance at counselling sessions (see below)
summarise aspects of the organisation whilst there have proved successful ways of integrating tandem
is no suggestion that one model is universally activity into the work of the department.
applicable.
It is useful to have a room and a set time for
meeting and, if possible, a teacher who can moni- COUNSELLING
tor the progress of the groups. The time allotted to
the sessions varies from one to two hours. Initially Early efforts to make improvements in tandem
a 'drop-in' approach might be adopted in order to learning focused on the student materials and
attract as many students as possible. Publicity is aspects of tandem course design. As tandem appli-
vital if a sufficient number of native speakers of cations have proliferated and the need for materials
languages other than English are to be attracted. and structures have diminished, attention has
Students are often paired on an ad hoc basis, turned to looking at ways of best supporting the
although encouraging longer standing partnerships learner. Observations of tandem learners repeat-
increases motivation and can yield better results. edly highlight concerns about the quality of learn-
Partners are often free to stay together week after ing and lack of awareness of the processes involved
week but are encouraged to change after a number in learning a language on the part of the learners.
of sessions to allow for variety and so that the rela- The emphasis is on deriving maximum benefit
tionship does not become stale. The issue of pair- from the rich learning environment that tandem
"The issue of ing is quite sensitive because there is the danger offers by increasing the students' autonomy and
pairing is quite that students, when they find themselves with a awareness.
sensitive" partner with whom they are incompatible, will not It has been observed that both oral and written
return rather than face their partners and tell them advice to students, although of benefit to some, can
that they do not want to work with them. If how- often have little effect. Repeatedly students are
ever, students agree to work together for a set adopting strategies which do not represent best
period of time, e.g. four weeks, after which both practice. For example, some students insist that it
partners can, as it were, 'walk away' should the is by speaking the foreign language that they will
relationship not be proving to be too fruitful, this improve. Consequently, when they are working
has proved to be acceptable. Students are, of with their partners, they insist on both partners
course, not restricted to carrying out tandem activi- speaking in the foreign language. Apart from the
ties in the allotted sessions. They often prefer to unnatural communication that results, it is clear
meet at times which are mutually convenient. that they are depriving themselves and their part-
Some students have more free time than others ners of the benefit of heating the answers/explana-
and, clearly, a foreign student who is learning Eng- tion/description in the native language and are
lish might well have more need of tandem partners reduced to an impoverished response in the target
than a chemistry student who is following an inten- language. This reduces both the inter-cultural con-
sive course and who simply wishes to maintain the tent and the quality of language produced.
level of language in the language she has studied. The solution appears to lie in counselling. Stu-
Monogamy is not a requirement; students can and dents need the opportunity to reflect on their learn-
often do have more than one partner, either one for ing, discuss it with their partner and to develop the
each language, if they study more than one, or sev- metacognitive awareness of language learning that
eral partners in the language that they are studying. they need to be autonomous learners. Such is the
In fact polygamy can be a positive virtue when value and importance of counselling that, in the
there is an imbalance in the supply of students of pursuit of autonomy, it has been made a compul-
one nationality. sory course requirement in some formalised tan-
How do the students spend their time together? dem situations. The juxtaposition of the words
As was stated previously, the needs of each learner 'compulsory' and 'autonomous' may appear to be
might well be very different. An English student of ironical, but a measure of compulsion has been
German might need help with a written assign- seen as a valuable means to an end!
ment; a Japanese student of architecture might During counselling sessions, students are inter-
have to make an oral presentation of his work in viewed individually or with their panner and asked
English and need some help with pronunciation; a about their work: whether and how they correct
Spanish student of medicine might simply want to their partner; what types of mistakes they correct;
keep up a level of fluency in English and be happy how they can best support their partner; whether
to talk about current affairs. Sometimes, set tasks the balance of the languages is fair, etc. Such inter-
are useful to 'break the ice' and these are made views often reveal problems which need to be

58 Language LearningJournal
 TANDEM: A VEHICLE FOR LANGUAGEAND INTERCULTURALLEARNING

resolved and which might not have come to light English and German versions of the activities and
otherwise. For example, if one partner is much encouraged to cover about 20 tasks in the four-
stronger than the other there is a tendency for that week period. They were encouraged to take notes
student to dominate with a resulting frustration and and to write down how they found the activities and
ill feeling on the part of one or both parties. how long they spent on them. Interviewing one of
The counselling sessions offer an opportunity to the teachers concerned and reading reports and
audit the students' needs and help the student to pri- examples of completed tasks, it is possible to give
oritise as to what they need to concentrate on and some recommendations that might benefit other
how best their partner might help them. Linked to teachers who would like to make the most of the
this, the sessions also provide an opportunity for possibilities for such contact between young learn-
target setting. Students can, for example, agree to ers of two different languages. "the sessions
produce a piece of work with their partner's sup- The example above gave the pupils total free- also provide an
port or, in the case of an oral presentation, students dom as to when to carry out tandem tasks. In many opportunity for
can be asked to concentrate on particular aspects of cases it might be desirable to timetable such ses- target setting"
pronunciation. sions. In our experience as teachers, much of the
There are clearly resource implications in terms time spent by the exchange partner in the host
of tutor time but work taking place in Bochum and school is not fully utilised for one reason or
elsewhere highlights the value of this support. another. A daily tandem session would give struc-
ture and purpose to their time in school. 20 to 30
minute sessions might be ideal for younger learners
TANDEM WORK IN SCHOOLS with sessions of up to an hour for older pupils.
Timetabling also has the benefit of giving status to
Initially, our work centred on university students the activity. Support from the senior management
since, first of all, that is the area in which we were of the school to facilitate the release of pupils for
working and there has always been an acknowl- tandem activities might be an important factor in its
edgement that a prerequisite for successful tandem success. Staff supervision might also have to be
work is that both partners have a satisfactory level negotiated. The visiting pupils can be timetabled to
of language. The question is, what constitutes a work with one partner, a number of partners, with
'satisfactory level'? University students who have different partners every day, with able or less able
studied a language for one year might well have pupils. Pairing foreign students who are taking part
developed the communicative competence to in the exchange with those that are not has the fur-
enable them to benefit fully from tandem work. As ther benefit of giving those latter pupils a chance
a rule, they have the maturity and language learning and possibly motivating them to want to take part
skills sufficient to be able to cope with problems in future exchanges.
that both they and their partner might have. The degree of pupil supervision will depend on
In the case of younger learners, to what extent the circumstances. Supervision can be desirable at
would the tandem model be capable of being trans- times for a number of reasons. First of all, the
lated and successfully used? The answer to our younger learners might find a reflective, self-con-
question came to us in the shape of an Irish-Ger- scious approach to their own learning difficult and,
man model which brought together two 11-16 in relation to the language learning tasks, may well
schools as part of a Council of Europe project. The not be aware of what is happening, e.g. language
nature of the links was based on the principle that switching, one person dominating. Pupils may need
they should be "long term, purposeful, between an 'honest broker' when problems like this arise to
children of equal status and likely to lead to enjoy- iron out any problems. On the other hand, it is
able, co-operative learning." (Dr Roger Austin, The essential that the teacher is not too intrusive as this
European Studies (Ireland and Great Britain) Pro- might well inhibit communication.
ject at the Colloquy of Directors of Educational Material design is a critical consideration.
Research Institutions, Ericeira (Portugal) 17-20 Whereas students at university level might well be
October 1989). It emerged in the findings that the expected to cope with basic instructions, exploit
exchange and sharing of personal information as tasks freely and determine their own tasks, younger
well as the academic work, was motivating and that learners need unambiguous rubrics and simple
the most effective sort of work exchanged between instructions. Pupils can easily become anxious if
pupils was task orientated. unsure as to what to do. Even the simplest of tasks
The pupils were involved in residential visits can cause problems. They need to know, for exam-
and, as such, had plenty of time together. The ple, whether they have to ask all the questions in
teachers decided to use simplified tandem activities their own language or in the foreign language;
to encourage more communication and to further whether their partners have to write down all the
the aims of the project. The pupils were asked to set answers in their own language or in the foreign lan-
aside two periods of at least 15 minutes each at any guage or whether each pupil asks a question and
time of day. During one of the sessions the vehicu- then their partner asks the same question.
lar language would be German and during the other The most successful tasks are likely to be those
English. The pupils were given a booklet with the which are as different as possible from everyday

W No 19June1999 59
M CALVERT
work. Here is an example o f a task that has proved w o r k o f the pairs. The evaluation of the materials
successful: might enable the teachers to identify those tasks
which need refinement or which are not successful.
Being annoyed The benefits o f s c h o o l - b a s e d tandem experi-
How would you, your mother, father, brother and sister,
ences are, of course, those of tandem learning gen-
grandparents react in any of the following situations: erally, but there are additional benefits. The
activities can involve a much greater n u m b e r o f
• somebody pours a glass of coke over your trousers - students than would n o r m a l l y benefit from an
and it's done on purpose exchange; the time spent will be purposeful and
• as you come back from a shop, you see somebody is constructive and will help to c o m b a t the tedium
about to break off the aerial of your car. that many exchange visitors experience in school;
• an old aunt who is not really liked by anybody in the and it focuses on interaction between individuals o f
family announces that she'll visit you and intends to different nationalities, and can act as a vehicle for
spend two weeks with your family involving visitors in school and d e v e l o p i n g inter-
. a private letter addressed to you has been opened by
cultural understanding.
another member of your family

Results~briefsummary of conversation~comment:
CONCLUSION
The e x a m p l e s of tandem learning in this article
have been chosen because they represent the m o s t
likely applications for the readership o f this jour-
Time spent on this topic nal. The range of applications and the extent of tan-
5 min 10 min 15 rain 20 min longer dem and tandem-related activity is increasing at an
amazing rate both within our group and world
Language mainly used in this exercise wide. The revolution in information technology has
been largely responsible for the pace of change
English German
given the ease with which ideas and materials can
Topic/exerciseinteresting: @@ © © ® ®® be shared.
The tandem principles that have been developed
taken from 'Gustaff meets May' Hiberno-German Tandem have p r o v e d to be durable and transferable and,
1993) together, offer a flexible, economical means of pro-
moting language learning and inter-cultural learn-
The presentation o f the material is also impor- ing whenever native speakers of different languages
tant. F o r casual users it is sufficient to have dupli-
can be brought together.
cated copies o f the tasks for the pupils to use when
they need them. For more structured tandem prac-
tice it is helpful, and adds status, if the pupils are
given a w o r k b o o k which can be written in and, in
REFERENCES
addition, can serve as a c o m p l e t e d o c u m e n t o f the Calvert, M. (1992) Working in tandem: peddling an old idea.
tandem activities. It is also helpful if the material is Language LearningJournal, September, 17-19.
all stored on disk to allow for updating and refine- Calvert, M. (1996) MundoHispano: realidad virtual para his-
ment. panoparlantes. VidaHispdnica, June, 4 ~ 3 .
Creighton, C. and Redmond, M. (1993) Gustaff meets May:
The materials might well include an evaluation
Hiberno-GermanTandem.
section such as that in the example above. P u p i l s ' Little, D. and Brammerts, H. (1996)A guide to language 1earn-
performance can be assessed from the written out- ing in tandem via the Internet. Trinity College Dublin.
comes as well as eavesdropping or sampling o f the (CLCS Occasional Paper No. 46 ). ISSN 0332 3889.

60 Language Learning Journal