Teletandem and critical racial literacy in additional language education

This article presents an exploratory analysis on the contributions of the critical racial literacy (CRL) perspective in education to teletandem. Teletandem is a modality of virtual exchange practice for language learning that has been largely institutionally implemented in universities, language centers, and in other contexts in Brazil and abroad, as several studies have documented (Aranha; Cavalari, 2014; Garcia, 2015; Garcia; Souza, 2018; Souza, 2020). It was first implemented in 2006 at São Paulo State University (Unesp) through the research project Teletandem Brazil: foreign languages for all (Telles; Vassallo, 2006). The initiative aimed to promote collaborative and autonomous learning of additional languages, through regular synchronous web-conferencing sessions between pairs of learners who speak different languages, each aiming to learn the other’s native or proficiency language. The learning process in teletandem is expected to be supported by pedagogical mediation by teachers and researchers in the field of language education (Salomão, 2008). Despite two decades of research on teletandem, there is a lack of studies that address the implications of ethnic-racial dimensions in the intercultural dialogue and learning processes promoted within this institutional context of virtual exchange. In this regard, this article results from an articulation between CRL and teletandem, through a review of teletandem pedagogical principles of autonomy, reciprocity and separate use of languages (Picoli; Salomão, 2020; Leone; Telles, 2016; Leone, 2022; Satar; Aranha; Cavalari; Almijiwl, 2024; Moore; Rampazzo, 2023; Lima-Lopes; Aranha, 2023) and through a qualitative analysis of CRL based on some important publications on this theme (Ladson-Billings; Tate, 1995; Mosley, 2010; Ferreira, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2015; Braúna; Souza; Andrade Sobrinha, 2022; Santos; Santos; El-Kadri, 2021). The study indicates the contributions of CRL for the studies on teletandem intercultural telecollaborative learning experiences, such as developing learners and teachers’ awareness of race and racism within the intercultural dialogue, as well as promoting a pedagogical process committed to antiracism

Exploratory research · First language · Foreign language · Language acquisition · Language education · Language proficiency · Literacy · Qualitative research · Migration, Racism, and Human Rights · Multilingual Education and Policy · Race, Identity, and Education in Brazil