october 2012 - TOJET the Turkish online journal of educational ...

TOJET: The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology – October 2012, volume 11 Issue 4
EMOTIONS AND PAIR TRUST IN ASYNCHRONOUS HOSPITALITY CULTURAL
EXCHANGE FOR STUDENTS IN TAIWAN AND HONG KONG
Associate Professor Dr. Mei-jung Wang
Chair of Dept. of Applied English, National Kaohsiung University of Hospitality & Tourism, TAIWAN
sebrina@mail.nkuht.edu.tw
Assistant Professor Dr. Hsueh Chu Chen
Dept. of Linguistics and Modern Language Studies, Hong Kong Institute of Education, HONG KONG
hsuehchu@ied.edu.hk
ABSTRACT
Social and emotional dynamics have an impact on students’ learning processes in online-learning situations. This
study explores university students’ emotions and trust levels resulting from collaborative communication
behaviors when they interacted as part of a Food and Tourism course in Taiwan and Hong Kong. More
specifically, students’ emotions and trust levels were investigated and were founded to have varied over the
course of the study. Results show that the Taiwan-based participants seemed to express their emotions more
strongly than the Hong Kong-based ones. Both the Hong Kong and Taiwan groups generally felt satisfied,
excited and curious, whereas they were sometimes perceived to be dispirited, insecure and angry while the
project was in progress and at the end of the project. The three sources that caused most emotional comment
were self, social and others. When it came to dealing with emotion, most students tried to solve problems by
themselves. They believed that they had the ability to solve the problems and held themselves responsible for
dealing with their own emotions. The pair trust survey shows that both groups gave positive responses for all
items, but there seemed to be a gap between the perception of pair trust and the reality of dealing with emotion.
INTRODUCTION
Interest in food issues has surged in recent years, both in popular culture and among students and academics.
Food is a part of popular culture, and the beliefs, identities, and trends in a culture affect eating habits. With the
strong trend toward globalization, enhancing cross-cultural understanding through exchanges between university
students from different regions will help increase students’ international competitiveness in their studies and
subsequent professional lives. E-learning has become particularly attractive for educational purposes in recent
years. The existing research pays close attention to the significant potential of text-based interaction within a
socio-cultural context (Kitade, 2008; Payne & Ross, 2005).
In social online-learning situations, social and emotional dynamics, such as social-emotional affordances and
distributed emotions, are less visible, but nevertheless have an impact on students’ learning processes (Wosnitza
& Volet, 2005). The importance of the emotional aspect of online learning has been recognized (Derks, Fischer,
& Bos, 2008; Ware, 2005; Zembylas, 2008). This study explores college students’ emotions resulting from
collaborative communication behaviors when subjects interacted during a Food and Tourism course in Taiwan
and Hong Kong. In addition, the trust levels of the students were also examined. Finally, students’ responses to
the project were analyzed.
LITERATURE REVIEW
ICT and cultural learning
With the advanced information and communications technology (ICT) available these days, it is easier to gain
resources with access to the Internet. For instance, computer-based or aided language learning has been proven
successful (Al Musawi, Askin, Abdelraheem, & Osman, 2012; Baharani, & Sim, 2012; Bower, 2011; Kilimci,
2010; Ware & O’Dowd, 2008; Zhang, Song, & Burston, 2011). Altstaedter and Jones (2009) implemented a
project in one of their undergraduate foreign-language courses that promoted a systematic inquiry-based
approach to cross-cultural learning. The students completed a series of technology-enhanced tasks using
programs such as Web Quests, which typically included an introduction, a task, information sources, a
description of the process, guidance on how the information should be organized, and a conclusion (Dodge,
1995). Altstaedter and Jones’ study revealed that tasks performed with the aid of computers can directly affect
students’ motivation and achievement in a positive way and the tasks can be designed in such a way that students
find them enjoyable and easy to use.
Several empirical studies have been conducted in relation to ICT and cultural learning (Freiermuth & Huand,
2012; Wang, 2010; Vinther, 2011). Li and Erben (2007) attempted to develop Internet-based language and
cultural learning in a more direct way: they implemented an instant-messaging system in their course instruction.
In the Chinese language course, students were paired up with native Chinese speakers through online instant-
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