About STEP

One of the biggest educational challenges for foreign language instructors today is the lack of spaces for authentic language exchange, where learners can use language spontaneously, with authentic partners, and for authentic purposes. The parameters of authenticity and purposefulness are even more challenged in cases of less commonly taught languages, including Russian. Opportunities for study-abroad and exchange programs with Russia and other Russian-speaking countries have become dramatically reduced, or even eliminated. Such semester-long exchange programs, however, have been essential not only for improving students’ language skills in an authentic environment, but also for developing their global literacies, professional mobility, and sense of purpose in the global community.

As a replacement for traditional study-abroad programs of language immersion, this project proposes a Hybrid STEP (STudent Exchange Program) in the second language classroom, which combines the components of a long-term virtual exchange and a short-term face-to-face cultural immersion experience. The long-term component includes the creation of an international Russian language learning online community, where students from Norway and the United States engage in regular structured and semi-structured authentic communicative activities in Russian. In this virtual collaboration, American and Norwegian students will use the Russian language to explore each other’s cultures through the prism of learning Russian culture and the way it is represented both in (i) Russian-speaking countries and (ii) Russian-speaking diaspora across the globe.

Following the Framework of Intercultural Citizenship (Byram, 2008), this project goes beyond a reductionist approach to comparisons of cultures. Instead, it fosters global citizenship by engaging students into long lasting interactions on different meaningful activities and in different authentic environments. Also, through a set of pre- and post-surveys and reflection papers, this project challenges students to reflect on their learning the same language as carriers of two different lingua-cultures, as well as to critically reevaluate their beliefs, values, and sense of responsibility. The combination of long-term exchange and short-term immersion makes language learning the process and product of becoming a global mobile citizen, in a most financially responsible manner and with minimal disruptions to students’ educational paths and lives.