The role of teachers in eTandem in the context of Nordic minority languages in higher education

Abstract

Our study focuses on the role of the teachers in an eTandem project in a higher education context from the teachers’ point of view. The languages included in the project are both minority languages; Finnish in Sweden and Swedish in Finland. Finnish is classified as a national minority language in Sweden. Swedish, on the other hand, is an official language in Finland together with Finnish but there are relatively few speakers. Both contexts lead to challenges in acquiring competence in the two languages, one such challenge being the lack of opportunities to practise speaking and listening. Through practitioner reflection, we examine our eTandem activities and exercises and reflect on how they support students of minority languages in their language learning process. The study shows that the role of the teacher is versatile. We identified the following seven roles: designer, facilitator, guide, minority-language specialist, cultural mediator, language/pedagogy expert, and collaborator.