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Student Presentation (No formal paper)

**EFL Students’ Voices on a Cross-cultural Online Writing Session** //Hui-Wen Huang, Graduate Student, Curriculum and Instruction, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, USA, huan6826@vandals.uidaho.edu // The purpose of this case study was to understand how EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners’ motivation was enhanced through the application of Web 2.0 tools in a college-level classroom in Japan. A total of 18 students participated in this online writing session created on a wiki site (http://www.wikispaces.com) in the fall 2009 semester. In addition, fifteen education-major native speaker undergraduates in a northwestern public university of the U.S. gave online feedback to the EFL students’ writings. An end-of-session web-based survey was utilized for data analysis. The results showed 100% of the Japanese students responded they had higher motivation on how to communicate with native speakers through their writing after receiving authentic and meaningful online feedback. More than 90% of the students also expressed they would like to have more real-life online communications from native speakers in English classes. Technology integration in educational contexts provides educators an incentive to develop virtual learning environments in order to maximize student learning outcomes and expand their international visions in the traditional classrooms. Suggestions for EFL teachers in higher education are provided.

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