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Virtual Environment and Social Skills Development 

 
Noureddine Mouhadjer, Mohammed Kheladi, Amine Belaid 

 
Tlemcen University, Algeria 

 

 

 

Abstract 

 

The use of the videoconference technology has recently become a promising field in 

network-based language teaching (NBLT). In the foreign language context, the 

significance of this technology lies basically in providing students with the opportunity 

to engage in meaningful speech interactions and, therefore, creating a supporting 

learning environment that enables them to develop real-life cross-cultural 

conversations, particularly with native speakers. On this basis, the present paper 

seeks to assess the impact of implementing such technology on students’ social skills 

development. More importantly, it makes use of the Global Understanding Project to 

show the extent to which virtual intercultural encounters can affect the development of 

tolerance, respect and understanding among students in a world driven by its complex 

multiculturality; a world within which successful communication means a great deal. 

 

 

Introduction 

 

Recently, language contact has been significantly facilitated via the introduction of new 

technological tools, affording EFL students the opportunity to engage in computer-

mediated intercultural communication through approaches termed “telecollaborative”. 

The present case study is one example of these telecollaborations. It is indeed a world-

cultures course taught through virtual classroom. A virtual classroom is a “virtual place 

to meet” that connects teachers and students. It is a setting that allows students to 

engage in challenging discussions, test their knowledge, access multiple resources, 

and receive assignments and garner feedback from teachers. It is a truly engaging 

learning environment within which students can get remote assistance from teachers 

and education specialists. 

 

In Global Understanding Project, the virtual classroom is a space wherein Internet is 

used to join partner countries from different corners of the world (Africa, Asia, Europe 

and the Americas) and to have a direct personal experience through real-time 

videoconferencing, chat, and emails, i.e. synchronous and asynchronous 

communication. This paper is, therefore, an attempt to highlight the ways in which this 

project contributes to establishing an intercultural dialogue. 

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Interculturality 

 

The Global Understanding Course provides a format for students from the 23 member 

institutions to communicate worldwide and exchange insights about their cultures via 

video-conferencing and instant chat technology. Therefore, one of the main objectives 

of this project is to create an intercultural learning environment and sustain a direct 

international experience among students from different educational institutions across 

the globe. The students (usually 16 in number) meet for 70 minutes for almost 16 

weeks per semester. They are divided into two groups A and B, so that each class 

session includes discussion in both small groups for group A and one-to-one chat for 

group B. The discussions are usually centred on college life, family, the meaning of 

life, stereotypes, and prejudices.  

 

The Global Understanding project aims at developing an atmosphere of trust and 

confidence that encourages the students to share knowledge, opinions, values, 

attitudes and emotions, and most importantly to develop effective collaborative skills. 

Through one-to-one collaboration, students become more reflective, and learn to 

identify themselves in comparison with others.  

 

The Global Understanding Course generates and promotes an intercultural dialogue 

founded on respectful exchange of views between individuals and groups from 

different ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic backgrounds. Such dialogue is 

characteristically built on mutual understanding, openness and a genuine respect for 

and appreciation of diversity, equal human dignity and equal human rights. It strongly 

acknowledges a positive attitude towards diversity, considering the meeting between 

people with different beliefs and cultural profiles as enriching for collaborators. It also 

conceives that individual identity is subject to development, change and adaptation 

within a globalized world where multiculturality is prevailing. As such, intercultural 

dialogue is a crucial tool for achieving social cohesion within multicultural societies 

and for fostering a sense of inclusiveness in which individuals and groups cannot by 

no means be marginalized or characterized as being outsiders. 

 

Intercultural Dialogue Requirements 

 

Indisputably, respect and tolerance constitute the cornerstone of a successful 

intercultural dialogue. To illustrate this within the present research work, we will see in 

what follows instances from one of our classes that consisted of Algerian students and 

their American partners. The intention is therefore to spot the impact of cross-cultural 

interaction in consolidating and reinforcing mutual respect and tolerance. 

 

 

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Respect 

Respect indicates a positive feeling of esteem and good opinion about someone or 

something. This feeling is then translated into specific actions and conduct 

representative of that esteem. Be it for a person or other entity (such as a nation or a 

religion), respect is identified by Jonathan Haidt as one of five fundamental moral 

values shared to a greater or lesser degree by different societies and individuals, and 

when someone fails to show respect towards someone else’s belief and way of action, 

then there is no foundation for successful communication and achievement of their 

common objectives (see Haidt & Graham 2007). 

 

In the following examples, we will demonstrate how respect is shown in our students’ 

use of language during conversation. By following specific conventions, respect is 

manifested in curiosity, openness, and readiness to suspend stereotypes about others’ 

culture. Algerian students will be referred to as TUA (Tlemcen University of Algeria) 

and American students as ECU (East Carolina University)  

 
1)-TUA:  in fact I study all eh the whole of the days in the week except the Thursday and  

     Friday ECU: wow!!  that’s a lot, that’s good 

 

2)-TUA:  … (leo) I haven’t received a message from you, I don’t know why? 

    ECU: ok to answer your question, I tried to email you but, I might have received the wrong  

    email address     

    TUA: yes 

    ECU: but I wrote you a very long email and I’m very sorry that you didn’t receive it 

    TUA: yeah because I think it was a mistake in my email at first,  I don’t know if you  

     received the second one, but I’m going to try to send you the new one … just to receive   

     messages from you 

 

3)-ECU: I study geology, …and geology is the study of rocks and minerals on the earth 

    TUA: yeah 

 

4)-ECU: I’m in, I’m in a club that is called the NAACP and I can explain to you what that is if    

    you’d like. 

    TUA: yeah sure 

 

5)-TUA: that’s what I wanted to know 

     ECU: ok I was glad that I explained it  

 

6)-ECU: you got a question for me or you want me to start? 

    TUA: if you want to start it’s a pleasure to listen to you 

 

7)-ECU: that’s sad, I cried too when I went to the elementary school 

    TUA: so good … I found somebody who is like me 

 

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8)-TUA: ok thank you 

     ECU: you’re welcome, thank you 

 

9)-TUA: nice to meet you today 

     ECU: you too …do you want to start or do you want me to start? 

 

10)-TUA: ok, what do you suggest as a topic for today? 

      ECU: it’s an open discussion … we can talk about anything you would like to. 

 

11)-TUA: what do you think about us? 

       ECU: ah!!…for me it has been good … I learned a lot because I, before I actually knew    

       nothing, so this has been a great experience, I like you all.  

 

12)-TUA: how did you find the experience with us? 

      ECU: the experience was very useful for all of us… I think we all learnt something new  

      that we did not know before and it was a lot of fun getting to know people from the other  

      side of the world…that was very interesting… how about you, what do you think about   

      us? 

      TUA: it was a useful experience with you. 

 

From the above examples we can notice that most of the speech encompasses special 

formulas that indicate respect on the part of the speaker. At times, respect was 

manifested through creating a shared understanding about a topic, like in the case of 

geology. The important thing for everyone was that each one understands what the 

other wishes to say as fully as possible while being very nice whether in making or in 

answering statements. Everyone was trying to empathize with their partners, in such 

a way that no feeling of disrespect was ever felt in the conversations. On the contrary, 

positive attitudes were displayed, and a willingness to suspend one’s values, beliefs 

and behaviours and see how they might look from an outsider’s perspective. 

 

 

Tolerance 

 

According to Language Policy Division of the Council of Europe, in their document 

Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters, the concept of ‘tolerance’ suggests “the 

need for people of different cultural backgrounds to develop the ability at least to 

endure the fact that others believe and live differently within a particular society, or in 

the wider world, although they might share some core values” (2009,p.10). But 

tolerance should not be confused with respect, since tolerance does not necessarily 

imply any positive feeling. It is “the practice of deliberately allowing or permitting a 

thing of which one disapproves. One can meaningfully speak of tolerating, i.e., of 

allowing or permitting, only if one is in a position to disallow” (Zagorin, 2003,p. 5). It 

may signify “no more than forbearance and the permission given by the adherents of 

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a dominant religion for other religions to exist, even though the latter are looked on 

with disapproval as inferior, mistaken or harmful” (Zagorin, 2003,p. 6). 

 

In an intercultural setting, tolerance is even more important. It is the basis of 

intercultural competence since it controls the attitudes of the person interacting with 

people of another culture. A tolerant person is willing to suspend their own values, 

beliefs and behaviours, and not assume that they are the only possible and naturally 

correct ones. They are then able to see how they might look from the perspective of 

an outsider who has a different set of values, beliefs and behaviours. In the following 

examples there are some instances of tolerance: 

 

1)-ECU: do you drink alcohol? 

    TUA: no, no it is forbidden in our religion 

    ECU: ah ok 

    ECU: hello it’s Stacy number 14  

 

2)-TUA: how do you consider the notion of family in the American society? 

    ECU: yes my mum, my sister, me and my dog… my closest family 

   TUA:=so where is your father? 

 

3)-  ECU: if someone was close to you, was secretive about being eh, homosexual 

         … eh would that change your view about them? 

      TUA: I will have pity of him of course 

          … but I’m not going to change my behaviour with him 

          … the relationship will stay as it is    

 

4)-TUA: how do you consider the American Muslims and how do you accept them?    

    ECU: yeah, I honestly don’t think that there are many people who really 

              … em for me personally seeing an American Muslim is just like seeing an American  

    Jew or an American Christian … that’s just their faith and so it doesn’t even really  

    come up as a problem. 

    ECU: however , probably none of us think of anything when we see them 

         … but there are still a lot of ignorant people … and I know that when a lot of people   

        see American Muslims or Muslims in general the thought of a terrorist comes to their  

        mind immediately…and it’s just hard to, for people to realize that the general image that  

        comes up when you think of terrorist is Muslim… and, and that’s in general, but eh I  

        mean eventually the majority of American people know that that’s not true 

        … but there are still ignorant people out there and that’s a common misconception 

 

5)-ECU: what is the general opinion or general feelings towards premarital sex? 

     …does it happen, does it happen a lot or is just kept quiet? … and is it looked down  

     upon? ... sex before marriage… is that looked down upon? 

     TUA: hi… well in terms of having sex before marriage in our religion, the answer in  

     religion, it’s forbidden …in religion it’s forbidden to have sex before marriage  

     …but this doesn’t mean that there is no practice of sex before marriage in all the  

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    Arab societies … there are some exceptions of course… and they are increasing day  

    by day… but in our religion it’s forbidden 

 

 

 

6)-ECU: are people, are women who get pregnant before marriage looked down upon them? 

     TUA: there are some parents who don’t accept this, and punish of course the girls as  

     well as the boys … but there are some other families who accept the fact  

 

7)-TUA: what’s your idea about the third world nations especially Algeria and if ever is  

    this idea changed now?… have you changed your idea within the experience with  

    us?… after this experience?  

    ECU: they are growing and they should be growing…I think there shouldn’t be  

    countries that are suffering so much that their citizens cannot live 

     … I think that’s a good thing that you guys are trying to better yourself by going to  

     college and hopefully you get a job… as a person you need to know who do you  

     want to be and how you want to live and focus on that and not about other people. 

 

From the above examples, we can notice that the communication was successful 

because students from both sides were able to accept ambiguity and lack of clarity 

from the other. In example 1, the ECU student did not discuss the TUA student 

abstinence from drinking alcohol. Likewise, TUA student, in example 2 did not discuss 

the fact that a dog can be a member of a family. Students’ tolerance was even 

complemented by the skills of taking up another’s perspective, of being able to grasp 

the ideas, feelings and intentions of the other. We can, clearly, see this in the 

remaining examples. Homosexuality, premarital sex, and premarital pregnancy are 

taboo topics in Algerian society, and in spite of this, TUA students were open-minded 

enough to discuss them. ECU students showed the same level of tolerance, for 

example when TUA student said she would feel pity for a homosexual friend. If these 

students did not have this tolerant attitude towards the way their partners act and what 

they believe, there would have been no communication and no achievement of joint 

objectives.  

 

Tips to Develop Respect and Tolerance 

 

In today's world of globalization, the world is certainly becoming smaller. People of 

various cultures and who have a set of beliefs that defines the code of conduct and 

values for their respective cultures are, nowadays, able to communicate freely. 

Though cultural differences distinguish societies from one another, they find different 

ways to express thoughts, ideas which can cross cultures through different forms of 

media like television, newspapers and the Internet. Many people believe that due to 

the advancements in science and technology, cultural differences tend to disappear 

through time. 

 

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However, in spite of all the good will in the world, miscommunication is likely to happen, 

especially when there are significant cultural differences between communicators. 

One important contributor, among many, to the cultural differences is the history of a 

particular region or country. The events of the past shape the moods and opinions of 

people living in that specific country and which are certainly different from another 

country, i.e. we make different meanings of the world, our place in it, and our 

relationships with others. This cultural difference may lead, in most cases, to 

miscommunication that may lead, on its turn, to conflict, or aggravate a conflict that 

already exists.  

 

Unfortunately, most of the variables of cultural differences are much more complex 

than what we might think of them. Each of them affects the way people communicate, 

and can be responsible for conflict or the intensification of conflict when it leads to 

miscommunication or misunderstanding. For this reason, several different theories 

and models of cultural differences have been designed. These models are included in 

table A1 (see Appendix A) 

 

To summarize, the main cultural differences that these models and others that have 

been discussed in other numerous theories, surveys, and investigations that focus on 

specific countries, regions, and organizations, we may group them in 5 variables:  

 

1) high context vs. low context, where in a low context culture things are fully 

spelled out and are made explicit, and there is considerable dependence on 

what is actually said or written, whereas in a high context culture 

communicators assume a great deal of commonality of knowledge and views, 

so that less is spelled out explicitly and much more is implicit or communicated 

in indirect ways (Hall 1990). 

 

2) monochronic vs. polychronic, where monochronic cultures like to do just one 

thing at a time and value a certain orderliness and sense of there being an 

appropriate time and place for everything, whereas polychronic cultures like to 

do multiple things at the same time (Lewis 1992).  

 

3) future vs. present vs. past orientation, where future-oriented societies have a 

great deal of optimism about the future and think they understand it and can 

shape it through their actions, whereas past-oriented societies are concerned 

with traditional values and ways of doing things and tend to be conservative in 

management and slow to change those things that are tied to the past. Present-

oriented societies, on the other hand, see the past as passed and the future as 

uncertain and prefer short-term benefits (Hofstede 1991).  

 

4) power distance, where the extent to which people accept differences in power 

allows to shape many aspects of life, such as superior/subordinate 

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relationships. It can be high where individuals are deferential to people of 

authority and generally allow an unequal distribution of power, or low where 

individuals question authority and expect to participate in decisions that affect 

them (Hofstede 1991). 

 

5) individualism vs. collectivism, where in individualist cultures a person is all the 

more admirable if he/she is a “self-made man/woman” or “makes up his/her 

own mind” or shows initiative or works well independently. In collectivist 

cultures, on the other hand, people are expected to identify with and work well 

in groups which protect them in exchange for loyalty and compliance (Hofstede 

1991). 

 

In order to engage in a successful intercultural dialogue, respect and tolerance are 

required. They need to be explicitly taught and learned and then practiced and 

maintained throughout life. They can be encouraged through the development of 

course content that revolves around intercultural differences. Being aware of these 

cultural differences like those mentioned above will equip individuals with all that is 

required to engage actively with people from other ethnic, cultural, religious and 

linguistic backgrounds. 

 

Conclusion 

 

The major advancements in technology have drastically contributed to promoting 

educational standards within a globalized world. Within this course of thought, 

videoconferencing has become an opportunity for educational interactions, saving 

then time and resources. This allows students to bridge relationships with partners 

from different cultures and backgrounds. A “telecollaboration” like Global 

Understanding Project is not merely a space for meeting or exchanging knowledge 

and experiences with others, it is rather a space to put one’s culture and identity at 

large under scrutiny. In so doing, students are very likely to develop a reflective stance 

by reinforcing similarities and understanding the sources of differences while 

interacting with others. They not only learn to accept and respect others’ beliefs, 

values, and behaviours, but they also show empathy to people and develop interest in 

what others feel and how they perceive situations. 

 

References 

 

Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters.(2009). Council of Europe. Language 

Policy Division. Retrieved March, 2020 from: 

https://rm.coe.int/autobiography-of-intercultural-encounters/16806bf02d 

 

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Haidt, J., & Graham, J. (2007). When morality opposes justice: Conservatives have 

moral intuitions that liberals may not recognize. Social Justice 

Research, 20(1), 98-116. 

 

Hall, E. T. (1990 [1959]). The silent language. New York: Anchor Books 

 

Hofstede, G. (1991). Cultures and organizations. Berkshire: McGraw-Hill Book 

Company Europe. 

 

Lessem, R. & Neubauer, F. (1994). European management systems; Towards unity 

out of cultural diversity. London: McGraw-Hill. 

Lewis, R. D. (1992). Finland: cultural lone wolf - consequences in international 

business. Helsinki: Richard Lewis Communications. 

 

Trompenaars, F. (1993). Riding the waves of culture. London: Nicholas Brealy. 

 

Zagorin, P. (2003). How the idea of religious toleration came to the West. Princeton: 

Princeton University Press. 

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Appendix A 
 

There are several models that describe cultural patterns. The following table 

summarizes the major ones used by intercultural researchers and scholars.  

Table A1: Models for Cultural Differences 

 

Model  Year Dimensions 

Hall 1959 Space, Material Goods, Friendship, Time, Agreement 

Hofstede 1991 Power Distance, Individualism, Masculinity, Uncertainty 

Avoidance, Long-Term Orientation 

Lessem & 

Neubauer 

1994 Pragmatism, Rationalism, Idealism, Humanism 

Lewis 1992 Time 

Trompenaars 1993 Universalism, Collectivism, Emotional, Specific, Status, 

Sequential, Inner-Directed 

 

 

Author Notes 
 

Professor Noureddine Mouhadjer teaches intercultural communication at the 

Department of Foreign Languages, at Tlemcen University in Algeria. He holds a PhD 

in Applied Linguistics and his primary research interests include communication 

technologies in linguistics and cross-cultural interaction. 

Dr. Mohammed Kheladi is an associate professor currently working at 

the Department of English, Tlemcen University, Algeria. He holds a PhD in the 

Didactics of Literature. He has been teaching English for ten years now. His field of 

interest is literature and civilization. 

Mr. Mohammed Amine Belaid is a PhD student of comparative literature at the 

department of English at Tlemcen University in Algeria. He holds a Master degree in 

Anglo-Saxon literature and civilization and currently works as an assistant teacher of 

English literary studies at the same university. 

 

 

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Noureddine Mouhadjer, 

Department of English, Tlemcen University, 22, Rue Abi AyedAbdelkrimFg Pasteur B.P 119 

13000, Tlemcen, Algeria. Contact: teflist@yahoo.com 

 

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