Online education in Spanish teaching: A research-training in cyberculture for/with academics.
Spanish teaching and learning, Online Education, Cyberculture Education, Literacy, Academic research.
The relationship between humans and technology in cyberculture has transformed how we interact in physical and informational spaces. We no longer necessarily need to be in the same physical environment to share knowledge. It is in this context that the central question of this research emerges: How can online education, within the context of research-as-formation in cyberculture, contribute to the teaching-learning process of Spanish for/with academics in the Research Group on Teaching and Cyberculture (GPDOC), whose practitioners aim to produce and communicate in the additional language for the internationalization of their research? Theoretically and methodologically anchored in research-as-formation in cyberculture (MACEDO, 2020; SANTOS, 2019; JOSSO, 2004; LÉVY, 1999; LEMOS, 2015; SANTAELLA, 2004, 2010, 2024), in complex thought (MORIN, 2005a, 2005b), and in Applied Linguistics (MOITA LOPES, 2006; ROJO, 2006; PENNYCOOK, 2006), this study aimed to develop a didactic device for teaching Spanish at the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ). Its design sought to address the academic needs of the cultural practitioners and to interpret the data produced by and with the faculty-researchers and student-researchers in our synchronous meetings, whether in-person or via Zoom Meeting videoconferences, and asynchronous mediations, through WhatsApp and the Blog "Spanish for Academics". From the discussions and data interpretation, three subsumption notions emerged: the triple tension of the didactic device; WhatsApp as the most accessible network, yet a site of attention dispute; and the need to recalculate the route. Complementarily, the research prompted a reflection on the role of revision in additional language classes, acknowledging that although literacy in reading and writing was significantly developed, the practitioners' oral proficiency was not fully achieved. Nevertheless, the generated data offered valuable findings for improving pedagogical practice in online Spanish teaching.