It is a widely acknowledged concept that proficiency in a foreign language implies a variety of components, and apart from its core components - well-developed skills in reading, listening, speaking and writing - it presupposes a substantial cultural component. "To learn to function in another language one must become comfortable in the culture of the new language and in face-to-face communication." (D.Levine, M. Adelman)

The sociocultural competence can be formed through various means and methods. In the course of the project, the logistics of which I am going to share within the limits of this article, I was convinced of the effectiveness of a specially organized e-mail communication for the  development of students' cross-cultural awareness.

The E-Mail Dialogue project was a joint effort by the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia's English department and the University of North Dakota Department of Political Science and Public Administration (the class of Professor Pamela Imperato. The super goal pursued by the organizers was  to build cultural linkages between the students of Russia and the United States using the media of electronic communication and to  build a bridge of understanding and learning between contemporaries from different cultures. While in terms of  academic objectives, the project was aimed at the following three goals:

 1) To enhance the language competence of would-be teachers of English, providing them with an extra opportunity to use the knowledge and skills, gained in class, in the process of intense communication with their contemporaries in the USA;

 2) To develop the cultural awareness of the students about the country of the target language;
The project started in April 1997 when I was on Fulbright scholarship in the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, USA. Here let me make a brief deviation from the main topic to explain what events partially induced me to start the e-mail project in question. During my stay in the University of ND  apart from the research  which I carried out for my university, I also had a chance to give lectures in Russian Studies to the students of different departments. The genuine interest in the topics discussed during the lectures as well as surprising (or may be non-surprising) lack of knowledge about everyday life in Russia and a non-attractive image of Russia depicted by American mass media lead me to the idea to involve students from the both sides of the ocean into an intense e-mail dialogue.  Later, after the analysis of the questionnaires monitored during the first stage, I also  realized that Russian students have many stereotypes about Americans and these stereotypes are of a more positive character than the ones, hold by the American students.

So for the   successful implementation and development of The Dialogue Project, the organizers started with the completion of a  series of informational questions provided by the students at each University. Information derived from this questionnaire  enabled the project directors to evaluate the general level of students' knowledge about the participant country. The questionnaire  also provided the supervisors with information on  the areas of common interest that participants from both countries may wish to discuss. For this purpose students from both universities were asked to contribute their questions for the questionnaires mentioned above. The final copy of the questionnaire to be answered by American students included 15 questions, some of which  were related to politics and some questions tackled the problems of culture. The number of participants from American side was 98.

Upon my arrival home, I brought  these questionnaires to class and asked my students to analyze them. The analysis of the questionnaires was an interesting activity by itself as it exposed the students who major in English to an authentic source of American English. The majority of the students were interested in the following questions: "If a happy family life or a successful  career cannot be combined, which is more important to you?" and  "Does the notion of the "American character" exist? What are its main features?"

My students were surprised to learn that about 75% of  respondents would prefer "a happy family life" to a career with about 60% of the respondents being male. As for the question regarding the notion of American character, about one fourth of the students were either not sure what  the question meant or didn't believe that such a notion existed, since they thought their Motherland was  a country of huge diversity. The remaining 75% of respondents answered the question, but included into the notion of the American character such words as  'independence', 'freedom,'  'equal rights' and 'individualism.'

During the second stage of the dialogue the students were supposed to communicate  via e-mail on a weekly basis on topics designated by the instructors which generally mirrored prescribed course content. Weekly in-class discussions and the keeping of an "impressions" journal for submission at the end of semester supplemented the one-on-one e-mail conversations.

To start the e-mail process, the organizers had to match up the participants. For this purpose a second series of the questionnaire was developed, the aim being to introduce participants to one another. The number of students involved in the e-mail dialogue was 35 from both sides. The dialogue lasted from September 1998 through January 1999. After the students had exchanged "introductory" letters with their e-mail friends, they started communication on a weekly basis. The topics designed for the students of Herzen University were mainly related to cultural patterns of

American life and included the following:
1. Education: life on campus, teacher-students relationship, the Honor system, tuition etc.
2. Interpersonal relationship: dating, going out, spending time with friends, hobbies etc.
3. Family life: problems facing an American family, parents-children relations, types of families, commuter families.
4. Mainstream American values.

American students, in return, also asked questions related to the topics, designated by their instructor. Since they were taking a class in political science, their first  questions were mainly  related to the political system of Russia and its constitution.  It wasn't an easy task for my students to answer the questions which not only expanded their knowledge on some political issues, but also developed their own cultural awareness. It was interesting to see that the American students gradually became more interested in the topics initiated by Russian e-mail friends  and switched to discussing them.

At the end of the project the students were asked to give a brief presentation
in class based on the notes made in their journals about the e-mail correspondence with their American partners. The majority of students – to be precise 32  out of 35 – highly estimated the opportunity to communicate via e-mail for their professional development. Some of the students wrote that (the grammar of the original is preserved): "The project presents quite a useful addition to our compulsory English program - that is an informal communication with native English speakers. Though we seem to know a  lot about the States and about Americans, it is always nice to expand our knowledge on the country of the target language community. And no doubt it is  god too make new friends. On the whole, I'll gladly go on with my correspondence next semester." (Student M)

Student H: "It was very interesting to communicate with someone from other country via e-mail. I think it was quite useful for me because I understood not only the basic facts which I had already known but it also helped me to understand some cultural aspects which are really different from ours. Secondly, I think that it somehow enlarged my vocabulary because my e-mail pal happened to be quite talkative and was genuinely interested in our communication."

Only 3 students were not very enthusiastic about the project. The main reason for that was the  lack of interest from their American counterparts. According to the one of the 'disappointed'  students, "the main topic they discussed was Clinton-Lewinsky scandal"

The technical side of the project presented certain difficulties for the Russian organizer of the project. On the Herzen side only 5 out of 35 were connected to Internet from their home computers. In comparison to the  University of North Dakota, where every student has his/her own e-mail address and can use Internet literally 24 hours a day, our university, unfortunately, couldn't boast the same kind of access to the Internet nor to an e-mail address for each student. As a result, 15 students were using the resources at the English Department of Herzen University, while the remaining 15 were composing their messages, saving them on floppy disks and having me to e-mail them from my home computer. It was somewhat an exhausting task, but it  let me keep an eye on the students activities who  thus were  more encouraged to do it on a regular weekly basis.

 The main conclusions I arrived at in the course of the project are as follows:
1) the e-mail communication should be done on a regular weekly basis;
2) the compatible students should be matched up for the  successful implementation of an e-mail project;
3) only  students who are interested in  communication with their Russian peers should take part in the Dialogue.

In conclusion,  I would like to state that in the 1999-2000 academic year the  e-mail communication as described above will continue with students from several other universities in the USA

References Cited:

Levine, Deena R. Beyond language: cross-cultural communication/Deena R. Levine, Mara B. Adelman. 1993. P. ix