Wikipedia:WikiProject Cross-language Editing and Learning Exchange/Guide

The Cross-language Editing Exchange is based on the idea of language exchanges. In short, it helps you find a partner who speaks the language you are learning, and is learning the language that you speak.

To participate, first write a draft of an article in the language you are learning. Of course, you should make sure that the article does not already exist, or, if it does exist, that you are improving it! When you have finished the draft, post a link to it in the appropriate category on the Exchange page. For instance, if you speak Japanese and are learning English, post it under "Japanese"/"I am learning English". Then, an editor who speaks English and is learning Japanese will edit the draft and give you helpful language tips. In return, the editor may ask you to edit an article they wrote in Japanese.

What this is not for

1. Copyrighted materials! Copyrighted text is still copyrighted in translation.

2. Machine translations. These are very confusing for readers.

3. Anything not intended for a Wikimedia project. Although designed for Wikipedia, anything written for other Wikimedia projects is also fine. However, your homework, your advertisement, and anything else not intended for Wikimedia is not allowed.

4. People who have not edited Wikipedia before. If you are new to Wikipedia, welcome! We recommend that you practice editing in your primary language first to learn how to write for Wikipedia. Once you know how the site works, come here to participate in the language exchange.

Why should I participate in the language exchange?

There are many reasons why people choose to edit Wikipedia. One reason is to practice writing in a foreign language. However, it can be difficult to get timely, helpful feedback on your writing. This exchange is designed to allow you to find a writing partner who will work with you so that you both can improve your skills in each other's main language. This is a type of language learning exchange, a method that has been found in studies to be effective and enjoyable, since it emphasizes reciprocity and autonomy (Vinagre & Lera, 2008). Reciprocity refers to the need for both participants to benefit similarly (Thurston et al., 2009), while autonomy emphasizes that learners must actively participate and not only seek out learning opportunities of their own, but also provide them for their partners (Dekhinet, Duran, & Blanch, 2006).

There are other benefits to participating in a language learning exchange. Thurston et al. (2009) found that, in an exchange between English-speaking and Spanish-speaking students, not only did students improve their second language, but in the process of tutoring their partner they even improved their own first language skills! Another potential benefit of tandem language learning is the opportunity for meeting and learning about someone from another culture (Conley & Gallego, 2012).

Tandem language learning fits within the applied linguistics concept called Long's Interaction Hypothesis (Gass & Mackey, 2007) of second language learning, which states that communication with a more-fluent individual providing corrective feedback is important for language learning. Therefore, the rate and nature of error corrections strongly affects the amount of learning made. Students doing language learning in formal educational settings have been found to ignore many errors of their partners out of the fear of causing offense (Edasawa & Kabata, 2011), even though more explicit correction is often highly valued by students themselves (Vinagre & Muñoz, 2011; Ware & O’Dowd, 2008). On Wikipedia, it is normal for editors to improve writing as much as possible, so this will maximize your opportunities for learning.

The medium of the tandem interaction can also affect error correction; asynchronous interactions, like those that take place in the language exchange, were found to promote more explicit correction than synchronous interactions in a study of Japanese and Australian students (Bower and Kawaguchi, 2011).

How does this differ from normal Wikipedia editing?

Wikipedia editors often correct the writing of others. While these changes improve the article for the benefit of the reader, it is rare that editors provide feedback to the original writer. If an editor were to post an article on Wikipedia, it could take months or years, if ever, for another editor to come along and make changes. By that time, it would probably be too late to benefit the writer in their learning. Even if the corrections were made rapidly, it can be difficult to improve one's writing skills by simply looking at the differences between an uncorrected and a corrected version of a page.

The language learning exchange is designed to overcome these obstacles. First, by working with a partner, you can have your writing corrected quickly. Further, you will have the opportunity to learn from your partner because, in addition to directly making corrections to your writing, your partner will answer any language questions you have and provide you with tips to help you learn. This is the most important part of the exchange, so please provide thoughtful feedback to your partner.