Browsing by Subject "Telematics"
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Item A Bakhtinian analysis of computer-mediated communication: how L1 and L2 students co-construct CMC texts in a graduate course(2003) Na, Yoon-hee; Schallert, Diane L.This study reports the findings of a semester-long investigation into the discursive practices of advanced L1 and L2 students involved in the construction of CMC texts in a particular graduate course. A Bakhtinian framework of an utterance as dialogic, heteroglossic, and carnivalesque was used to explore the nature of CMC discourse in context. Data were collected in a graduate course on psycholinguistics in which students (11 international students and 12 American students) were expected to come to class prepared to discuss assigned readings. As part of the regular course activities, students participated in two asynchronous discussions held outside the class, and it is these two discussions that became the focal point of my investigation. Data were collected from multiple sources including classroom observations, printouts of CMC texts, students’ self-reflective essays, and discourse-based interviews. Data were analyzed using a critical discourse analysis strategy (Fairclough, 1992) as well as more general qualitative, interpretive methods. Results indicated that a variety of factors related to the sociocultural context played a significant role in shaping online discourse. Among many, four factors emerged from the data as especially important: 1) the unique heteroglossic histories the students brought to the class; 2) the nature of the course; 3) the ways in which CMC was managed by the teacher; and 4) the students’ perceptions of CMC as a communication medium. With these contextual factors contributing to the participants’ experience in CMC, much of what the discourse revealed was a complex process of appropriation and reaccentuation of others’ words in the chain of communication. Each individual utterance within this intertextual chain of communication was in turn created at the crossroads of speaker, topic as hero, addressivity, and speech genres. In the process of dialogic struggle in interpreting and producing utterances, students’ ideological becoming did occur in the CMC context. Results also indicated that many L2 students added their multiple voices to the academic conversation in CMC not only as novices in the discourse community but also as experienced professionals, or cultural agents, or as participants with unique perspectives and specializations.Item Computer-mediated communication : writing to speak without foreign language anxiety?(2002-08) Arnold, Marion Nike; Abrams, ZsuzsannaItem Synchronous computer-mediated team-based learning in the Spanish foreign language classroom(2004) LeMond, Malia Michele; Koike, Dale AprilThis study presents an Activity Theoretical (Cole 1996; Engeström 1987) examination of team-based computer-mediated communication (CMC) in Spanish. The use of team “chat” activities, where the teacher is absent, provided socially-based opportunities for language practice and afforded social support for learners throughout the semester. The team chats created opportunities for social interaction that encouraged learners to bridge the gap between what they could do alone and what they could accomplish collaboratively with others, thus promoting the emergence of a Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky 1962). This study analyzed the quantity of speech and the quantity and type of speech actions produced by the learners. The chats were characterized by equal participation. The absence of the teacher in the chats encouraged learners to take on teacher roles and to divide the labor in order to construct knowledge collaboratively. Generally, two learners in each team were found to assume teacher roles. They produced higher percentages of discussion maintenance actions, on-topic moves, and elicits, and offered more linguistic support and scaffolding than their teammates. Learners overall tended to avoid the L1 and they produced high percentages of socializing actions, suggesting that the team- based chats generally fostered team solidarity. In interviews, learners confirmed that teams provided emotional as well as linguistic support and noted increased confidence and proficiency in Spanish, citing the team-chats as the cause. Although the chats were characterized by intense social interaction, negotiation routines rarely occurred. Some evidence, however, of the incorporation of pragmatic, lexical and grammatical features was found, in addition to a unique form of negotiation, which evolved as a result of the collaborative team effort. This collaboration pushed learners to focus on form and to “output” (Swain 1995), perhaps causing interlanguage modification. Although AT offers a valuable descriptive tool for the contextualized examination of language use in the chats, the fact that it does not make any predictions for language learning illustrates its limitations for an examination of language acquisition. This study proposes that AT be combined with a more predictive framework, such as the Pushed-Output Hypothesis (Swain 1995) to provide a more productive and fruitful examination of team-based language use and acquisition.Item Teaching-learning relationships: how caring is enacted in computer-mediated communication(2005) Kim, Minseong; Schallert, Diane L.; Goldstein, Lisa S.Item The effect of task-type and verbal aptitude on the conference structure and participant productivity in a small-group computer-mediated conference(Texas Tech University, 1997-05) Means, Henry WillisThe goal of this research was to investigate the effect of group composition and tasktype upon individual productivity and structure in a computer-mediated conference. While studies have been conducted relative to the effect of task type involving computer mediated conferences, the effect of group composition and the interaction between task type and group composition upon individual productivity has been absent.Item The effects of paired client-server architecture on interaction, achievement, and attitude in computer-mediated course delivery(Texas Tech University, 1999-05) Mize, Charles DarrelThis study considers the effects of paired client-server architecture on interaction, achievement, and attitude in computer mediated course delivery. The hypothesis studied proposes that the use of computer mediated technology to dehver instructional content has an effect upon the three variables of student interaction, achievement, and attitude. Through the use of appropriately paired client-server architecture, the technology can be designed to match the instructional task to be accomplished. By finding the best fit between the client-server pair and the instructional task, the effects of the technology can be reduced and therefore will allow students to concentrate on the content. If the technology is not appropriately matched to the instructional task, students must deal with additional cognitive noise that reduces their ability to deal with the content. Variances between student interaction, achievement, and attitude should be reduced when the client-server pair is designed to match the instructional task. This study followed a 2x2 factorial design to investigate the use of a Mud Object Oriented (MOO) client and server for the delivery of instructional content in an on-line environment. A multiple analysis of covariance was used for the statistical analysis in order to evaluate the effects of the technology upon the dependent variables while controlling for variances due to a student's degree of previous computer experience. The results reported in this study indicate that a reciprocal relationship exists between the instructional task required and the technology used. The results further suggest that in order to improve computer mediated course delivery, consideration must be given to matching the characteristics of the technology to the instructional task so that the effect of the technology on student interaction, achievement, and attitude may be minimized.