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Research Computer Mediated Communication in Internet Based Language Instruction
Computer-mediated communication (CMC) has enhanced global telecommunications phenomenally in the last decade. CMC can take place in two different ways; asynchronously and synchronously. Asynchronous computer-mediated communication (ACMC) takes place in delayed time and can be facilitated using a variety of Internet tools such as e-mails, blogs, wikis, podcasting, etc. Synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) on the other hand occurs in real time and can take place in the form of instant messaging, chat rooms, virtual reality worlds, etc. CMC has become such a part of our daily lives that it seems as if one wouldn't know what to do if all our computers or the Internet were to suddenly cease to function. How would we contact our friends or colleagues? How could you do any research for that paper? How could you do your shopping, plan a holiday, etc.? As CMC offers a fast, cheap, effective and user-friendly method of communication, it is no surprise that scholars in linguistic education have been rapidly investigating the many ways in which CMC can be integrated into the language-learning environment. This article explores different ways in which both ACMC & SCMC can be implemented into a language learning curriculum, and the benefits that it may bring. |
 Above: An SCMC-facilitated virtual reality class |
| Asynchronous CMC
Perhaps the most common form of ACMC is email. Emails, short for 'electronic mail' have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. MSN's Hotmail, Yahoo, Microsoft Google, etc. all offer free emailing accounts in which a person can transmit a text message, as well as add a variety of attachments, including files and graphics with the simple click of a mouse. A common project language teachers have often engaged their students in, to allow them the experience of natural communication with native speakers, is to set up some sort of 'pen-pal' exchange with other students in a different part of the world where all communication is done in the target language. This pen-pal venture has now been so revolutionized by electronic mail that a new word for the project has been coined, "keypal" (Warschauer et al, 2000). The advantages this communication and cultural exchange has by being conducted electronically are numerous. The obvious one being the time factor; gone are the days in which students would send a letter and have to wait weeks, sometimes months to get a reply, if any at all. On top of this, students can also attach documents such as files, photos, music & video clips, provide links to websites of interest to each other and cc (carbon copy) a duplicate of their emails to their instructors for marking and feedback purposes. |
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As the World Wide Web is constantly evolving, the
way users interact with it is also changing. We are now living in a digital age
technocrats have termed "web 2.0". Spivack, 2006, divides these 'web
generations' as web 1.0 - 'read-only web' and web 2.0 as 'read-write web'. Web
2.0 represents current trends in web development which includes wireless as the
standard networking means, enhanced web design, information sharing and
collaborating, social-networking sites, and perhaps most importantly for
language teaching, the ability to contribute to a websites contents.
Left: Bloggers blog blogs on blogger.com |
Although blogs are usually kept as content-specific weblogs, they have become increasingly utilized as "on-line personal journals for students" (Godwin-Jones, 2003, pp. 13). Having students create their own websites has been an effective growing trend in educational fields. Research has shown that having students publish their work online gives them a greater sense of ownership and commitment to their work, as well as pay closer attention to detail. This inevitably leads to an overall improvement in the quality of work produced by students publishing their work online. (Clarke & Rivett-Carnack, 2008). While in the past this online work mainly consisted of stagnant sites in which their content could only be added to or modified by their original editor, web 2.0 tools such as blogs present an interactive feature that enable students, teachers or just about anyone with Internet access to leave feedback on their work. Not only that - but the word 'blog' is revolutionary in itself as it can be used as the only word in a sentence.... "Bloggers blog blogs."
Synchronous CMC One of the main goals of a language teacher is to help build the linguistic skills of learners so that they can communicate effectively in the target language. Putting into practice theories and skills learnt inside the classroom into an authentic communicative context is the only way to put those newly acquired skills to test. One major obstacle facing language instructors in an EFL environment is that there are limited opportunities for their learners to experience authentic communication outside the classroom. CMC tools such as MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger and Skype all present language learners with the opportunity to engage in authentic communication in the target language. Students can communicate through text or audio chat with other students, with an instructor or with native speakers inside or outside the classroom. Reservations have been made regarding the effectiveness of audio CMC over face-to-face oral communication due to inconsistent sound quality and lack of accompanying facial expressions. However, research is proving that text based SCMC in fact poses certain advantages (in language education) that face-to-face conversation does not (Chapelle & Jamienson). Not only does SCMC know no geographical boundaries but as the conversation can appear in the form of text, the entire conversation's transcript can be copied, pasted and saved. Moreover; words, phrases and segments of the conversation's discourse features can be extracted for further analysis. |
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Research has shown SCMC to be a beneficial language learning
experience for learners. Hata Maiko (2003, pp.117) claims that SCMC
An interesting future direction of computer mediated communication, and CALL in general, comes in the form of multi user virtual environments (MUVEs), or 3-D virtual worlds as they are better known as. Linden Lab's Second Life is probably the most faddish of these. In 3-D virtual environments, users, or residents as they are considered in Second Life, navigate a 3-D avatar whose physical appearance is modified to best suit the user's preferences. Residents can also buy and build on land while mingling with other residents in the same room whose real-life user could be sitting at a computer screen on the other side of the world. |
 Above: A synchronous text-based class on Second Life |
The SCMC performed in Second Life is similar to that found in the instant messaging tools previously mentioned, with conversations taking place in the form of text (group or individual chats) or audio. However, virtual worlds have the added component of visual effects. This added dimension 3-D virtual environments offer greatly enhances the stimulation of the SCMC experience for both students and educators (Cooke-Plagwitz, 2008). There are now fully functioning language-learning institutes such as Language Lab offering their services on Second Life with full virtual reality classes. There are many specialists who believe that the virtual reality classroom may present a prototype of future learning environments (Stevens, 2006). While we may exist in the digital epoch coined web 2.0, the virtual reality classroom may present a futuristic vision of what archetype CMC may be like in the digital age of 'web 3.0'. |
| Conclusions
It has been widely argued that in order for language acquisition to truly take place, a learner must not only receive input in the target language, but also be able to produce some form of comprehensible output. The communicative language approach to teaching is based on the principle that learners acquire a language through using that language (Chapelle & Jamieson, 2008) and the Internet offers many different ways in which to facilitate conversation in the target language. While SCMC may not quite be ready to be used as a total substitution to face-to-face communication, the nature of SCMC offers many additional perquisites to standard face-to-face interaction. The interactionist hypothesis states that the negotiation of meaning, in which L2 learners resolve their communicative breakdowns, critically augments the language acquisition process (Blake, 2000). Research has shown that computer-mediated communicative tasks, when implemented efficiently within the classroom has produced, "….. Increased corrective feedback and negotiation at all levels of discourse." (Thorne & Payne, 2005, pp.375) Recent trends in technology are having profound effects on the mentality of today's young learners. This 'read-write' phenomenon that is gripping the Internet is a cultural movement which young learners are inextricably involved in. Stevens, 2007, brands today's young learners as 'digital natives'. Instructors who ignore these concurrent technological trends may find themselves only distancing themselves further from their learners. As computers, and in particular the Internet, have become such mainstays in modern social networking, computer mediated communication - be it synchronous or asynchronous will inevitably play an increasingly dominant role in the language-learning curriculum. Blake, R. (2000). Computer mediated communication: A window on L2 Spanish interlanguage. Language Learning & Technology, 4(1), 120-136.Available: http://llt.msu.edu/vol4num1/blake/ Carr, N. (2007). What is Web 3.0? Accessed on 20 August, 2008 at http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2007/08/what_is_web_30.php Chapelle, C. & Jamieson, J. (2008). Tips for Teaching with CALL: Practical Approaches to Computer-Assisted Language Learning. Pearson Education, Inc. White Plains, NY Clarke, V. & Rivett-Carnack, F. (2008). Becta report shows benefits of Web 2.0 in the classroom. Available: http://news.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?resID=38417 Cooke-Plagwitz, J. (2008). New Directions in CALL: An Objective Introduction to Second Life. CALICO Journal, 25 (3), p-p 547-557 Cziko, G. A., & Park, S. (2003). Internet audio communication for second language learning: A comparative review of six programs. Language Learning & Technology, 7(1), 15-27.Available: http://llt.msu.edu/vol7num1/review1/default.html Godwin-Jones, B. (2003). Emerging technologies: Blogs and Wikis: Environments for on-line collaboration. Language Learning & Technology, 7(2), 12-16. Available: http://llt.msu.edu/vol7num2/emerging/default.html Maiko, H., (2003). Literature Review: Using Computer-Mediated Communication in Second Language Classrooms. Osaka Keidai Ronshu, Vol.54 No.3, pp. 115-125. Available: http://www.osaka-ue.ac.jp/gakkai/pdf/ronshu/2003/5403_ronko_hata.pdf Ramzan, Y. & Saito, R. (1998). Computer-Mediated Communication in Foreign Language Learning: A Case of the Students of Japanese. Modern Languages Program, University of Wollongong, Austrailia. Available: http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/wollongong98/asc98-pdf/ramzansaito-0066.pdfSpivack, N. (2006). The Third-Generation Web is Coming. Published on KurzweilAI.net December 17. Available: http://www.kurzweilai.net/meme/frame.html?main=/articles/art0689.html Stevens, V. (2006) Second Life in Education and Language Learning. TESL-EJ, December, 2006. Retrieved on May 17, 2008 from http://tesl-ej.org/ej39/int.html SStevens, Vance. (2007). The Multiliterate Autonomous Learner: Teacher Attitudes and the Inculcation of Strategies for Lifelong Learning. Independence, Winter 2007 (Issue 42) . Retrieved October 15, 2008 from http://www.learnerautonomy.org/VanceStevens.pdf Thorne, S.L. & Payne, J.S. (2005). Evolutionary Trajectories, Internet-mediated Expression and Language Education. CALICO Journal, 22 (3), p-p 371-397. Warschauer, D., Shetzer, H., Meloni, C. (2000). Internet for English Teaching. Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. Alexandria, VA
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