Subject: CMC; Education.
Cheng, Lehman and Armstrong examine a case study of a graduate-level education course providing an overview of computer applications in education. Three groups participated in the course. One group received traditional classroom instruction, one by traditional correspondence (written/printed course material), and one by electronic mail. Among the members of the three groups, there was no significant difference of any kind, except for that of age--the members of the two traditional correspondence group and the computer-mediated group were older than the students in the traditional classroom group. This difference was taken into account in the study's statistical analysis.
The questions addressed by the study were the following:
1. "Was there a significant difference among on-campus, computer conferencing, and correspondence groups on the achievement tests?"
2. "Was there a significant difference among on-campus, computer conferencing, and correspondence groups in time-on-task?"
3. "Were there significant differences among on-campus, computer conferencing, and correspondence groups on the participants' attitudes toward the distance class mode, course content, course materials, and the course in general?"
The answers to these questions according to the study are as follows. In achievement tests, the computer conferencing group scored lower than the other two, but in terms of overall course performance (tests plus other assignments) all three groups performed at the same level. The computer conferencing group also spent more time-on-task (they had to learn how to use the system in addition to learning the course material), but according to Cheng et. al. this was compensated for by the reduced commuting time (they did not need to go to campus for access to the computer labs to work on their project). In all three groups the attitudes toward computers was "basically positive" (one of the basic goals of the course) with there being "no statistically significant differences between the groups".
Chun, D. M. (1994). Using computer networking to facilitate the acquisition of interactive competence. System, 22, 17-31.
Subject: Classroom Dynamics; CMC; Discourse Analysis; Second Language Acquisition.
Chun analyzes the discourse of her first-year German classes in an attempt to demonstrate "that conducting class discussions on a computer network is an effective method for increasing the interactive competence". She states that not only can networking help students' writing skills, but it increases their spoken proficiency as well. One of her "central hypotheses was that using CMC would provide students with the opportunity to generate and initiate different kinds of discourse structures or speech acts". As a basis for her study she uses both the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines (for intermediate level 1/1+) and Kramsch's proposals for interactional competence (Interactive Competence, 1983).
The bulk of the paper is devoted to summarizing the data of her study with respect to the "number and length of turns by each student and the syntactic complexity of each entry, i.e. number of simple and complex sentences, and types of syntactic forms which are used to express particular speech acts".
The length of entries ranged from short, simple sentences to long, complex paragraphs. Students had "different 'styles' of discussing". Many of the students who were typically shy or timid in class were much more "prolific" on the computer. Three of the four most active participants were male. The "most sophisticated essay writer" in the class made a very small number of entries, and those were "not particularly long".
Overall, males wrote more than females, but women wrote more compound or complex sentences. "These differences may be attributable to...writing style, possibly gender, language aptitude and ability to write cohesively and coherently in English".
All of the students seemed to meet the ACTFL Guidelines and most of the abilities from Kramsch's list (with the exception of turn-taking, which seems to be irrelevant in CMC). Chun breaks down her students' discourse into the following categories: questions and answers, statements and imperatives, discourse management. The frequency of entry types ranked as follows, from highest to lowest frequency:
1. replies to question (both to teacher and to other students)
2. asking questions of other students (mostly to other students, then to the group as a whole, still fewer questions to the teacher)
3. statements addressed to other students
4. discourse management
The last category is perhaps the most interesting. Students do a particularly good job at expanding on a subject and introducing new subjects. Students request clarification when needed, employ tag-questions to state or solicit opinions, and give feedback. They also made appropriate greetings and farewells (the latter had greater frequency since lab sessions were held at the end of class). Chun hopes that "since these types of sentences strongly resemble what would be said in a spoken conversation, . . .the written competence gained from CMC can gradually be transferred to the students' speaking competence as well".
Cohen, M., & Miyake, N. (1986). A worldwide intercultural network: exploring electronic messaging for instruction. Instructional Science, 15, 257-273.
Subject: CMC; Culture Issues; Second Language Acquisition.
Cohen and Miyake discuss the use of a computer network called the Intercultural Learning Network. Among the questions which they address, the most important is "Is it useful for instructional purposes". The Intercultural Learning Network provides a "functional learning environment". The computer is used not to drill language but to communicate and accomplish specific tasks. The projects described involve interaction between students in the US, Israel and Japan. For all students involved, the principle goal was a better understanding of other cultures-
going beyond classroom research and finding out from native speakers if textbook descriptions of the culture are accurate. For the students in Japan, another main goal of the project was to improve English communication skills.
Various types of projects included the following:
1. "Direct cultural exploration": Students asked qustions about the other classes' cultures. Cohen and Miyake found that specific (and well-informed) questions received better (and more motivated) responses than general questions.
2. "Writing for an international students' news network": Students write articles describing "aspects of their life, opinions" (on social issues for example), "reviews, etc.".
3. "Joint research projects in science and social science", including comparisons of educational systems, of news (this was particularly interesting, since newspapers in different countries do not cover the same international news--a comparison of what is chosen/not chosen as news yields an interesting view of societal values and concerns), of attitudes toward careers, and projects involving the natural sciences.
Cohen and Miyake point out the utility of the system as a "functional learning environment for learning a second language". One drawback seemed to be student complaints that they felt as if they were "trying to accomplish two goals at one time (research and language development)". However the Japanese students seemed to show improvement in their English skills--although we have to rely somewhat on the authors' word for this. Cohen and Miyake claim that on a translation pre-test the Japanese students scored an average of 64.1%, while on the post
test they averaged 74.6%. The question for someone reading the article is of course: does a translation test accurately measure communicative ability?
Overall the greatest advantage of the use of the Intercultural Learning Network seems to be student motivation. The functional aspect of the project as well as the degree of student input appear to keep students interested.
Collins-Jarvis, L. A. (1993). Gender representation in an electronic city hall: female adoption of Santa Monica's PEN system. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 37, 49
65.
Subject: CMC; Gender Issues.
A PEN is a "computer-based communication system" which can be used to "access a database of information concerning city government and a large number of local events, services, and facilities" to "exchange messages with a number of city government departments" or with other citizens and to participate in dialogue concerning a large number of topics (some related to city governance, and some not), many of which (are) initiated at the suggestion of citizen-users". (Collins-Jarvis' citation of Guthrie et al., 1990). As of 1990, PEN's existed in Santa Monica, CA, Berkeley, CA, Pasadena, CA and Cleveland, OH. Santa Monica's system raises interest because unlike other systems, whose adoption/usage by females averaged 5-16% of all users, 30% of Santa Monica's users were female.
Collins-Jarvis cites several studies that seem to indicate that by and large "the socially constructed characteristics of computing technologies as well as the social practices which surround the implementation of these technologies act to limit their appeal to females". Starting from previous research, Collins-Jarvis sets up three hypotheses:
1. "Male adopters of a public electronic networking system are more likely than female adopters to use private access devices".
2. "Female adopters of a public electronic networking system maintain higher levels of political interest than do male adopters".
3. "Female adopters of a public electronic networking system maintain higher levels of local political participation than do male adopters".
Collins-Jarvis uses a quantitative analysis of the participants in the Santa Monica PEN system to determine the validity of these hypotheses. Hypothesis 1 was "mostly supported". 40% of female users did not have private access as opposed to only 20% of the male users. Hypothesis 2 was not supported. Male and female interest in politics (judged on a five-point scale ranging from "very interested to not at all interested" were calculated to be at the same level. Hypothesis 3 was supported. Females had a higher frequency of attending city government meetings, contacting the city government, and listening to/watching city government meetings on radio/TV.
She also did a qualitative study (interviews) to find answers to the following questions:
1. "Will female adopters who encouter barriers in using a public electronic system reject or reinvent the system?" (or even conform to it?)
2. "What role do the system operators' policies concerning user input play in female reinvention?".
Collins-Jarvis' discussion of the qualitative results are very interesting. For example, when the Santa Monica system was first set up "a few males discouraged female use of PEN's interactive conferences" by using the conference to send out "an interactive sexual fantasy narrative with the theme of male 'domination' and hostile sexual acts against women. The potential offensiveness of this conference was compounded by the practice of incorporating female PEN users' names into the narrative". Other flaming included the use of offensive language when issues such as abortion/pro-choice were discussed.
Consequently a group of female users set up an interactive conference item specifically designed to address women's issues. In addition a "social support group for female PEN users" (PENFEMME) was created. "The members decided to collectively fight misogynous flaming by not responding to PEN messages that were posted or sent by those male users known for offensive flaming. Shortly thereafter, the few male users who made offensive remarks curtailed their abusive language on PEN as a result of this tactic".
Collins-Jarvis concludes that the high level of female participation in Santa Monica's PEN is due to several factors. First, quantitatively, due to public access terminals (in libraries, community centers, etc.) more women physically had access to the system. Secondly, the qualitative research shows that female users "attempted to reinvent rather than simply reject the PEN system when faced with the following barriers to use: (1) no conferences specifically addressed "women's" issues; and (2) a few male adopters interacted on the system in a manner that appeared to be hostile to female users".
Coombs, N. (1993). Global empowerment of impaired learners: data NetWorks will transcend both physical distance and physical disabilities. Educational Media International, 30, 23
25.
Subject: Classroom Dynamics; CMC.
The words "physical disabilites" should be placed in parentheses because Coombs' article deals primarily with the use of computer conferencing in general as a medium for class discussion. The fact that the students were physically impaired is, in terms of Coombs' article, purely coincidental. Coombs points out the following things:
1. That computer conferencing permits peer "sharing and teaching";
2. That computer conferencing increases student participation;
3. That students who do not "do well with this system" lack "self discipline" (by their own admission).
As for the teacher's role in computer-mediated discussion, s/he must "create an atmosphere encouraging students to share openly and yet to keep the discussion on the topic and prevent its becoming filled with irrelevant trivia".
It would be interesting to contrast this last point with Cooper and Selfe's (1990) article "Computer Conferences and Learning: Authority, Resistance, and Internally Persuasive Discourse".
Cooper, M. M., & Selfe, C. L. (1990). Computer conferences and learning: authority, resistance, and internally persuasive discourse. College English, 52, 847-869.
Subject: Classroom Dynamics; CMC; Equality Issues.
Cooper and Selfe's article is definitely one of the most significant essays on computer
based pedagogy in the current literature of the field. Unlike most of the articles which treat CMC as a means of making changes in the external trappings of education, Cooper and Selfe see in CMC the power to truly alter the traditional classroom paradigm which places the teacher in the center of the universe as the seat of all authority and which perpetuates one traditional style of academic discourse (which may or may not meet the needs or address the concerns of students).
On one level, Cooper and Selfe do address certain issues which other articles have presented: lack of competition for the floor (as is the case with tradition classroom turn-taking dynamics), an informal writing style/forum which encourages frankness, the impossibility of one person dominating conversation by interrupting, the advantage for shy students to formulate their thoughts carefully before expressing them, the dissimulation of gender, race, and social status, etc.
However on a more important level (and this is the focus of the article), Cooper and Selfe discuss CMC as a forum or a space for resistance. This resistance is not mere opposition-
opposition being the refusal of participating in what goes on in the classroom by students who aren't interested. Resistance is the effort to "change the rules of a game" which the students are "committed to". In other words students resist the dominant discourse(s) in education precisely because they are interested in really educating themselves. Cooper and Selfe write:
Students writing in computer conferences...resist by introducing their perspectives and concerns and by taking on more authoritative roles than those offered in traditional forums of academic discourse. Creating these alternate subjectivities allows students to become active in their own learning process, to become speakers in a dynamic context rather than being the subjects of a predetermined discourse.
Cooper and Selfe take up the issue of how discourse informs ideology. In their discussion of "ideological becoming", they identify three types of discourse--authoritarian, internally persuasive and irrelevant (what they call "discourse that doesn't matter"). The authors demonstrate with examples taken from various English classes that show how all three types of discourse come into play in computer-mediated discussions, and it seems fairly clear to the reader that in a traditional classroom setting, the internally persuasive discourse would seldom enter into discussion, and that students would almost never have the opportunity to state that they think discourse x or y "doesn't matter".
Cooper and Selfe conclude that:
we can draw on the revolutionary potential of computer technology to create non
traditional forums that allow students the opportunity to reexamine the authoritarian values of the classroom, to resist their socialization into a narowly conceived form of academic discourse, to learn from the clash of discourses, to learn through engaging in discourse. . . .If we can't eliminate the effect of racism, sexism, and classism in our traditional classrooms because of social inertia, we may be able to set aside smaller electronic spaces in which such problems can find expression and be debated.
However one question might be, if we set "aside smaller. . . spaces" for this activity, does this not imply leaving such discussions in the margins of pedagogy, and do we not want such discusion to be the center of education? And if so, how can we place it there? Or if it becomes central, will the establishment necessarily appropriate and diffuse this discussion?
Cumming, J. D. (1995). The internet and the English language. English Today, 11, 3-8.
Subject: Culture Issues; Online Resources.
Cumming points out that English is the dominant language on the internet for various reasons--first the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII), the word processing system used on the net, allows only for Roman characters. Secondly, English is the dominant language in international interaction in general. Cumming points out that with an increasing number of non-professional, non-English-speaking users, this dominance of English can be expected to diminish somewhat. He also points out, for example, that the French Minister of Culture has posted documents on the internet encouraging the use of French. But he seems (he doesn't express it clearly) to think that in spite of the slight decrease in the importance of English that it will remain the dominant language on the internet. Without offering any theories or hypotheses, Cumming wonders what influence the "intrusion" of English language/culture will have on users from non-English-speaking countries. He writes: "The Internet originated in the United States, and the unique culture that it has created will most likely be driven by net citizens from the United States.... It is unknown at this point what the impact of this new intrusion of American technology and culture will have on the rest of the world. . ."
Cummins, J., & Sayers, D. (1990). Education 2001: learning NetWorks and educational reform. In C. Faltis & R. DeVillar (Eds.) Language minority students and computers. (pp. 1
29). New York: Haworth Press.
Subject: Classroom Dynamics; CMC.
Cummins and Sayers believe that education reform in North America is "fundamentally misguided", by failing to recognize certain future societal realities with which students will be faced. They propose an "alternative direction" to the current education reform movement which "although not dependent on...computer-based technologies...exploits the power of technology for the creation of cooperative learning NetWorks whose outcomes with respect to skills and knowledge cannot readily be predetermined or controlled by the societal power structure".
At the moment, computer technology is used primarily within a "transmission" model of pedagogy, which "effectively ensures that the...computer-based technology...available to most schools will continue to be used for socially and pedagogically trivial purposes". Cummins and Sayers reject this "assembly-line" teaching model whose "lack of emphasis on creative writing, critical thinking and problem-solving involving real rather than trivial issues contributes directly to lack of interest and motivation on the part of students (and teachers)".
In place of this model, Cummins and Sayers recommend a new model based on the teaching approaches of Celestin Freinet and the "Modern School Movement" who in the early twentieth century served as a network for "'interscholastic exchanges'" between "Sister Classes" in various parts of the world. Cummins and Sayers point out that "these were not one-on-one pen pal exchanges between students, but were explicitly defined as class-to-class partnerships between teachers working on joint curricular projects and making extensive use of educational technology".
As a modern example of how this model can be used in education, they describe the "Orillas computer-mediated learning network". For more on "Orillas" see Sayers, (1987, 1991, 1993).
Davies, D. (1988). Computer-supported co-operative learning systems: interactive group technologies and open learning. Programmed Learning and Educational Technology, 25, 205-15.
Subject: CMC; Education.
Davies' article has two components--the theoretical underpinnings to justify/require the use of CMC in education, and practical considerations involved in designing a system. Davies presents CMC as an "alternative model of active, group-centered learning". He offers three reasons for the utility of CMC in education.
1. active learning is more effective than passive learning;
2. learning is a social process ("culture creating"--cited from Bruner)
3. learning is context-bound (strategies both for acquisition and then later for application in contexts other than the classroom)
Thus to the two traditional uses of the computer in the classroom ("computer as teacher" and "computer as tool") Davies adds "network as 'virtual classroom' or 'tutor group'" using "group-based interactive technologies". The rest of the article deals not with practical applications of these particular ideas, but instead changes direction to discuss the designing of interactive computer NetWorks/systems.
Davis, B. H., & Chang, Y. L. (1994-95). Long-distance collaboration with on-line conferencing. TESOL Journal, 4, 28-31.
Subject: CMC; Culture Issues; Second Language Acquisition.
Davis and Chang tell of their ESL on-line conferencing experiences in a program which linked students from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with students at Taiwan's National Kaohsiung Normal University. They explain their program goals as follows:
. . . providing students a real context for improving their writing, helping them expand their ideas of "content area reading and functional writing". . . across cultural boundaries, making students familiar with international telecommunications, and investigating with students the potential effects of telecommunications on literacy acquisition.
Projects and activities included the following:
--transmission of "reflections and questions about culture and language"
--writing what could be considered "dialog journals" to the students in the other univerisity
--a history of the English language course which included
collaboration and discussion
individual letters
a research-report forum
collection and creation of a 200-item thesaurus of English slang (from films or popular music)
Over the course of an 8-week session, improvements were made in grammatical areas such as self
reference (appropriate frequency in the use of 1st and 2nd person pronouns) and use of definite articles. Davis and Chang also note an enhanced cultural awareness in their students.
