Schedule: 2009-09-11 (16:30 - 17:30)
Poster Presentations and Commercial Exhibition (Exhibition Hall)

Title: Digital acculturation with multicultural online learning communities: Interactions and perspectives
Authors: Wendy Chambers
Abstract: Web-based learning environments invite and support the participation of learners who contribute multilingual and multicultural perspectives. While literature in the field of distance education acknowledge the important role the communicative medium plays in the development of online learning communities, it does not address how language, culture, and communicative competencies contribute to the development of a learning community or how language impacts the interactions, perspectives and overall educational experiences of individual community members (Gunawardena, et al., 2001). Juxtaposed with increasing numbers of North American college and university programs offering distance delivery of their courses targeting both local and global learners, understanding how online communicative presence evolves and functions as learners interact and collaborate within online courses is foundational to the success of programs and participants alike. As participants representing diverse cultural, linguistic, and technical competencies acculturate into the digital learning environment, often relying on English as lingua franca, they face issues and challenges not found within face-to-face learning contexts. Shared membership in the online learning environment is thought to mediate cultural and linguistic distance leading to social, cultural, linguistic, and technical proximity.

This poster presentation will outline the preliminary findings from a research study that seeks to develop a framework for understanding the process of acculturation and its distinguishing features by examining the communicative presence of participants representing diverse linguistic and cultural perspectives. By investigating the asynchronous and synchronous forums of online courses, the researcher will generate a framework for organizing and categorizing the emergent language functions and communication strategies used between and among learners and their instructor(s) within the online environment. Two online teacher education training courses hosted by a globally recognized professional association provide the research ecology for this study. Three types of data contribute to the findings of the study: participant demographics collected through an e-survey; text-based threaded discourse accessed through the discussion forum of the courses, analyzed following the principles of a functional approach (Halliday, 1978) to discourse analysis; and focus group interviews with the learners and an interview with the instructor conducted upon completion of each course. Ultimately, the goal of this case-based study is to contribute to a deeper understanding of the complexities and influence of language and culture on the development and evolution of learners’ communicative presence as they interact and collaborate within online educational contexts.

This poster session will provide: an introduction to the study and the central research questions, an overview of the research design, an illustrative summary of the participant’s demographic profiles, a table identifying and defining the elements of communicative presence demonstrated by the online participants, and an overview of the preliminary findings and conclusions.
Keywords: cross-cultural communication, sociolinguistics, teacher training

Main topic: Computer Mediated Communication (CMC)

Biodata: Wendy Chambers is a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Education at the University of Calgary, Canada. She has taught English language learners of all ages and levels of proficiency in various countries including Canada, China, Japan, and Kosovo.
Type of presentation Poster

Paper category Research

Target educational sector Higher education

Language of delivery English

EU-funded project No

Schedule:	2009-09-11 (16:30 - 17:30) Poster Presentations and Commercial Exhibition (Exhibition Hall)
Title:	Digital acculturation with multicultural online learning communities: Interactions and perspectives
Authors:	Wendy Chambers
Abstract:	Web-based learning environments invite and support the participation of learners who contribute multilingual and multicultural perspectives. While literature in the field of distance education acknowledge the important role the communicative medium plays in the development of online learning communities, it does not address how language, culture, and communicative competencies contribute to the development of a learning community or how language impacts the interactions, perspectives and overall educational experiences of individual community members (Gunawardena, et al., 2001). Juxtaposed with increasing numbers of North American college and university programs offering distance delivery of their courses targeting both local and global learners, understanding how online communicative presence evolves and functions as learners interact and collaborate within online courses is foundational to the success of programs and participants alike. As participants representing diverse cultural, linguistic, and technical competencies acculturate into the digital learning environment, often relying on English as lingua franca, they face issues and challenges not found within face-to-face learning contexts. Shared membership in the online learning environment is thought to mediate cultural and linguistic distance leading to social, cultural, linguistic, and technical proximity. This poster presentation will outline the preliminary findings from a research study that seeks to develop a framework for understanding the process of acculturation and its distinguishing features by examining the communicative presence of participants representing diverse linguistic and cultural perspectives. By investigating the asynchronous and synchronous forums of online courses, the researcher will generate a framework for organizing and categorizing the emergent language functions and communication strategies used between and among learners and their instructor(s) within the online environment. Two online teacher education training courses hosted by a globally recognized professional association provide the research ecology for this study. Three types of data contribute to the findings of the study: participant demographics collected through an e-survey; text-based threaded discourse accessed through the discussion forum of the courses, analyzed following the principles of a functional approach (Halliday, 1978) to discourse analysis; and focus group interviews with the learners and an interview with the instructor conducted upon completion of each course. Ultimately, the goal of this case-based study is to contribute to a deeper understanding of the complexities and influence of language and culture on the development and evolution of learners’ communicative presence as they interact and collaborate within online educational contexts. This poster session will provide: an introduction to the study and the central research questions, an overview of the research design, an illustrative summary of the participant’s demographic profiles, a table identifying and defining the elements of communicative presence demonstrated by the online participants, and an overview of the preliminary findings and conclusions.
Keywords:	cross-cultural communication, sociolinguistics, teacher training
Main topic:	Computer Mediated Communication (CMC)
Biodata:	Wendy Chambers is a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Education at the University of Calgary, Canada. She has taught English language learners of all ages and levels of proficiency in various countries including Canada, China, Japan, and Kosovo.
Type of presentation	Poster
Paper category	Research
Target educational sector	Higher education
Language of delivery	English
EU-funded project	No