Schedule: 2009-09-10 (16:30 - 18:00)
Poster Presentations and Commercial Exhibition (Exhibition Hall)

Title: Ways of Interaction and the Language of Asynchronous Chat Forums
Authors: Sarka Jezkova
Abstract: Various forms of electronic communication have become a common channel of transmitting information. Since this way of communication is quite operative, quick and dynamic, it usually combines such features of text which were traditionally considered either as typical for written language or spoken language (Crystal, 2001). The balance between these two groups of criteria may differ significantly depending on a particular type of electronic communication and on lots of other factors like the topic, purpose, environment or relation among participants. People want to “talk” to each other while using keyboard (Herring, 2004) and this discrepancy influences the whole discourse and its structure.
Asynchronous chat groups or forums are used as one of the means of communication in university courses of part-time study programmes where students are supposed to work on their tasks outside the classroom. In this paper the language of two forums which supported different courses is analyzed. The research shows that the strategy of communication differs considerably even though the group of students is identical. Especially the ways of interaction are very much influenced by the topic discussed, by the aim of the forum and probably also by the length of the period devoted to the on-line communication.
The first forum accompanied the project focused on ELT Curriculum; it was open for three weeks and the aim was to discuss particular educational programmes used in schools where students were at their teaching practice. The other forum supported the project aimed at creating electronic interactive teaching aids; it was open for three months and its primary objective was to offer students a peer support and help with technical problems and other troubles. The first one was more topic oriented, while the second was more process oriented. The different aims reflected in the structure of the whole discourse and in language that students used (e.g. opening and closing phrases, types of reference, length of messages and strategies of interaction). The most remarkable differences are discussed in details in the paper with the effort to generalize the features of such a form of communication realized by English non-native speakers.
Keywords: Discussion forum, asynchronous communication, written and spoken language, interaction, discourse analysis

Main topic: Computer Mediated Communication (CMC)

Biodata: Involved in pre-service EFL teacher training, the field of her interest is linguistics, English syntax and ICT in ELT.
Type of presentation Poster

Paper category (Other)

Target educational sector Higher education

Language of delivery English

EU-funded project No

Schedule:	2009-09-10 (16:30 - 18:00) Poster Presentations and Commercial Exhibition (Exhibition Hall)
Title:	Ways of Interaction and the Language of Asynchronous Chat Forums
Authors:	Sarka Jezkova
Abstract:	Various forms of electronic communication have become a common channel of transmitting information. Since this way of communication is quite operative, quick and dynamic, it usually combines such features of text which were traditionally considered either as typical for written language or spoken language (Crystal, 2001). The balance between these two groups of criteria may differ significantly depending on a particular type of electronic communication and on lots of other factors like the topic, purpose, environment or relation among participants. People want to “talk” to each other while using keyboard (Herring, 2004) and this discrepancy influences the whole discourse and its structure. Asynchronous chat groups or forums are used as one of the means of communication in university courses of part-time study programmes where students are supposed to work on their tasks outside the classroom. In this paper the language of two forums which supported different courses is analyzed. The research shows that the strategy of communication differs considerably even though the group of students is identical. Especially the ways of interaction are very much influenced by the topic discussed, by the aim of the forum and probably also by the length of the period devoted to the on-line communication. The first forum accompanied the project focused on ELT Curriculum; it was open for three weeks and the aim was to discuss particular educational programmes used in schools where students were at their teaching practice. The other forum supported the project aimed at creating electronic interactive teaching aids; it was open for three months and its primary objective was to offer students a peer support and help with technical problems and other troubles. The first one was more topic oriented, while the second was more process oriented. The different aims reflected in the structure of the whole discourse and in language that students used (e.g. opening and closing phrases, types of reference, length of messages and strategies of interaction). The most remarkable differences are discussed in details in the paper with the effort to generalize the features of such a form of communication realized by English non-native speakers.
Keywords:	Discussion forum, asynchronous communication, written and spoken language, interaction, discourse analysis
Main topic:	Computer Mediated Communication (CMC)
Biodata:	Involved in pre-service EFL teacher training, the field of her interest is linguistics, English syntax and ICT in ELT.
Type of presentation	Poster
Paper category	(Other)
Target educational sector	Higher education
Language of delivery	English
EU-funded project	No