‘Type you soon!’ A stylistic approach to language use in a virtual learning environment.

The starting point for this article is that although new communication technologies have become an integral part of much educational provision, the nature of virtual learning environments (VLEs) remains underresearched, particularly in terms of the language skills required of participants. Existing...

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Publicado en:Language & Literature Vol. 20; no. 3; pp. 184 - 201
Autor principal: Goddard, Angela
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Sage Publications Inc. Aug2011
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        au: Goddard, Angela
        affil: York St John University, UK, a.goddard@yorksj.ac.uk
      su:
        Communication & technology
        Educational technology
        Courseware
        Virtual reality
        Speech
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          Communication & technology
          Educational technology
          Courseware
          Virtual reality
          Speech
      keyword:
        English as a lingua franca
        mediated discourse
        representation of speech
        response cries
        virtual learning environments
      ab: The starting point for this article is that although new communication technologies have become an integral part of much educational provision, the nature of virtual learning environments (VLEs) remains underresearched, particularly in terms of the language skills required of participants. Existing research paradigms from linguistics, especially those from formalist traditions, offer inadequate and simplistic accounts of new communication contexts. Drawing on the field of Mediated Discourse Theory and of Scollon’s central concept of discourse as a ‘nexus of practice’ (Scollon, 1998, 2011), the article brings together interactionist approaches with insights from stylistics in order to analyse a specific aspect of synchronous written language use within a VLE, that of ‘response cries’ (Goffman, 1981). The analysis acts as an exemplar, illustrating the complexity of new communication systems and the associated skills required by interlocutors to negotiate meaning in unfamiliar spaces. Response cries, as examples of utterances that are neither speech nor writing in any formal sense, show how ‘new representational technologies are simultaneously producing new forms of representation and mediational means’ (Scollon, 2001: 170). A number of pedagogic implications arise from this study, including the need to build a more sophisticated understanding of the nature of VLEs in order to assess participant performance accurately. For example, the study shows that in order to represent aspects of expressive language, which have traditionally been associated with speech, participants need a high level of literacy skill and metalinguistic awareness. In addition, participants who are part of international online study communities need to be able to negotiate new norms of usage as English is elaborated as a virtual lingua franca.
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    language: English
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