One of my concerns has been how children behave in a crowded classroom with few available opportunities to interact and rehearse the lesson with their peers and teacher. This research paper allows me to explore how teacher`s directives/ manners  (verbal & non-verbal communication) during the English lesson,  impact and fix children`s behaviours temporarily.  I have conducted this emprirical case study in a religious catholic, monolingual, Spanish school conformed only by girls aged 7-9, who are in the third level of its primary level.  As my interest was to analyze the talk of my purpose sampling (teacher-student) and the interactive behaviour in the natural occurring situation in this social setting, the method I chose was the analysis of social interaction, on Conversation Analysis. This allows me to unfold the talk-in-interaction and concentrate on micro-analytic situations using the standard convention to transcribe my selected analysis. Therefore, the contribution of this paper is to explore and demonstrate how disciplinary acts were deilvered by the teacher affecting the child`s subjectivity and performance in a crowded classroom.

Notre travail de recherche s’intéresse à l’usage des technologies dans les interactions professionnelles, et en particulier dans des centres d’appel. Nos analyses s’appuient sur trois champs disciplinaires que sont l’Ethnométhodologie, l’Analyse Conversationnelle et les Workplace Studies. Notre étude cherche à contribuer à la réflexion sur des interactions médiées par les technologies en milieu professionnel afin de rendre compte des pratiques émergentes des participants et comprendre l’organisation séquentielle complexe des interactions entre conseiller/opérateur et patient/client s’appuyant sur l’utilisation de ressources technologiques. La thèse s’articule en une partie introductive et trois parties analytiques. La première étudie les modifications de cadre participatif en tenant compte du dispositif technologique comme point d’ancrage de l’activité des participants. Nous avons distingué deux configurations: i) soit le dispositif est ajusté par l’opérateur ; ii) soit l’opérateur s’ajuste au dispositif. La modification du cadre participatif peut être initiée de façon verbale ou non verbale, ou par l’un ou l’autre des participants.Dans une seconde partie, nous analysons l’intégration de l’écran comme artefact interactionnel dans l’activité des participants. Nous avons remarqué qu’ils rapportent à l’oral des informations écrites sur un écran, en employant des verbes introductifs du type « il dit que », que nous retrouvons dans les travaux sur le discours rapporté à l’oral. Nous avons voulu montrer le lien entre le cours d’action dans lequel sont engagés les participants et l’émergence de ces discours rapportés où la référence aux messages écrits peut transformer les écrans et les systèmes informatiques en « agents interactionnels ». La troisième partie se focalise sur un type d’appel où un client s’adresse au service pour résoudre un problème, et après vérification par l’opératrice, elle lui notifie un état a-problématique de son compte. Nous avons remarqué que l’activité de diagnostic opérée ici par l’opératrice dépend étroitement des informations du compte client indiquées sur l’écran. Ce sont ces données qui permettent à l’opératrice d’établir le diagnostic et de notifier l’état a-problématique du compte. / Our research focuses on the use of technology in interactions at work, particularly in the context of call centres. Our analyses draw on three theoretical domains: Ethnomethodology, Conversation Analysis and Workplace Studies. Our research seeks to contribute to current investigations on interactions mediated by technology in the workplace to reflect emerging practices of participants and to understand the complex sequential organization of interactions between councillor/operator and patient/user, based on the use of technological resources.The thesis comprises an introduction part and three analytical parts. The first part examines changes in participation framework taking into account the technological device as an anchor for the participant’s activity. For this, we distinguished two different configurations: i) the device is adjusted by the operator, or ii) the operator adjusts the device. The adjustment of the participation framework may be initiated through verbal or multimodal way, or by one or the other participant.In the second part, we analyze the integration of the screen as an interactional artefact in the participant’s activity. We noticed that they report oral information’s displayed on a screen, using introductory verbs such as "he said", which we found in the studies on reported speech in spoken interactions. We wanted to show the link between the course of action in which participants are engaged and the emergence of reported speech when referring to written messages that can transform the screens and the computer systems in “interactional agents”.The third part focuses on one type of call where a user call the service to solve a problem, and after verification by the operator, she notifies a status of his account. We noticed that the diagnosis activity reported by the operator is closely related to the user’s account information shown on the screen. These are data that allow the operator to diagnose and report the non-problematic status of the account.

Ce travail vise à réunir deux différents domaines : la linguistique française et les études cinématographiques. Il porte notamment sur l’analyse des conversation, l’analyse du discours en interaction et l’analyse du dialogue cinématographique afin de réfléchir sur un thème qui n’a été abordé jusque là que du point de vue psychologique : le conflit familial. L’originalité de ces pages repose ainsi sur la volonté d’utiliser le cinéma et ses dialogues pour entamer une recherche linguistique de neuf films français réalisés entre 2000 et 2010 : Ressources humaines (2000) de Laurent Cantet, Tout va bien, on s’en va (2000) de Claude Mouriéras, Aime ton père (2002) de Jacob Berger, Père et fils (2003) de Michel Boujenah, Je vais bien, ne t'en fais pas (2006) de Philippe Lioret, Nue propriété (2007) de Joachim Lafosse, Un conte de Noël (2008) de Arnaud Desplechin, Non ma fille, tu n’iras pas danser (2009) de Christophe Honoré, Mères et filles (2009) de Julie Lopes-Curval. Ces films, dont le corpus se compose, ont été examinés dans le but de distinguer les scènes de dispute familiale pertinentes pour mes analyses. Ainsi, après avoir transcrit les répliques des quarante-deux scènes choisies, j’ai mis en relief les actes linguistiques récurrents dans une situation conflictuelle. Pour ce faire, j’ai repris les travaux de Austin et Searle et, plus récemment, de C. Kerbrat-Orecchioni. J’ai ensuite focalisé mon attention sur la mise en scène du conflit, développant une analyse assez fine de ce qui a été défini dispute. Il faut préciser à ce propos que le corpus a montré l’existence de deux grandes typologies de dispute au cinéma (retenue et manifeste), qui se subdivisent en dispute dilogale, trilogale et polylogale, suivant le nombre des participants. L’application des outils interactionnistes à un corpus cinématographique a également révélé que l’on peut considérer la conversation des films comme une représentation simplifiée des échanges verbaux authentiques, les deux types de conversation présentant la même structure : une ouverture, un corps, une clôture de l’interaction. La dernière partie de la thèse porte sur la dispute prototypique du corpus (2009_MF_DisputeBAGARRE), ainsi définie car elle réunit les éléments verbaux et non verbaux principaux surgissant dans une situation conflictuelle. C’est justement sur ces mêmes éléments que j’ai focalisé mon attention dans la première partie de la thèse lors de la définition de l’objet d’étude et de son insertion dans le cadre théorique. / This work aims to bring together two different areas: French linguistics and film studies. Topics covered include the analysis of conversation discourse analysis in interaction and analysis of film dialogue to reflect on a theme that has been discussed previously as psychologically : family conflict.The originality of these pages are based on the intention of using film and its dialogues to analyse nine French movies made between 2000 and 2010 :Ressources humaines (2000, Laurent Cantet)Tout va bien, on s’en va (2000, Claude Mouriéras)Aime ton père (2002, Jacob Berger)Père et fils (2003, Michel Boujenah)Je vais bien, ne t'en fais pas (2006, Philippe Lioret) Nue propriété (2007, Joachim Lafosse)Un conte de Noël (2008, Arnaud Desplechin) Non ma fille, tu n’iras pas danser (2009, Christophe Honoré)Mères et filles (2009, Julie Lopes-Curval)These films were examined in order to distinguish the relevant domestic dispute scenes for the analysis. Thus, having transcribed replicas of the forty- two selected scenes , I highlighted the recurring linguistic acts in a conflict situation . To do this , I resumed the work of Austin and Searle and , more recently, C. Kerbrat - Orecchioni . I then focused my attention on the stage of the conflict , developing a fairly detailed analysis of what has been defined dispute. It should be noted here that the body showed the existence of two large cinema dispute typologies ( restraint and manifest) , which are subdivided into dilogale dispute, and trilogale polylogal depending on the number of participants.The application of the interactionist tools to cinematic corpus also revealed that the conversation of the films can be considered as a simplified representation of authentic verbal exchanges, two types of conversations with the same structure : an opening, a body, a fence interaction.The last part of the thesis deals with the prototypical scene of the corpus ( 2009_MF_DisputeBAGARRE ), so defined since it brings together key verbal and non- verbal elements arising in a conflict situation. I properly focused my attention on these elements in the first part of the thesis in order to define the object of the study and its inclusion in the theoretical framework.

Outre la catégorisation socio-identitaire de l’enseignant de FLE – résumée dans la notion d’identité linguistique – qui représente depuis toujours une problématique très répandue dans le domaine de l’appropriation des langues, la notion de représentation sociale commence aujourd’hui à constituer un enjeu théorique majeur en ce domaine. Ce travail de recherche présente une étude expérimentale portant sur les représentations sociales de l’identité linguistique de l’enseignant et ses conséquences sur les comportements interactionnels des élèves dans une classe de FLE située au royaume du Bahreïn. Il a pour objet deux axes d’étude : a) les comportements interactionnels des apprenantes, que nous recueillerons par le biais d’observations de classes et que nous étudierons en adoptant une analyse conversationnelle fondée sur l’interprétation des phénomènes langagiers ; b) une réflexion sur la notion de représentations sociales orientée vers son rôle déterminant dans les pratiques langagières, étayée par une analyse de contenu thématique des discours épilinguistiques recueillis à l’aide d’un entretien semi-directif afin de déterminer si la perception de la différence d’identité linguistique est à l’origine de la dynamique des comportements interactionnels. L’objectif de ce travail est également de proposer une approche empirique ne reposant pas seulement sur l’analyse des discours sur les représentations sociales mais qui prend aussi en compte les pratiques langagières et confronte ainsi le dire et le faire / As well as the identity categorization – that we refer to by the concept of linguistic identity – of French foreign language teachers has always represented a problematic issue in the field of language appropriation, the notion of social representation is currently becoming a major theoretical challenge in this field. This research presents an experimental study that focuses on social representation regarding the linguistic identity of the teacher and its effect(s) on learners’ interactional behavior in a French foreign language class located in Bahrain. The purpose of this research is first to study the interactional behavior of learners via classroom observation and by adopting conversational analysis methods, and secondly to study the role of social representations in language practice of French foreign language learners. For this purpose, we have carried out a thematic content analysis of epilinguistic discourses that have been collected via a semi-structured interview to determine if linguistic identity differences led to interactional behavior changes. This thesis aims at proposing an empirical approach that does not rely only on the analysis of epilinguistic discourse but also takes into account language practice and thus compares what’s said and what’s done

Cette recherche s’inscrit dans le courant de l’analyse conversationnelle d’inspiration ethnométhodologique et intègre la perspective socioculturelle. Nous faisons une description située des pratiques d’apprentissage des membres des groupes de conversation du Centre de Ressources pour l’Apprentissage de Langues Étrangères en Autonomie. Sur les bases de données empiriques issues des enregistrements audio et vidéo de conversations exolingues entre apprenants de français et d’espagnol avec de locuteurs francophones et hispanophones, nous avons analysé le phénomène de la réparation (Schegloff, Jefferson & Sacks, 1977) pour décrire les « méthodes » (Garfinkel, 1967) utilisées par les participants, dans le but d’apporter des éléments à la conception de l’apprentissage dans l’action. Certaines caractéristiques des séquences de réparation sont montrées, ainsi que les orientations des participants vers l’expertise d’un des locuteurs. Nous avons pu constater la façon dont les partenaires exhibent une identité d’expert ou d’apprenant, catégories toujours changeantes au cours de l’interaction où la réparation est un outil indispensable. Nous montrons que la réparation dans les conversations exolingues est aussi une méthode d’apprentissage utilisée par les apprenants. L’interaction et particulièrement « l’interaction acquisitionelle » est un outil qui favorise l’appropriation de la L2 (« cognition in practice » Lave & Wenger, 1988 ; « community of practice », Wenger 1998) et nous permet en même temps d’observer le processus « on line » de l’appropriation des ressources linguistiques ainsi que la façon dont les participants résolvent les problèmes qui menacent l’intersubjectivité. Nous avons pu constater plus généralement, que l’apprentissage ne peut pas être défini à priori mais qu’il est contingent et contextuelle et émerge de la dynamique des activités dans l’interaction. / This research is based upon Conversation Analysis (CA) and integrates a sociocultural perspective. It describes the situated learning practices and conversations of a social group of people of a Self-Access Center. Based upon empirical data from audio and video recordings of exolingual conversations between French and Spanish learners with French and Spanish native speakers, the phenomenon of “repair” (Schegloff, Jefferson & Sacks, 1977) is analyzed to describe “methods” (Garfinkel, 1967) used by the participants in order to provide elements to understand the notion of learning-in-action. Some features of repair sequences are shown, as well as the orientations of one participant to the expertise of another participant. It is noticed that the speakers exhibit an identity of expert or learner, and I argue that category is a transitional and dynamic entity in the interaction where repair mechanism is an indispensable tool. I show that the repair mechanism in exolingual conversations is also a learning method used by learners. Interaction and particularly the "interaction for acquisition" is a tool that promotes L2 acquisition ("cognition in practice", Lave & Wenger, 1988; "community of practice", Wenger, 1998) and allows us to simultaneously observe the process "on line" of the appropriation of linguistic resources and the way participants resolve problems that risk intersubjectivity. I notice more generally, that learning cannot be defined a priori but it is contingent and contextual and emerges from the dynamic activities of interaction.

La notion d’aide-à-autrui est la pierre angulaire du travail social. Cette aide s’incarne sous la forme d’une multitude de déclinaisons à travers les activités menées par les professionnels de l’action sociale, les travailleurs sociaux. Lorsque l’un d’entre eux se trouve ponctuellement en difficulté dans l’exercice de son métier, la « réunion de synthèse » est un espace dédié à l’aide entre professionnels.Dans ce cadre de travail, le langage est l’outil essentiel qui permet aux participants de se rendre mutuellement disponible leur point de vue sur un « cas social » et de traiter eux-mêmes la descriptibilité de leurs actions.La perspective théorique et méthodologique de la linguistique interactionnelle, issue de l’analyseconversationnelle d’inspiration ethnométhodologique, constitue un cadre privilégié pour examiner les pratiques langagières qui caractérisent ces réunions institutionnelles. La question des ressources mobilisées et de leurs cours d’action dans l’interaction est devenue mon objet de recherche. Un objet qui ratifie non seulement le principe du langage comme ressource centrale de l’organisation des activités sociales, mais aussi dans ce contexte institutionnel, comme principale ressource de production et de structuration d’une activité d’aide-à-autrui.Cette thèse a pour visée d’approfondir la connaissance des processus permettant l’émergence d’unetelle activité, en étudiant les procédés par lesquels les ressources linguistiques sont méthodiquement déployées pour façonner et délivrer les points de vue des membres sur leurs actions, contribuant en retour à la constitution d’un espace intersubjectif qui rend possible l’élaboration collective d’un travail interprétatif. / The concept of aid to others is the cornerstone of social work. This assistance is embodied in the formof a multitude of variations through the activities of the professionals of social action, the socialworkers. When one of them is punctually in trouble during the exercise of his job, the " meeting of synthesis" is dedicated to mutual aid between professionals.In this framework, the language is an essential tool which allows participants to make mutually available their point of view on a "social event" and handle themselves the describtibility of theiractions.The theoretical and methodological perspective of interactional linguistics, from the conversation alanalysis in the ethnomethodological tradition, is an ideal framework to examine the language practicesthat characterize these institutional meetings. The issue of mobilized resources and their course of action in the interaction became my object of research. An object that ratifies not only the principle of language as a central resource of the organization of the social activities, but also in the institutional context, as a main resource of production and structuring an activity to help others.This thesis aims to deepen the understanding of the processes for the emergence of such activity, by studying the processes by which language resources are methodically deployed to shape and deliverthe views of members about their actions, contributing in return to the creation of an intersubjective space which makes possible the collective elaboration of a interpretative work.

<p>The subject of this thesis is interaction in the service encounter. The aim is to describe and explain the service encounter interaction with a special focus on the social and organisational context. The contextual focus is related to two overriding questions: What significance does the human interaction have for the service encounter? What significance does the organisational context have for the service encounter?</p><p>The result show that even though the communication consists of four discerned phases – salutation, the subject of the call, concluding the subject, and rounding off the call, each phase also displays contradictions. Consequently, there are both relational and instrumental utterances, as well as symmetrical and asymmetrical aspects of the conversations.</p><p>These contradictory results of the relational-instrumental and symmetrical-asymmetrical features are explained when interaction is viewed in terms of three different sets of logic – the commercial, the bureaucratic, and the social. Every logic is constituted by a number of characteristics, each contributing to the shape of the interaction and to the relationship between the customer and the employee.</p><p>Analytically speaking, the three forms of logic can be described in terms of their respective field of action and rationality, that is, what the actors talk about and what the purpose of the talk is. It is shown that the actors must prioritise between economic, administrative and personal areas within a limited time of action. It is also clear that the disparate rationalities, that is, economic, executive and recognition, all exercise influence over the service encounter, which means that acts aiming at a specific goal are restricted by the objectives of the other logics. Therefore there is a certain self-regulating function in the antagonism between the logics. The positions of the employee in relation to the customer, the organisation and the so-called collective customer mean that there are demands made from three qualitatively different directions. There is, in other words, a three-bosses dilemma for employees. The different positions of the employee also entail three different asymmetrical relationships in which either the customer or the employee has the advantage. This position constructs the hierarchy of dominance between employee and customer.</p><p>To conclude, the interaction constitutes a complex relationship between the characteristics of the logics and when these combine the interaction of the service encounter is shaped. The fact that the service encounter involves human interaction means that there is a counter balance against the organisational ascendancy.</p>

The subject of this thesis is interaction in the service encounter. The aim is to describe and explain the service encounter interaction with a special focus on the social and organisational context. The contextual focus is related to two overriding questions: What significance does the human interaction have for the service encounter? What significance does the organisational context have for the service encounter? The result show that even though the communication consists of four discerned phases – salutation, the subject of the call, concluding the subject, and rounding off the call, each phase also displays contradictions. Consequently, there are both relational and instrumental utterances, as well as symmetrical and asymmetrical aspects of the conversations. These contradictory results of the relational-instrumental and symmetrical-asymmetrical features are explained when interaction is viewed in terms of three different sets of logic – the commercial, the bureaucratic, and the social. Every logic is constituted by a number of characteristics, each contributing to the shape of the interaction and to the relationship between the customer and the employee. Analytically speaking, the three forms of logic can be described in terms of their respective field of action and rationality, that is, what the actors talk about and what the purpose of the talk is. It is shown that the actors must prioritise between economic, administrative and personal areas within a limited time of action. It is also clear that the disparate rationalities, that is, economic, executive and recognition, all exercise influence over the service encounter, which means that acts aiming at a specific goal are restricted by the objectives of the other logics. Therefore there is a certain self-regulating function in the antagonism between the logics. The positions of the employee in relation to the customer, the organisation and the so-called collective customer mean that there are demands made from three qualitatively different directions. There is, in other words, a three-bosses dilemma for employees. The different positions of the employee also entail three different asymmetrical relationships in which either the customer or the employee has the advantage. This position constructs the hierarchy of dominance between employee and customer. To conclude, the interaction constitutes a complex relationship between the characteristics of the logics and when these combine the interaction of the service encounter is shaped. The fact that the service encounter involves human interaction means that there is a counter balance against the organisational ascendancy.

人們常因為禮貌或其他因素避免對立的情況發生。然而，異議在我們日常溝通中又扮演了不可或缺的角色。之前，眾多對於異議及其相關語言活動的研究均未曾探究異議內容的本質(對於事實內容的異議或對於議題評估的異議)與異議的建構有何關係。此外，台灣鮮少研究社會因素對異議建構方式的影響。基於上述不足，本研究旨在探討何種異議(內容異議或評估異議)在日常生活中較常出現，不同異議類別的語言形式與語用策略為何，以及年齡是否會影響異議的數量多寡與建構方式。本研究採用言談分析(conversational analysis, CA)作為研究框架，並以言語行為理論(speech act theory),合作原則(Cooperative Principles)及禮貌理論(Politeness Principles)為理論基礎。 本研究以12份日常交談為語料，進行異議分析。在這12份語料中，8組對話者為同齡(4組年長者，4組年輕者)，4組對話者為跨齡。在分析過程中，先依異議的本質進行分類，進而分析討論異議中所使用的語言形式、語用策略、社會因素(年齡)，以及四者彼此之間的互動。 研究結果顯示，第一，人們使用評估異議的頻率為內容異議的兩倍之多。個人主觀式遠多於社會文化評估的異議。第二，就語言形式而言，在異議的建構中，否定句、預告詞及肯定句(依此順序)的使用頻率高於其他語言形式。然而，語言行式的選擇會隨異議的本質而有所改變。內容異議通常使用直接句型，如否定句與肯定句；評估異議則平均使用直接性的否定句與間接性的預告詞。第三，就語用策略而言，更正、解釋與質疑(依此順序)的使用頻率高於其他語用策略。語用策略的選擇亦隨異議本質的不同而有所改變。超過一半的內容異議使用更正策略，但在評估異議中，更正、解釋與質疑的使用頻率相當。第四，在評估異議中，在各個語用策略中，語言形式的種類比內容異議多。這個結果影射著評估異議對面子的威脅程度可能比內容異議來得嚴重。因此，在進行評估異議時，語言形式與語用策略的挑選用必須格外注意。第五，年齡與異議的建構有顯著的相關性。同齡組比跨齡組更容易產生異議。最後，在異議中，聽話者的角色比說話者的角色更具有影響力。 / Although people try to avoid opposition for the sake of politeness or other reasons, disagreement, which may threaten interpersonal relationship and the success of communication, is inevitable in our daily life. Previous studies on disagreement (including dispute, argument, conflict, etc.) have not probe into the nature of the referential content—whether it is content-based (in this study, C-disagreement) or evaluation-based (in this study, E-disagreement), and the influences of social factors on disagreement have rarely been examined in Taiwan. Therefore, the purposes of this study are to see what type of disagreement are most likely to occur in daily conversations and to examine whether age is an influential factor on linguistic choices for in disagreement in Chinese society. This study uses the framework of conversational analysis (CA), and adopts speech act theory (Austin, 1962; Searle, 1975), Cooperative Principles (Grice, 1975) and Politeness Principles (Brown and Levinson’s, 1978, 1987; Leech, 1983) as the theoretical foundations. 12 conversations by speakers of 8 same-age groups (including 4 old groups and 4 young groups) and 4 cross-age groups were examined for disagreement. Related data are categorized, analyzed, and discussed by types of disagreement, linguistic markers, pragmatic strategies, social variable (in this study, age), and the interaction among the four. The results of the data analyses show, first, people adopt nearly twice more E-disagreement than C-disagreement; moreover, E-disagreement based on personal judgment emerges more often than E-disagreement based on socio-cultural evaluation. Second, for linguistic markers, negation, pre-announcement marker, and affirmative (in this order) are adopted more in disagreement. However, preferences for linguistic markers change according to types of disagreement. In C-disagreement, direct syntactic markers, such as negation and affirmative, are used more frequently than the others; however, in E-disagreement, direct negation (syntactic) and indirect pre-announcement (lexical) are used with equal frequencies. Third, among pragmatic strategies, correction, account, and challenge (in this order) are adopted more frequently than the others. The usage of pragmatic strategies varies with types of disagreement. In C-disagreement, correction is highly adopted. But in E-disagreement, correction, account, and challenge are used with equal percentages. Fourth, the fact that more varieties of linguistic markers are used in each pragmatic strategy in E-disagreement than in C-disagreement may imply impoliteness, since face-threatening force is more serious in E-disagreement than in C-disagreement, which, in turn, indicates that more careful manipulation is needed in using E-disagreement. Fifth, age is influential in disagreement. More disagreements are found in the same-age groups than in the cross-age groups. Last, the hearer’s role is found to be more influential than the speaker’s role.

Online language learning and teaching is a field that has received a significant amount of research attention. What factors could affect student participation in simpler online learning environments has been investigated by researchers, but there has been limited study of factors affecting participation in complex Multi-User Virtual Environments. By using the typical Multi-User Virtual Environment Second Life, three English courses offered by Swedish universities were examined in this thesis. The courses were video-recorded, and selected parts of the recordings were transcribed. The transcribed recordings were complemented by author(s)’ observation, participants’ reflection, an online questionnaire and an online interview. Participation from the courses was measured both quantitatively and qualitatively. Quantitative methods were used to measure, for example, floor space, number of utterances, turn length, number of turns; the qualitative analysis centered on, for instance, utterance functions, discourse analysis, and Conversational Analysis. The results were published in five papers that focused on different central factors affecting participation in Second Life. In this thesis, the findings from those articles are synthesized. Furthermore, on the basis of the findings, a general model of factors affecting participation is presented and discussed to highlight that different factors interrelate and that some factors are particularly important in terms of affecting participation in Multi-User Virtual Environments. These are students’ technical skills, task design, course design, technical support, and Second Life technology. The complex technology also places critical demands on teachers’ technical skills, teaching strategies, and roles that teachers should play. Finally, this thesis argues that it is important to choose a suitable technology for an English course.