Information Systems (IS) innovations in healthcare sector are seen as panacea to control burgeoning demand on healthcare resources and lack of streamlining in care delivery. Two particular manifestations of such innovations are telehealth and electronic records in its two forms: the electronic medical records and the electronic health records. Deployment efforts concerning both of these IS-innovations have encountered a rough terrain and have been slow. Problems are also faced while evaluating the effectiveness of innovations on health and care delivery outcomes through strategies such as randomised controlled trials- particularly in case of telehealth. By taking these issues into account, this research investigates the issues that affect IS innovation deployment and its evaluation. The strategy adopted in this research was informed by recursive philosophy and theoretical perspectives within IS that strived to expound this recursive relationship. It involved conducting two longitudinal case studies that are qualitative in nature. The first study involved telehealth deployment and its evaluation in the UK, while the second case study involved the deployment of electronic medical/health records in the US. Data was collected through focus group discussions, interviews and online discussion threads; and was analysed thematically. The results of this research indicate that there are nine issues that arise and affect the deployment and evaluation of IS innovation in healthcare; and these are design, efficiency and effectiveness, optimality and equity, legitimacy, acceptance, demand and efficacy, expertise, new interaction patterns, and trust. These issues are attributes of relationships between the IS innovation, context of healthcare and the user. The significance of these attributes varies during the deployment and evaluation process, and due to iterative nature of IS innovation. This research further indicates that all the attributes have either direct or indirect impact on work practices of the user.

In view of the augmenting spatial, socio-economic and ethnic segregation in Sweden over the last 30 years, the purpose of this study is to examine, illustrate and enhance the understanding of mundane segregation processes by studying how social actors collaboratively interact in Swedish online forums regarding in which areas it is “good” or “bad” to live in. The theoretical and methodological framework used to guide the collection, coding and analysis of empirical data is based on ethnomethodology and its applied methods conversation analysis, discursive psychology and membership categorization analysis. This implies a data-driven approach in which the analysis is solely based on the observable-and-reportable understandings of the interactants themselves. The results of the study show that the participants collaboratively orient to and assemble normative spatial categories by connecting these with spatial identities. Simply put, “good places” are treated as inherently linked to “good people”, and vice versa. Because of the way in which interactants treat these spatial-social categories as both inherently and normatively linked, the thesis introduces the concept normative-spatial-identities, in order to facilitate the investigation of how social actors collaboratively make sense of,  orient to and assemble normative spatial boundaries and in this fashion, contribute to enhancing the understanding of everyday inclusion-and-exclusion practices.

Os fóruns de discussão na internet apresentam características de língua falada, entre as quais a alta freqüência do uso de partículas modais (PMs). As PMs têm diversas funções complexas que só podem ser analisadas do ponto de vista pragmático ou conversacional. Nesta dissertação, são analisadas as funções comunicativas e conversacionais das partículas modais em oito excertos de um fórum alemão de discussão sobre política, economia e meio ambiente. As 26 PMs presentes no corpus e suas funções comunicativas foram identificadas, descritas e interpretadas com base na classificação de Helbig (1990), sendo as mais freqüentes ja1 (18% do total), also (11%) e eben (6%), que respondem juntas por 35% das ocorrências no corpus. As PMs foram também agrupadas de acordo com suas funções conversacionais. Propõe-se que as PMs atuam em 13 procedimentos específicos, aqui denominados ações conversacionais, níveis intermediários entre as funções comunicativas próprias de cada PM e as funções conversacionais propostas por Helbig (1990). Cinco funções conversacionais foram identificadas no corpus, a saber: indicadora atitudinal, indicadora ou modificadora de ilocução, articuladora conversacional, realizadora de estratégia interacional e conectora. Apenas a função definidora situacional não apresenta ocorrências, possivelmente porque a situação comunicativa já é fortemente definida. A função conversacional mais utilizada foi a articuladora conversacional (35,05%), seguindo-se a indicadora atitudinal (22,68%), a conectora (22,16%), a realizadora de estratégia interacional (12,89%) e a indicadora ou modificadora de ilocução (7,22%). Os resultados do estudo demonstram que as PMs podem ser utilizadas ativamente na organização e manutenção da conversação, não apenas para expressar a atitude do falante (como costuma ser indicado na literatura sobre o tema), mas também com fins argumentativos e para manter e direcionar a interação. / Discussion forums in the Internet present characteristics from spoken language, among those marks is a high frequency of modal particles (Modalpartikeln). Modal particles have several complex functions that only can be analyzed from a pragmatic or conversational point of view. In this dissertation, communicative and conversational functions of modal particles are analyzed in eight interactions in discussion forums about politics, economics and environment. The 26 modal particles present in the corpus and their communicative functions were identified, described and analyzed according to HELBIGs classification (1990), the most frequent being ja1 (18%), also (11%) e eben (6%), which together account for 35% from all events in the corpus. The modal particles were also classified according to their conversational functions. It is proposed that modal particles act in 13 specific procedures, named here conversational actions, intermediate levels between the characteristic communicative functions of each modal particles and the conversational functions proposed by Helbig (1990). Five conversational functions were identified in the corpus: attitude indicator; illocution indicator or modifier; discourse articulator, interactional strategist, discourse connector. Only the situational qualifier function was not present in the corpus, probably because the communicative situation is already clearly defined. The most frequent conversational function was the discourse articulator (35,05%), followed by the attitude indicator (22,68%), the discourse connector (22,16%), the interactional strategy marker (12,89%) and the illocution indicator or modifier (7,22%). The results show that modal particles play a important role organizing and maintaining the discourse, not only to express the speaker attitude (as commonly found in the literature), but also to reach argumentative aims and to maintain and to manage the interaction.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T18:22:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Belia Fantina Bonini Pinto de Arruda.pdf: 4017848 bytes, checksum: eb17b151548cbeb8182cc0df59b0bd11 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-05-23 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This research aims to understand form a critical point of view, which is, focused on understanding the issues raised in discussion with a view to creating zpds for questioning and collaborative production of new meanings and contexts created for learning and development in a virtual context of an English course in English language training for teachers - Teachers' Links. The theoretical-methodological research is based on, Bredo and Feinberg (1982) to analyze and understand, critically, how e context for learning, are established in the Discussion Forums, on a virtual environment of a specialization course for English language teachers Teachers Links, For the development of data analysis, I use the categories of collaboration and conflict, according to Oliveira and Magalhães (2011), the category of ZPD according to Magalhães (2002, 2009) and Newman and Holzman (1993/2002) and the category of senses and meanings, (Liberali, 2009); (Magalhães, 1996, 2004, 2007, 2010). The categories of analysis to check the engagement of participants in the discussions in the forums are the thematic and lexical choices, the types of questions ( Brooks field-Preskill (2005) among the students and teachertutor to analyze how language is organized in the messages posted in the forums, the types of placement of students, teachers and tutors (if one explains the purpose of the assignments, how to act; or if he simply ignores the speech of the other); and if their assignments are completed by the participants or not. The data were selected from the database of the Teachers' Links, more precisely the Discussion Forums. The results of this study show that in the virtual context, in this case, Discussion Forums, the proposed assignments in order to create relationships that allow spaces for learning and development should be reviewed and thought the papers, the division of labor and rules among the participating subjects, i.e., the teacher-tutor and students, for it is possible to create these spaces / Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo geral entender de forma crítica, isto é com foco na compreensão e inserção de possibilidades de transformação, a criação de zpds para questionamento e produção colaborativa de novos significados em um contexto virtual de formação de professores de inglês. Especificamente analisa os contextos criados na Unidade 3 do Fórum de Discussão do curso de aperfeiçoamento em língua inglesa para professores em formação Teachers Links para a compreensão das possibilidades crítico-colaborativas criadas nas relações entre as participantes. Teoricamente está apoiada no quadro da Pesquisa Sócio-Histórico-Cultural (Vygotsky) para compreensão do central papel da ZPD para aprendizagem e desenvolvimento. Também está apoiada na discussão dos tipos de perguntas que possibitam a criação de contextos crítico-colaborativos em espaços de discussão. Os aportes teórico-metodológicos da pesquisa têm como base Bredo e Feinberg (1982) para discutir sua base numa abordagem crítica de pesquisa que se propõe a criar possibilidades de compreensão e transformação aos participantes, leitores e organizadores do curso Teachers Links e a esta pesquisadora. Os dados foram coletados no Banco de Dados do curso, em 2007 e foram analizados com base nas escolhas lexicais para compreensão do conteúdo temático dos objetivos e conteúdos dos três passos da Tarefa proposta e dos tipos de perguntas da tutora. Foram categorias de interpretação centrais as categorias de colaboração e contradição, conforme Oliveira e Magalhães (2011), a categoria de ZPD, segundo Magalhães (2002; 2009) e Newman e Holzman (1993/2002) e a categoria de sentidos e significados, (LIBERALI, 2009); (MAGALHÃES, 1996; 2004; 2007; 2010). Os resultados revelaram o quase inexistente engajamento das participantes nas discussões nos fóruns, tipos de perguntas que não possibilitaram a criação de zpds para produção colaborativo-crítica de conhecimento. Os resultados deste estudo ressaltam a importância de cursos conduzidos no contexto virtual, neste caso os fóruns de discussão, criar relações que possibilitem interações colaborativo-críticas em que as regras e divisão de trabalho sejam pensadas para possibilitar a relação dialógica e dialética entre os participantes, ou seja, o professor tutor e os alunos

The main purpose of this study has been to explore and determine how the journalistic work was used by internet users to start and keep a discussion on the internet going. We started in the aftermath of a local arson in a town of Sweden, where a discussion on the internet forum Flashback and the local newspapers commentary fields was raised. We have used these discussions to study what part the journalistic work play in these events. To do that we used a critical discourse analysis and a rhetoric analysis to investigate how these discussions use news articles to make their point. We divided the comments into four different categories, which are comments about understandings of the event, comments that talked about the matters of fact, criticism pointed at the newspaper and comments that identify the offenders. The result of the analysis shows that both forums use journalistic work as facts in their discussions. Both also use earlier articles that were written before the arson, to make their point in the discussion.

Cette thèse porte sur les discours relatifs à l’allaitement maternel dans les forums de discussion sur Internet. L’enjeu est d’aborder les pratiques discursives des participants au regard des discours d’experts en la matière, qu’ils soient d’ordre institutionnels, relèvent de l’édition ou de la presse grand public de vulgarisation de la puériculture, ou d’associations de promotion de l’allaitement maternel. Nous avons choisi comme approche pour cette démarche une construction conceptuelle empruntée à Antonio Negri et Michael Hardt, l’aliénation autonome. Pouvant être définie comme le processus supposant autant l’interaction de chacun des membres de la société au travers d’appareils disciplinaires, certes plus diffus et plus nombreux que dans la société de contrôle, mais bien existants et actifs, que la conformation individuelle de chacun au discours social dominant, cette construction conceptuelle, appliquée aux discours relatifs à l’allaitement maternel, permet de mettre en évidence les rapports entre le discours des experts et celui des internautes sur les forums de discussion. La première partie est consacrée à un examen des travaux à la fois sur l’allaitement maternel et sur Internet et à l’élaboration de ce cadre théorique centré sur le concept d’aliénation autonome. La seconde partie est une analyse des discours relatifs à l’allaitement maternel, tels qu’on peut les trouver dans l’édition, la presse spécialisée, les publications institutionnelles et celles des associations de promotion de l’allaitement maternel, afin de dégager les différentes thématiques de ce discours. Elles servent de référentiel pour l’analyse du discours des internautes dans la troisième partie. Cette analyse a été réalisée conjointement à partir des données fournies par le logiciel d’analyse lexicométrique « Pistes » et grâce à la méthode d’analyse de contenu. Reprenant les thèmes et arguments du discours dominant sur l’allaitement maternel, interprétant les réalités auxquelles ils sont confrontés en fonction des éléments discursifs qui leur sont ainsi fournis, les internautes incarnent ici le concept d’aliénation autonome. Mais à travers certaines résistances qui parviennent à s’exprimer contre la « doxa de l’allaitement maternel », ils illustrent aussi une autre conceptualisation d’Antonio Negri et de Michael Hardt : celle de « multitude ». / This thesis concerns the discourses about breast feeding in the Internet chat rooms. The aim is to focus on the discursive practices of the participants from the expert discourses viewpoint. The concerned discourses can be institutional ones, publishing ones, from baby care popularization popular press or from associations promoting breast feeding. We chose to approach the point with a conceptual construction borrowed to Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt : the autonomous alienation. This conceptual construction that can be defined as a process with the interaction of each society member through disciplinary apparatus that are - it is true -more diffuse and numerous than in the control society but real and active, as well as the individual conformation of each one to the prevailing social discourse, applied to breast feeding discourse allows to put into relieve the links between the expert discourses and the one of net surfers in chat rooms. The first part is dedicated not only to an exam of the works on breast feeding on the Internet but also to the elaboration of the theorical frame focused on the autonomous alienation concept. The second part is an analysis of the breast feeding discourses that we can find in publishing business, specialized newspapers, institutional publications and the publications of associations promoting breast feeding. The goal is to put into relieve the different themes that will be used as references for the discourse analysis of net surfers in the third part. This analysis is based on data from the word count analysis software called “Pistes” and also owing to the content analysis method.If we look at the themes and arguments of the main discourse about breast feeding that interprets the realities they are confronted to, according to the discursive elements that are given to them, net surfers represent here the autonomous alienation concept. But through some resistances that can be expressed against the “breast feeding doxa”, they also represent another conceptualization of Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt : the “multitude” one.

The theme of the diploma thesis is the analysis of the "mother language" on the Czech Internet forums (especially on emimino.cz, baby-cafe.cz, mimibazar.cz). In the theoretical part the author introduces the varieties of the national language. She defines the characteristics, structure and social differentiation of the analysed sociolect. Then she presents the fundamental aspects of human communication and also devotes to the particularities of communication on the Internet. In the practical part she carries out a language analysis of the collected material. She focuses primarily on the lexical means, mainly diminutives, compounds and abbreviations. The aim of the thesis is to present the specific type of expressing and at the same time to contribute to the research of the non-standard Czech language with this study.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T12:42:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1364013 bytes, checksum: def4a6aa07047e84e8b939a7de8e5b3d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-02-17 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The spacial and temporal distance among subjects is one of the big challenges to the development of dialogues on virtual learning enviromnents (VLE) of distance teaching. Among the instruments present on Moodle platform, the VLE used by Courses offered by UFPB Virtual, the Discussion forum presents as the space that makes possible to develop social inter-relations about the contents of the discipline or other aspects. However, this instrument is not always used by teachers to develop dialogues on the respective disciplines. Many teachers apply specific question and ask students only to publish their answers. So, this study analises docent interactive strategies used on Discussion forums of distance teaching, on the discipline Introdução à Educação a Distância from the Curso de Graduação em Ciências Naturais (Licenciatura a Distância) of UFPB Virtual, during the semester 2011.2, with the intention of verifying the focus of docent interactive strategias on the referred technological instrument. It was based on the theory of enunciation of Bakhtin/Volochínov ([1929] 2010) and Bakhtin ([1979] 2010), whose perspectives conceives that the subject is constructed in relation with the alterity and on assumptions from Belloni (2009), Moran (2002, 2003, 2007, 2011) and Moore ([1993] 2002), among others, about Distance Education. We collected the corpus from the social environment where they were created and published, i.e., the own Discussion forums from the discipline mentioned above. The qualitative methodology was used to analyze the referred object of study. During the investigation of interactive strategies, we noticed that the way the teacher guides the student s participation refracts the organization of ideological practices on student-student inter-relations promoted on the discipline Introdução à Educação a Distância. Therefore, we consider that the docent interactive strategies suggest the construction of student s arguments through the dialogical and valorative relations with other discourses and subjects, influenced by the enunciative conditions determined by each situation of social communication. / Um dos grandes desafios para o desenvolvimento de diálogos nos ambientes virtuais de aprendizagem (AVA) da Educação a Distância é a separação espacial e temporal dos sujeitos inseridos nesta modalidade de ensino. Entre as ferramentas presentes na plataforma Moodle, o AVA utilizado pelos Cursos oferecidos pela UFPB Virtual, o Fórum de discussão destaca-se como o espaço que possibilita o desenvolvimento de inter-relações sociais sobre os conteúdos abordados na disciplina ou inerentes a outros aspectos. No entanto, nem sempre os professores utilizam os Fóruns de discussão para o desenvolvimento de diálogos nas respectivas disciplinas. Muitos professores aplicam questionamentos específicos e solicitam apenas que os alunos postem suas respostas. Diante disso, o presente estudo analisa estratégias interativas docentes em Fóruns de discussão do ensino a distância, no âmbito da disciplina Introdução à Educação a Distância do Curso de Graduação em Ciências Naturais (Licenciatura a Distância) da UFPB Virtual, durante o período letivo 2011.2, com o intuito de verificar o foco das estratégias interativas docentes no referido instrumento tecnológico. Para tanto, a fundamentação teórica baseia-se, principalmente, na teoria da enunciação de Bakhtin/Volochínov ([1929] 2010) e Bakhtin ([1979] 2010), cujas perspectivas concebem que a constituição do sujeito acontece na relação com a alteridade e em pressupostos de Belloni (2009), Moran (2002, 2003, 2007, 2011) e Moore ([1993] 2002), entre outros, sobre Educação a Distância. Coletamos os enunciados no meio social aonde foram elaborados e publicados, ou seja, nos próprios Fóruns de discussão da disciplina mencionada. Adotamos a metodologia qualitativa como paradigma para análise do objeto de estudo deste trabalho. Diante da investigação sobre as estratégias interativas, constatamos que o modo como o professor orienta a participação discente refrata a organização das práticas ideológicas nas inter-relações aluno-aluno promovidas na disciplina Introdução à Educação a Distância. Verificamos, também, que as estratégias interativas docentes sugerem a construção dos enunciados discentes pela via das relações dialógicas e valorativas com outros discursos e sujeitos, influenciadas pelas condições enunciativas determinadas por cada situação de comunicação social.

nÃo hà / Fundamentada na teoria sociointeracionista de aquisiÃÃo de segunda lÃngua e nos conceitos de interaÃÃo e negociaÃÃo de sentidos, esta pesquisa tem como objetivo geral investigar a negociaÃÃo de sentidos em fÃruns online de disciplinas de lÃngua inglesa, a partir da anÃlise da conversaÃÃo, dos padrÃes de interaÃÃo e do feedback. A fim de atingirmos esse objetivo, realizamos uma anÃlise qualitativa com algum tratamento estatÃstico, indutiva, de dados interpretativos. Primeiramente, elaboramos um instrumento para anÃlise das interaÃÃes e negociaÃÃo de sentidos em fÃruns educacionais online, baseado em categorias da anÃlise da conversaÃÃo (SEEDHOUSE, 2004), da interaÃÃo (SPADA & FRÃHLICH, 1995), da negociaÃÃo de sentido (GASS & e VARONIS, 1985) e do feedback (BARBOSA, 2011). Para testarmos a confiabilidade do instrumento elaborado, 10 (dez) professores de LÃngua Inglesa o utilizaram para analisar mensagens postadas e agrupadas em 15 (quinze) blocos de interaÃÃo de um fÃrum de uma disciplina de inglÃs da Licenciatura a DistÃncia em Letras: LÃngua Inglesa da UFC/UAB. As respostas fornecidas por esses professores foram submetidos a dois procedimentos estatÃsticos: o ANOVA de Friedman e o alfa de Cronbach. ApÃs algumas alteraÃÃes feitas à versÃo inicial do instrumento, obtivemos o Ãndice alfa de Cronbach de 0,786 e ANOVA, entre 0,025 e 0,031. A versÃo final do instrumento foi usada para a anÃlise quantitativa que serviu de base para a anÃlise qualitativa da interaÃÃo e da negociaÃÃo de sentido em fÃruns educacionais online de 06 (seis) disciplinas da licenciatura mencionada. As disciplinas foram agrupadas em trÃs grupos: lÃngua, metalinguagem e literatura. Foram analisadas as interaÃÃes ocorridas em trÃs fÃruns de cada uma das seis disciplinas, totalizando 18 (dezoito) fÃruns. Os resultados das anÃlises apontaram que, em relaÃÃo aos padrÃes de conversaÃÃo, a maioria dos turnos nos fÃruns analisados foi iniciada pelos tutores, 64,70% (sessenta e quatro vÃrgula setenta por cento) e que a sequÃncia nÃo foi mantida na maioria dos fÃruns. Em todos os fÃruns analisados, apenas dois blocos apresentaram instÃncias de negociaÃÃo de sentido, sendo essas instÃncias em uma Ãnica disciplina. A negociaÃÃo de sentido ocorreu tanto a partir de um pseudo-pedido, um pedido autÃntico, uma informaÃÃo imprevisÃvel ou uma informaÃÃo previsÃvel. Observamos tambÃm que, nos dois casos de negociaÃÃo de sentidos, ocorreu discurso mantido e uso irrestrito das formas linguÃsticas. Ainda, nas instÃncias de negociaÃÃo de sentidos, evidenciamos a ocorrÃncia do feedback corretivo em um dos blocos, enquanto que no outro bloco nÃo houve feedback. Com base nas anÃlises empreendidas, defendemos a tese de que, em fÃruns educacionais online, podem ocorrer dois tipos de negociaÃÃo de sentido: um tipo mais restrito a instÃncias especÃficas de negociaÃÃo de algum termo ou estrutura que gera uma quebra no fluxo comunicacional; e um tipo mais amplo (proposto pela pesquisadora) em que os interlocutores se engajam em uma negociaÃÃo visando discutir e compreender um determinado conceito. Quando a negociaÃÃo de sentido acontece em seu sentido mais amplo, nÃo hà necessidade de que haja um feedback na posiÃÃo de indicador. Na verdade, o indicador pode nem existir, uma vez que o conceito pode ser criado a partir de uma dÃvida de um aluno ou de uma pergunta feita pelo tutor ou outro participante da interaÃÃo. Em relaÃÃo à negociaÃÃo de uma palavra ou estrutura especÃfica, acreditamos que o feedback corretivo, principalmente o explÃcito, seja mais favorÃvel a negociaÃÃo por apontar diretamente o erro do aluno, facilitando sua identificaÃÃo. / Based on sociointeractionist theories of second language acquisition, this study aimed at investigating the negotiation of meaning that takes place in online forums of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) courses. Data were collected using aqualitative research methodology which had included some statiscal treatment. First, an instrument was elaborated to analyze the interactions and the negotiation of meaning that take place in online language learning forums. The elaboration of the instrument employed categories borrowed from Conversation Analysis (SEEDHOUSE, 2004), Interaction Patterns (SPADA & FRÃHLICH, 1995), Meaning Negotiation (GASS & e VARONIS, 1985) and Feedback Analysis(BARBOSA, 2011). Next the instrument was tested for its validity. Ten EFL teachers used the elaborated instrument to analyze forum posts of an EFL course organized in 15 (fifteen) interaction blocks of interaction. The answers given by the ten teachers were submitted to two statistical procedures: Cronbach Alpha and Friedman ANOVA. During the validation process, a few modifications were made to the elaborated instrument. The final version obtained the following results: Cronbach Alpha of 0.786 and 0.025â0.031 ANOVA. The final version used in the quantitative analysis served as the starting point for the qualitative analysis of the interactions and of the negotiation of meaning that took place in the online forums of 06 (six) courses of an online English Teaching Certificate Program at UFC-UAB. These courses were grouped into 02 (two) language courses, 02 (two) metalanguage courses and 02 (two) literature courses. Three forums of each course were analyzed for a total of 18 analyzed forums. Results indicated that, in relation to Conversation Patterns, most conversation turns in the analyzed forums were initiated by the tutors, 64.7% of the time (sixty four point seven percent), and conversation sequence was not maintained in most of the forums. In all analyzed forums, only two presented instances of meaning negotiation, and these two instances occurred in forums of the same course. These instances of meaning negotiation happened as the result of either a pseudo inquiry or a true inquiry, or as a response to either some predictable or unpredictable information. In both instances of negotiation, discourse was maintained and unrestricted forms of language were used. Also, in the two instances of meaning negotiation, corrective feedback occurred in one, while in the other there was no corrective feedback. The results of this study support the argument that, in online educational forums, two types of negotiation of meaning can occur: one which is restricted to specific instances of negotiation of the meaning of one word or language form, which interrupts the communication flow of an interaction; and the other, of a broader type (proposed by this researcher), in which two or more participants interact while trying to understand the meaning of a concept or idea. This broader type of negotiation does not depend on feedback to be triggered. In fact, there is no need of a specific trigger, since negotiation can happen as the result of a doubt raised by a student or of a question asked by the tutor or by another student. Results also indicated that corrective feedback, especially of the explicit type, favors a more restricted type of negotiation of the meaning, than of a specific word or language form.

Os fóruns de discussão na internet apresentam características de língua falada, entre as quais a alta freqüência do uso de partículas modais (PMs). As PMs têm diversas funções complexas que só podem ser analisadas do ponto de vista pragmático ou conversacional. Nesta dissertação, são analisadas as funções comunicativas e conversacionais das partículas modais em oito excertos de um fórum alemão de discussão sobre política, economia e meio ambiente. As 26 PMs presentes no corpus e suas funções comunicativas foram identificadas, descritas e interpretadas com base na classificação de Helbig (1990), sendo as mais freqüentes ja1 (18% do total), also (11%) e eben (6%), que respondem juntas por 35% das ocorrências no corpus. As PMs foram também agrupadas de acordo com suas funções conversacionais. Propõe-se que as PMs atuam em 13 procedimentos específicos, aqui denominados ações conversacionais, níveis intermediários entre as funções comunicativas próprias de cada PM e as funções conversacionais propostas por Helbig (1990). Cinco funções conversacionais foram identificadas no corpus, a saber: indicadora atitudinal, indicadora ou modificadora de ilocução, articuladora conversacional, realizadora de estratégia interacional e conectora. Apenas a função definidora situacional não apresenta ocorrências, possivelmente porque a situação comunicativa já é fortemente definida. A função conversacional mais utilizada foi a articuladora conversacional (35,05%), seguindo-se a indicadora atitudinal (22,68%), a conectora (22,16%), a realizadora de estratégia interacional (12,89%) e a indicadora ou modificadora de ilocução (7,22%). Os resultados do estudo demonstram que as PMs podem ser utilizadas ativamente na organização e manutenção da conversação, não apenas para expressar a atitude do falante (como costuma ser indicado na literatura sobre o tema), mas também com fins argumentativos e para manter e direcionar a interação. / Discussion forums in the Internet present characteristics from spoken language, among those marks is a high frequency of modal particles (Modalpartikeln). Modal particles have several complex functions that only can be analyzed from a pragmatic or conversational point of view. In this dissertation, communicative and conversational functions of modal particles are analyzed in eight interactions in discussion forums about politics, economics and environment. The 26 modal particles present in the corpus and their communicative functions were identified, described and analyzed according to HELBIGs classification (1990), the most frequent being ja1 (18%), also (11%) e eben (6%), which together account for 35% from all events in the corpus. The modal particles were also classified according to their conversational functions. It is proposed that modal particles act in 13 specific procedures, named here conversational actions, intermediate levels between the characteristic communicative functions of each modal particles and the conversational functions proposed by Helbig (1990). Five conversational functions were identified in the corpus: attitude indicator; illocution indicator or modifier; discourse articulator, interactional strategist, discourse connector. Only the situational qualifier function was not present in the corpus, probably because the communicative situation is already clearly defined. The most frequent conversational function was the discourse articulator (35,05%), followed by the attitude indicator (22,68%), the discourse connector (22,16%), the interactional strategy marker (12,89%) and the illocution indicator or modifier (7,22%). The results show that modal particles play a important role organizing and maintaining the discourse, not only to express the speaker attitude (as commonly found in the literature), but also to reach argumentative aims and to maintain and to manage the interaction.