Inside on-line : interaction and community in graduate students’ use of computer-mediated communication

A qualitative investigation into language education students' use of computer-mediated
communication, this study reveals how the diversity, support and resources constructed
through students on-line dialogue served to scaffold students' language and content
learning. The study focuses on student interaction on an asynchronous bulletin board
used as an adjunct to a graduate seminar. The radicals of persistent conversation
(Bregman & Haythornthwaite, 2001) interacted with elements of the seminar design to
facilitate non-native speakers' entry into the dialogue, while simultaneously affording all
students with opportunities for exercising agency in their own learning. Relationships
between native and nonnative speakers of English were altered by nonnative speakers'
ability to communicate their competence, and participants developed a strong identity as a
community. Diversity and community evolved as valuable contributors to individual
learning.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/12193
Date05 1900
CreatorsPotts, Diane
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
RelationUBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/]

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