Computer Mediated Communication and Language Teaching

Computer Mediated Communication and Language Teaching
by Baski Márta

Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) is any form of communication that happens through the use of electronic communication devices. For example, it can occur via instant messaging or e-mailing, or text messaging. This form of communication does not need the participants to be in physical contact, so obviously CMC is the form of communication that is inevitable for distance learning. Distance learning has some self-evident advantages since it lets the learners access information even when they are not in the same place at the same time. However, can CMC serve as an effective tool in second language teaching and learning?

The first question that needs to be answered is why anyone would choose distance learning over traditional education. Distance learning can be suitable for several different kinds of students, their most important mutual trait being the feeling of distance or being excluded from the traditional educational system. First of all, this distance can be geographical. Students living in a rural place where they have no choice of going to a centralized school might find distance learning more affordable than moving to a larger city with regular schooling options. Secondly, the parents may want their children to have an education with a different curriculum than what traditional schools offer. They might want a more religiously based curriculum, or a kind of education that offers a perspective of their nation’s history from different social or ethnic minority’s points of view. Moreover, distance learning could be the perfect choice for imprisoned people (Ohler, 1991). In fact, there are countless reasons to make distance learning indispensable in our education system.

Since it is clear that distance learning can be more comfortable for many students, it is time to consider how technology can be used efficiently in second language acquisition. CMC provides numerous interactions that are not available for in-class learners. Goertler (2009) gives some sample activities he used in a class of German as a second language learners, such as using a Course Management System. A Course Management System is a site where the students can share documents, create a profile for themselves and keep up to date with their tasks. They also created chatrooms, where the learners could send instant short messages to each other. This way, the online classmates could have a conversation occurring at the same time. In these classrooms, the users could not only send texts but voice or video messages as well. The next activity he described was discussion forums. Most students have used forums like this on social networking sites, so they were familiar with the rules of this kind of communication. These forums are usually used for induced discourse; they provide more space to write, therefore these are perfectly suitable for discussing controversial topics. These debates are most suitable for advanced language learners.

E-mails – with less success, since it is a more outdated kind of communication form - blogs and wikis can also be used for second language learning. Moreover, students do not directly use social networking sites in the classrooms, but social networking sites can be crucial in discussing class-related questions with their peers. The group function of Facebook is also frequently used to stay in touch and to interact with classmates. There are also some virtual reality sites, most importantly Second Life, that can be very useful for distance learning. Second Life, being a 3D virtual reality site, can serve as a kind of classroom in online teaching. Virtual worlds can simulate the target culture and target culture exchanges, although Second Life and any other already existing virtual reality sites on the internet may not be the most effective place for this, since it is hard to prevent students from accidentally going to the adult content areas. For Spanish learners a more successful virtual reality worlds has been created by the Croquelandia project. The University of Minnesota developed this project to make Spanish pragmatics more easily learnt for students. In this controlled environment, the users entering the site can meet numerous pre-programmed non-player characters, and they can communicate in Spanish with them (Goertler, 2003, p. 80).

In all of these activites, the teachers have a crucially important duty in setting up and moderating these CMC tools in the learning process, so the teacher is not replaced by technology. According to Goertler (2009), students engage in these kinds of activites, use the target language and seem to be more open and creative than in traditional face-to-face classes.

Synchronous CMC can be used for improving speaking or conversational skills using video or audio messages, but this way may not be the most beneficial, because the interaction can only be anywhere not any time. The students have to be simultaneously online to communicate via video messages. In addition, if students are from a greater variety of places, the synchronous interaction can be inconvenient due to time differences.

 One of the biggest challenges second language learners have to face is the fear of making mistakes while using the foreign language. This anxiety can lead to the teacher and the most confident learners dominating the discussions in the classroom, making it harder for shy and anxious students to improve (Ozdener & Satar, 2008). In the text based chat rooms, the participation of the shyer students will increase. Computer Mediated Communication can be more suitable for quieter students, who may be otherwise concerned about making mistakes in front of their friends. In text-based discussions, students are also more likely to rely on the target language.

As Ozdener and Satar (2008) pointed out, a study of the use of CMC for second language teaching in a vocational high school in 2005 was conducted. 60 English as a second language learners participated in this study where their use of the target language in communication was researched. The study showed that 91% of the communication happened in the target language. The researchers also asked how the students felt about the exercises: 85% of the learners said that the chatroom activites were refreshing because of their novelty and 80% claimed that the chat sessions made them more interested in the English language in general. Only 10% thought that the use of computers made the exercises harder to complete for them. Around half of the students felt less nervous during these exercises.

In conclusion, distance language learning could be an effective alternative to traditional face-to-face in class learning. There is no doubt, that online language learning activities cannot fully replace classroom tasks. However, it can provide great benefits for students with high foreign language anxiety levels. CMC technologies can also create new opportunities and new types of exercises, when the students do not get enough time for communication exercises in the classroom.

References

Goertler, Senta. (2009). Using Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) in Language Teaching. Die Unterrichtspraxis / Teaching German, 42(1), 74-84.

Ohler, J. (1991, March). Why distance Education? Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 514, 22-34.

Ozdener, N., & Satar, M. (2008). Computer Mediated Communication in Foreign Language Education: Target Language and Learner Perceptions. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 9(2).