CMC- Noor Hidayah Yusuf

A SUMMARY OF A RESEARCH ARTICLE ON THE USE OF SYNCHRONOUS CMC IN LANGUAGE LEARNING.

INTRODUCTION

Title: Conversational Elements of Online Chatting: Speaking Practice for Distance Language Learning
Journal: Apprentissage des Langues et Systemes d’Information et de Communication
alsic.org ou alsic.u-starsbg.fr
Vol 6, Number 2, December 2003 (pp 83-99)
Purpose/Objective:
· To consider elements of oral interaction which are common to both face to face oral interactions and chatting via computer
Significance:
· If the research demonstrated, this should allow language teachers to consider the inclusion of chat-based task in language programs, as a bridge to oral interaction, both in internal and particularly external (distance) programs.

METHODOLOGY

Research question: Whether chat line discourse of intermediate learners of Italian is similar enough to support the development of speaking skills and inter-language of distance language learners.

Population: 29 students (They were divided into two groups)

Duration of study: Task 1- 30 minutes (Group 1) & Task 2- 30 minutes (Group 2)

Methods:
· Task 1 : 10 students were asked to answer two questions:
1. If you had the opportunity, which of the novels you read this semester would you keep and which would you discard?
2. If you were in charge, what would you do with the culture and society side of the course?
They have to answer the questions via the chat room so that their opinions could later be documented and the normally quiet students will have a chance to speak up.
· Task 2 : 19 students were asked to describe their childhood and compare their childhood with that of their parents. They were also asked to organize an appointment with other students for the online chatting session.

Data Analysis:
The researcher then collected the data and also the end result of what the participants have responded via the online chatting web. The information is classified into different categories which are:
a) Quantity of language produced
b) Variety of speech acts
c) Discourse markers

FINDINGS
a) Quantity of language produced.
Task 1 : 263 turns (10 students were involved)
Task 2 : 550 turns (17 students were actively chatting)
RoomNumber Number of students Number of turns
Room 1 4 students actively chatting 154
Room 2 6 students actively chatting 221
Room 3 4 students actively chatting 135
Room 4 3 students actively chatting 40

· According to the data by Tudini, Room 4 contains the longest and the most complex turns because two of the most advanced students were present in this group, therefore, there was an indication that they used more sophisticated form of language as compared to others.

b) Variety of speech acts

· The chat line discussion was without doubt very interactive and conversational in style. The chat sessions contained numerous speech acts, though unspoken, including exclamation marks, greetings, and others.

Task 1 : out of 263 turns, 41 questions were asked.
Task 2 : out of 550 turns, 153 questions were asked.

c) Discourse markers

· Discourse markers such as what do you think?, do you agree?, at the end of the questions were present to elicit response and excuse me, is used as to draw attention to a statement.

Task 1 : out of 263 turns, 86 discourse markers were present.
Task 2 : out of 550 turns, 156 discourse markers were present.