Blog 8
To promote language use, a great deal of attention is placed, by teachers and language learning researchers, on ways to foster in and out of classroom writing and speaking. But do certain exercise formats elicit particular types of speech? This was the focus of Colletine’s (June 2009) study of intermediate and advanced students studying Spanish. Task-based synchronous computer-mediated communication (TB-SCMC) was the format Colletine studied and reported on in Learner use of holistic language units in multimodal task-based synchronous computer mediated communication.
Task based language techniques revolve around students performing a task that requires language use such as, solving a problem or working on a project with a partner. Synchronous Computer-Mediated Communication refers to networked computer systems that allow for simultaneous input by users that results in their interaction. In this study, two TB-SCMC tasks were implemented using a multi-modal Flash technology (these application are shown on the following website: http://london-underground.modlang.nau.edu/collenti/actividades/tareas.html p.73).
During and after the exercises students “discussed what they had discovered in a local area network via iChat, a synchronous conference application” (p.73). In both exercises the students worked with their online partner to solve a mystery. The first task was solving a murder mystery. The students found out information about the case by clicking on three of five provided questions regarding each character in the mystery story. The program responded by providing written answers to the selected queries. At three specified intervals, the program directed the students to a written chat session with their partner to discuss the clues. These chat sessions were limited to 7 minutes each.
The second task entailed finding lost keys. However, this time, the students found out all the case information first before they worked with their partner. The total time allotted for partner work was equivalent to the first task’s, but it was in one chat session not three. The different tasks were correlated with different types of participant responses.
Colletine studied students’ holistic responses to each task. A holistic approach focuses on examining the “discourse, pragmatic and social roles of language as a means of understanding learners’ macro-communicative behaviors” rather than on “the role of words/phrases with respect to their immediately surrounding words and phrases (i.e., the parts)” (p.71). Using a holistic paradigm, Colletine classified the students’ responses within “larger language unit categories” such as humor, greetings and leave takings, and assertive discourse (p. 81).
The findings varied based on the type of exercise and the proficiency level of the students. Advanced students were much more likely to use humor in their speech. Intermediate students relied heavily on assertive discourse, statements that provide “information in a declarative fashion”, for example, “he didn’t have a weapon” (p. 81). The number of assertive statements significantly rose during the first task that was interspersed with several short chat sessions providing speculation that the time constrained sessions resulted in more assertive discourse. Additionally, the number of greeting and leave taking statements were higher for the task with the interrupted chat sessions. Less humor was used in the first task perhaps because the subject matter was murder and/or because the divided chat sessions were not as relaxed and conducive to humor.
It appears from this study that different tasks can promote different types of language use. This has very interesting implications for language teaching. It means that teachers can use online and in class tasks to promote different categories of communication. Teachers can then use task based applications to refine or develop particular categories. More study regarding students’ holistic responses to different tasks and task formats as well as responses of students with different proficiencies could be very illuminating.
Colletine, K. (June 2009). Learner use of holistic language units in multimodal task-based synchronous computer mediated communication. Language Learning & Technology, (13) 2. p. 68-87. Retrieved from http://llt.msu.edu/vol13num2/collentine.pdf
I enjoyed visiting the language exercise (although I do not speak Spanish) and saw parallels here with the teaching of first-year composition, which involves students learning different sets of vocabulary for different contexts, and also involves learning that other foreign language, the language of the academy.