A corpus‐based analysis of online synchronous and asynchronous modes of communication within language teacher education

Current technologies are affording more varied types of communication and collaboration than has ever before been possible, and many disciplines are beginning to exploit these technologies, with language teacher education (LTE) being one such discipline. Several researchers have explored synchronous and asynchronous online communication and their uses and benefits within different pedagogical contexts. Adding to this field of work, this paper provides a corpus‐based analysis of virtual synchronous and asynchronous student teacher and peer mentor interactions, highlighting the pertinent issues of interactivity and reflection. Variation and similarities between both modes are considered and compared against larger spoken and written corpora to investigate if either mode appears more akin to the spoken or written media. The paper closes with a discussion of the pedagogical implications of such research findings for the teacher education arena.

[1]  Fiona Farr,et al.  The Limerick Corpus of Irish English: design, description, and application , 2019, TEANGA, the Journal of the Irish Association for Applied Linguistics.

[2]  Douglas Biber,et al.  Towards a taxonomy of web registers and text types: a multi-dimensional analysis , 2007 .

[3]  Gary G. Bitter,et al.  Using multimedia to teach inservice teachers: Impacts on learning, application, and retention , 2008, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[4]  Tony McEnery,et al.  A useful methodological synergy? Combining critical discourse analysis and corpus linguistics to examine discourses of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK press , 2008 .

[5]  Mike Scott.  Wordsmith Tools version 3 , 1997 .

[6]  Nike Arnold,et al.  Future Foreign Language Teachers' Social and Cognitive Collaboration in an Online Environment , 2006 .

[7]  M. Stubbs.  Text and corpus analysis , 1996 .

[8]  Vincent Ooi.  Aspects of computer-mediated communication for research in corpus linguistics , 2002 .

[9]  Stefan Th. Gries,et al.  What is Corpus Linguistics? , 2009, Lang. Linguistics Compass.

[10]  Michael Fitze,et al.  DISCOURSE AND PARTICIPATION IN ESL FACE-TO-FACE AND WRITTEN ELECTRONIC CONFERENCES , 2006 .

[11]  G. Kessler,et al.  2. Assessing CALL teacher training: What are we doing and what could we do better? , 2006 .

[12]  Frank H. P. Fitzek,et al.  The Medium is the Message , 2006, 2006 IEEE International Conference on Communications.

[13]  Caroline Haythornthwaite,et al.  Community Development Among Distance Learners: Temporal and Technological Dimensions , 2006, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[14]  Yu-Chu Yeh,et al.  The interactive effects of personal traits and guided practices on preservice teachers' changes in personal teaching efficacy , 2006, Br. J. Educ. Technol..

[15]  Michael Stubbs,et al.  Words and Phrases: Corpus Studies of Lexical Semantics , 2001 .

[16]  Susan Conrad,et al.  Corpus Linguistics: Investigating Language Structure and Use , 1998 .

[17]  Eniko Csomay,et al.  11. Variation in academic lectures: Interactivity and level of instruction , 2002 .

[18]  D. Schoen,et al.  The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action , 1985 .

[19]  Tom Morton,et al.  Personal practical knowledge and identity in lesson planning conferences on a pre-service TESOL course , 2010 .

[20]  Paul Baker,et al.  Using Corpora in Discourse Analysis , 2006 .

[21]  Rafi Nachmias,et al.  Web-Supported Emergent-Collaboration In Higher Education Courses , 2000, J. Educ. Technol. Soc..

[22]  E. Wenger.  Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity , 1998 .

[23]  J. Preece,et al.  Online communities: focusing on sociability and usability , 2002 .

[24]  Susana M. Sotillo.  Discourse Functions and Syntactic Complexity in Synchronous and Asynchronous Communication , 2000 .

[25]  Mark Priestley,et al.  Student teachers' first reflections on information and communications technology and classroom learning: implications for initial teacher education , 2005, J. Comput. Assist. Learn..

[26]  Amparo García-Carbonell,et al.  Discussion Forum Interactions: Text and Context. , 2007 .

[27]  Etienne Wenger,et al.  Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity , 1998 .

[28]  T. Anderson,et al.  Online Social Interchange, Discord, and Knowledge Construction , 1998 .

[29]  Fiona Farr.  Spoken language analysis as an aid to reflective practice in language teacher education: using a specialised corpus to establish a generic fingerprint , 2007 .

[30]  Molly E. Romano,et al.  Online discussion as a potential professional development tool for first‐year teachers , 2008 .

[31]  Susan C. Herring,et al.  A Faceted Classification Scheme for Computer-Mediated Discourse , 2007 .

[32]  Randi Reppen,et al.  From Corpus to classroom: Language use and language teaching , 2008 .

[33]  Maria Corazon Castro.  Let’s Chat: An Analysis of some Discourse Features of Synchronous Chat , 2007 .

[34]  J. Weibler,et al.  Discourse , 1985, Language in Society.

[35]  Liam Murray.  CALL and Web training with teacher self-empowerment: a departmental and long-term approach , 1998, Comput. Educ..

[36]  Catherine Doherty,et al.  Masterclass Pedagogy for Multimedia Applications in Teacher Education , 2007 .

[37]  Volker Hegelheimer,et al.  7. When the technology course is required , 2006 .

[38]  D. Jean Clandinin,et al.  Creating learning spaces for teachers and teacher educators , 2008 .

[39]  M. Grant,et al.  Communities of practice. , 2020, Health progress.

[40]  D. Murray.  Protean Communication: The Language of Computer-Mediated Communication , 2000 .

[41]  Maggie McPherson,et al.  The failure of a virtual social space (VSS) designed to create a learning community: lessons learned , 2004, Br. J. Educ. Technol..

[42]  John G. Partridge.  ‘Matching Language and IT skills: the life-cycle of an MA Programme’ , 2006 .

[43]  R. J. Bogumil,et al.  The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action , 1985, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[44]  Etienne Wenger,et al.  Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation , 1991 .

[45]  Susana M. Sotillo,et al.  Using Corpus Linguistics to Investigate Class, Ideology, and Discursive Practices in Online Political Discussions , 2004 .

[46]  Judith C. Lapadat,et al.  Written Interaction: A Key Component in Online Learning , 2006, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[47]  Michael McCarthy.  The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages: Discourse , 2001 .

[48]  Lia D. Kamhi-Stein,et al.  Looking to the Future of TESOL Teacher Education: Web-Based Bulletin Board Discussions in a Methods Course , 2000 .