applied linguistics and cmc

May 30, 2008

Negation in French chat: Learners vs. non-learners

van Compernolle, R. A., & Williams, L. (2006, September). "Variation of negative particle use in electronic French discourse: Educational and non-educational contexts." Paper presented at the 2006 conference of the Association for French Language Studies, September 3-5, 2006, Bristol, England.

This research investigates the variable deletion of ne in two corpora of French chat: one produced by non-learners in public, free-access chat environments and the other produced by 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year learners of French in an educational context. Selected internal linguistic and pragmatic factors constraining the variation are considered.

Available from:
http://docs.google.com/Present?docid=dd5gmkw2_38hbd8sdd4&skipauth=true

Learner use of French address pronouns

McCourt, C. A. (2008). "Learner use of French second-person pronouns in synchronous electronic communication." Unpublished M.A. Thesis, University of North Texas, Denton, TX.

This is the PowerPoint of the M.A. thesis defense for Claire McCourt. She investigates variation in the use of the French address pronouns tu and vous among learners of French engaged in synchronous interlearner chat discussions. The corpus-based, quantitative approach used in this research reveal some clear patterns of variation.

Instructional level (i.e., 1st, 2nd, or 3rd semester) does not have a significant main effect
Most address pronouns occurred in interrogative sentences
Instructional level and interrogative syntax are both significant factors in a VARBRUL analysis of variation within interrogative sentences

In concluding, the pedagogical implications of this research are discussed and future directions for research are presented.

Available from:
http://docs.google.com/Present?docid=dd5gmkw2_31fjfmk2fm&skipauth=true

May 29, 2008

Using chat for teaching language variation in French

van Compernolle, R. A. (2008, April). "Sociolinguistic norms and variation in French-language on-line chat communities and implications for foreign language pedagogy." Paper presented at the 2008 conference of the American Association for Applied Linguistics. March 29-April 2, 2008, Washington, D.C.

This presentation explores sociolinguistic variation in French-language online chat communities, focusing specifically on variation in the pronoun paradigm, verbal negation, and interrogation. Findings include:

an overwhelming preference for tu when compared to vous-singular
nearly categorical use of on as a substitute for nous
high rates of ne deletion in verbal negation
nearly categorical use of declarative syntax for yes/no interrogation

Following the results, the pedagogical implications of this research are explored. Sample tasks and task components situated within the New London Group's (1996) pedagogy of multiliteracies are provided, with the aim of sensitizing learners of French to language variation.

Available from:
http://docs.google.com/Present?docid=dd5gmkw2_13hqmhfrfg&skipauth=true

February 16, 2008

Research Interest Group

Beginning August 2008, we will have a new web address for a "normal" website. We will continue to post announcements and news here on the blog, but more detailed information will be available through the website. The new address will be posted here as soon as the site is available.

December 20, 2007

New book (edited volume) on CMC

A new collection of essays, edited by Jeannine Gerbault, has just been published by l'Harmattan. The volume puts together selected papers from the international colloquium La Communication Médiatisée par les Technologies de l'Information et de la Communication, which was held in May 2006 at the Université de Bordeaux III, and it includes papers concerning social interaction in CMC environments, applied linguistics studies, and sociolinguistic analyses of computer-mediated discourse. The reference is:

Gerbault, J. (Ed.). (2007). La langue du cyberespace: de la diversité aux normes. Paris: L'Harmattan.

It will also be distributed by Les Presses de l'Université Laval in North America. It is scheduled to appear in bookstores in early January 2008. Check it out if you get a chance.

Sociolinguistics and CMC

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Androutsopoulos, J. (2006). Multilinguism, diaspora, and the Internet: Codes and identities on German-based diaspora websites. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 10, 520-547.

Androutsopoulos, J. K. (2003). Online community and language variation. Sociolinguistic perspectives on language on the Internet. Zeitschrift für Germanistische Linguistik, 31, 173-197.

Buchanan, L. (2000). Performing gender online: Extending the search for male and female electronic message variants. Southern Journal of Linguistics, 24, 147-163.

Collot, M., & Belmore, N. (1996). Electronic language: A new variety of English? In S. C. Herring (Ed.), Computer-mediated communication: Linguistic, social and cross-cultural perspectives (pp. 13-28). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Crystal, D. (2001). Language and the Internet. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Herring, S. C., & Paolillo, J. C. (2006). Gender and genre variation in weblogs. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 10, 439-459.

Huffaker, D., & Calvert, S. (2005). Gender, identity, and langauge use in teenage blogs. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 10(2), [np].

Kelly-Holmes, H. (2006). Multilinguism and commercial language practices on the Internet. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 10, 507-519.

Lewis, D. (2005). Arguing in English and French asynchronous online discussion. Journal of Pragmatics, 37, 1,801-1,818.

Marcoccia, M. (2004). On-line polyglogues: Conversation structure and participation framework in internet newsgroups. Journal of Pragmatics, 36, 115-145.

Merchant, G. (2001). Teenagers in cyberspace: An investigation of language use and language change in internet chatrooms. Journal of Research in Reading, 24, 293-306.

Nishimura, Y. (2003). Linguistic innovations and interactional features of casual online communication in Japanese. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 9(1), [np].

Paolillo, J. C. (1999). The virtual speech community: Social network and language variation on IRC. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 4(4), [np].

Paolillo, J. C. (2001). Language variation on Internet Relay Chat: A social network approach. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 5, 180-213.

Pierozak, I. (2003). "Le français tchaté": Un objet à géométrie variable? Langage & Société, 104, 123-144.

Siebenhaar, B. (2006). Code choice and code-switching in Swiss-German Internet Relay Chat rooms. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 10, 481-506.

van Compernolle, R. A. (2007). From "y as plus personne qui parle" to "plus personne ne dit rien": The variable use of the negative particle ne in synchronous French chat.. M.A. thesis, University of North Texas.

van Compernolle, R. A., & Williams, L. (2007). De l'oral à l'électronique: La variation orthographique comme ressource sociostylistique et pragmatique dans le français électronique. Glottopol, 10, 56-69.

Williams, L., & van Compernolle, R. A. (2007). Second-person pronoun use in French-language chat environments. The French Review, 80, 804-820.

Acquisition, development, and use of sociolinguistic features of discourse in CMC environments

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Belz, J., & Kinginger, C. (2002). The cross-linguistic development of address form use in telecollaborative language learning: Two case studies. Canadian Modern Language Review, 59, 189-214.

Kinginger, C. (2000). Learning the pragmatics of solidarity in the networked foreign language classroom. In J. K. Hall & L. S. Verplaetse (Eds.), Second and foreign language learning through classroom interaction (pp. 23-46). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Kinginger, C., & Belz, J. (2005). Sociocultural perspectives on pragmatic development in foreign language learning: Microgenetic and ontogenetic case studies from telecollaboration and study abroad. Intercultural pragmatics, 2, 369-421.