Theory Question from a Neophyte

[James Simpson]

Hi Mark (and all on list)

The work of Susan Herring and her associates is relevant to your area.
Try the quite old but still good

Herring, S. (ed.) (1996) Computer mediated communication: Linguistic,
social and cross-cultural perspectives. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
And papers in that collection:
Collot, M. and N. Belmore (1996) 'Electronic Language: A New Variety of
English.' In S. Herring, (ed.). (a re-working of Biber for CMC)
Condon, S. L. and Cech, C. G. (1996) 'Functional Comparisons of
Face-to-Face and Computer-Mediated Decision Making Interactions.' In S.
Herring (ed.).
Yates, S. J. (1996) 'Oral and Written Linguistic Aspects of Computer
Conferencing.' In S. Herring, (ed.).

There is talk of a new similar volume in the pipeline.

Try also the Journal of Computer-meidated communication as well.
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/

Topic in discourse is one taken up by some theorists. Reichman talks
about topic and context space:

Reichman, R. (1985) Getting computers to talk like you and me.
Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. 

Cherny's discourse-oriented ethnography of a virtual community deals
with topic development and conversational floor in text-based
synchronous CMC: The conversational floor (Edelsky, Shultz et al., etc)
is seen as a more appropriate organising principal for describing
computer-mediated discourse than, for example, turn-taking. 
Cherny, L. (1999) Conversation and community: Chat in a virtual world.
Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications.

Herring also mentions topic drift and topic decay in synchronous
text-based cmc:

Herring, S. (1999) 'Interactional Coherence in CMC.' Journal of
Computer-Mediated Communication 4/4.
http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/vol4/issue 4/herring.html


As far as comparing speech with CMC in terms of effectiveness for
learning, see the following re: language learning:

Kern, R. (1995b) 'Restructuring Classroom Interaction with Networked
Computers: Effects on Quantity and Characteristics of Language
Production.' The Modern Language Journal 79/iv, 457-476.
(this is rewritten for a chapter in the excellent:
Kern, R. (2000) Literacy and language teaching. Oxford: Oxford
University Press. )

Warschauer, M. (1996) 'Comparing face-to-face and electronic discussion
in the second language classroom.' CALICO Journal 13/2, 7-26.
http://www.gse.uci.edu/markw/comparing.html


Unsurprisingly, straight comparisons between f2f and computer-mediated
discourse are found to be difficult to make. 

Some other CMC and language learning refs which might be of use:

Kelm, O. (1992) 'The Use of Synchronous Computer Networks in Second
Language Instruction: A Preliminary Report.' Foreign Language Annals
25/5, 441-454.
Kitade, K. (2000) 'L2 Learners' Discourse and SLA Theories in CMC:
Collaborative Interaction in Internet Chat.' Computer Assisted Language
Learning 13/2, 143-166.
Murray, D. E. (2000) 'Protean Communication: The Language of
Computer-Mediated Communication.' TESOL Quarterly 34/3, 397-421.
Sullivan, N. and E. Pratt (1996) 'A Comparative Study of Two ESL Writing
Environments: A Computer-Assisted Classroom and a Traditional Oral
Classroom.' System 29/4, 491-501.

And Danet is very good as well: 
Danet, B. (2001) Cyberplay: Communicating online. Oxford: Berg.

Also, and without trying to blow my own trumpet, my PhD thesis deals
with the question of effectiveness of CMC for language learning in some
detail: see a .pdf copy at

http://www.education.leeds.ac.uk/research/james_simpson.htm

I've also written a paper on conversational floors in CMC coming out in
Discourse Studies, late 2005.

Cheers
James

Dr James Simpson
Research Fellow
School of Education
University of Leeds
Leeds LS2 9JT
Tel: +44 (0)113 3434687
j.e.b.simpson at education.leeds.ac.uk
http://www.education.leeds.ac.uk/research/james_simpson.htm


-----Original Message-----
From: TheDiscourseStudiesList
[mailto:DISCOURS at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of Mark Revels
Sent: 01 October 2004 01:44
To: DISCOURS at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
Subject: [DISCOURS] Theory Question from a Neophyte

Hello Linguists!

I am a doctoral student studying the use of computer mediated
communication in higher education. I am looking for an extant theory
that rates the use of verbal communication in comparison to other
forms. For example, has verbal communication been shown to be the most
effective, efficient, etc.?

Also, I would be interested in knowing about linguistic/communication
theories that compare verbal communications to other forms,
specifically in the context of learning.

Any help in this area would be much appreciated!

Mark