In the Footsteps of Graphicons: Tracing Parameters and Pragmatic Strategies in Graphicon Usage

Abstract The textual intercourse in computer-mediated communication is intertwined with graphicons of various forms, gaining new meanings and functions. They are part of the online culture and, specifically, part of the communicative skills in digital environment. In many cases, graphicons are used not as signs of emotion but rather as indication of the illocutionary force of the textual utterances that they accompany. The current work endeavours to reveal the specific aspect of language use where iconoid objects “take over” and substitute textual utterances. The paper also attempts to trace to what extent pragmatics could be applicable in the analysis of the visual representations (i.e. graphicons) embodied in computer-mediated communication as means of communicative acts. The different graphicon forms and the dynamics in the usage carry additional challenge for the interpretation of the “visual” act. However, it is possible to systematically trace a pattern in the occurrence of the graphicons – their use as a complementary to a written statement, and their use as a single communicative act.

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Theoretical perspectives and new practices in audio-graphic conferencing for language learning

ReCALL ◽

10.1017/s0958344003000314 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 21-36 ◽

Cited By ~ 44

Author(s):

REGINE HAMPEL

Keyword(s):

Second Language Acquisition ◽

Language Learning ◽

Computer Mediated Communication ◽

Open University ◽

Mediated Communication ◽

Communicative Skills ◽

Learning And Teaching ◽

Theoretical Perspectives ◽

Computer Mediated ◽

Conferencing System

This article will start with the situation at the Open University, where languages are taught at a distance. Online tuition using an audio-graphic Internet-based conferencing system called Lyceum is one of the ways used to develop students’ communicative skills.Following Garrett’s call for an integration of research and practice at EUROCALL 1997 (Garrett, 1998) – a call which is still valid today – the present article proposes a conceptual framework which can support the use of conferencing systems such as Lyceum in language learning and teaching. In the first part of the article, I examine several pedagogical theories supporting language learning, that is, second language acquisition and sociocultural theories, and multimodality, and apply them to the practice of audio-graphic computer-mediated communication (CMC) as used at the Open University. I also build on previous research, which, however, is still dominated by written CMC. What Erben stated in 1999 is still true: that audio-graphic technology “remains under-researched and under-theorised.” (Erben, 1999:230). Firstly, I therefore examine studies on written CMC and secondly those that have been conducted on audio-graphic CMC in order to identify the benefits and challenges of these media.Both the pedagogical theory and previous studies of CMC have informed the design and implementation of online tuition at the Open University. Thus the second part of the article reports on a research project on Lyceum, which took place in 2002. The goal of the project was to evaluate the use of audio-graphic conferencing in practice, and this in turn has instigated both improvements in the software used and in student support as well as further changes to the task design. I present some findings and discuss both the challenges of audio-graphic conferencing that were encountered and the benefits that were identified.

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Storytelling and audience reactions in social media

Language in Society ◽

10.1017/s0047404516000051 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 45 (4) ◽

pp. 473-498 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Anna De Fina

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Computer Mediated Communication ◽

Specific Aspect ◽

Audience Participation ◽

Human Communication ◽

Mediated Communication ◽

Narrative Story ◽

Computer Mediated ◽

The Media ◽

Participation Frameworks

AbstractStorytelling is among the most common forms of discourse in human communication. The increasing influence of technology in our life is having a significant impact on the types of narrative that are told and on the way they are produced and received. In order to understand such impact we need to approach the discursive study of narrative from a perspective that privileges participant practices rather than texts. This is the approach taken in the present article, which analyzes a specific aspect of storytelling practice: audience participation within a blog open to comments. Using the notions of participation frameworks and frames as starting points, the analysis examines the frame focus of comments, the interactional dynamics established by participants among themselves, the tone of messages, and the media used in messages. Among the most important findings is a significant enhancement of reflexivity in comments as participants engage with the storytelling world much more than with the taleworld. (Narrative, story, storytelling, social media, participation frameworks, computer-mediated communication)*

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Face to Facebook: Social media and the learning and teaching potential of symmetrical, sychronous communication

Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice ◽

10.53761/1.10.1.6 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 68-82

Author(s):

George VanDoorn ◽

◽

Antoinette A. Eklund ◽

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Social Networking ◽

Computer Mediated Communication ◽

Specific Aspect ◽

Social Networking Site ◽

Mediated Communication ◽

Learning And Teaching ◽

Face To Face ◽

Computer Mediated ◽

Student Reactions

Social networking offers teachers and learners exciting opportunities to communicate. Web 2.0 and its synchronous communications platforms provide new avenues for teachers to deliver curriculum and facilitate learning. Further, they provide new avenues for students to engage and intensify their own learning. Being able to chat in real-time with a teacher, usually via face-to-face discussions, is something that many students studying in on-campus (or day) mode take for granted, and is something that distance or off-campus students are generally unable to experience. In the evolving, flexible-learning tertiary environment, viable and effective computer mediated communication (CMC) alternatives to face-to-face teaching need to be explored. These alternatives will only work if they prove useful to students. This article considers student reactions to social media as a teaching tool, probing its benefits and limitations. Over the course of a semester, third year on- and off-campus students communicated with an academic, outside lecture times, via the social networking site facebook®. Students were allowed to ask any questions they had that related to the unit. At the end of the semester students were provided with a 10-item questionnaire asking them to evaluate their experience. This study looked at a specific aspect of social networking — synchronous text-based chat — and the students’ perceptions of its usefulness for their learning.

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