Using L2 interactional-pragmatic resources in CMC: A case of Japanese orthography and emoji

Increasingly prevalent use of technologies such as instant messaging and online chat has transformed our traditional ways of learning and teaching pragmatics. This study presents an example of such transformation by demonstrating how computer-mediated communication (CMC) may be employed as a tool to provide second language (L2) learners opportunities to use interactional resources specific to the context of CMC, namely unique orthography and emoji. For the study, we introduced four university-level learners of Japanese to a language exchange messaging application and recorded their online text-based chat interactions with native Japanese speakers over a period of 12 weeks. We followed up the chat data with weekly stimulated verbal recalls (SVR) to investigate L2 learners’ intentions and perceptions surrounding their own and others’ use of unique orthography and emoji (48 SVR sessions total; average 30 minutes per session). Coding and thematic analysis of the chat data revealed learners’ agentive use of orthography and emoji as resources for communication. In addition, the SVR data revealed a variety of personal and interpersonal reasons behind their use, including learners’ concerns over self-presentation, interpersonal relationships, identity, and discourse management. The findings not only demonstrate how CMC can afford learners a unique environment for experimenting with a range of context-appropriate interactional resources to convey pragmatic meaning, but also shed light on the various, sometimes competing, considerations and complex processes underlying learners’ pragmatic choices in CMC.

Effects of using mobile instant messaging on student behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement: a quasi-experimental study

Mobile instant messaging (MIM) has become the most popular means for young people to communicate. MIM apps typically come with a myriad of features that educators may leverage to increase student learning. However, it remains poorly understood to what extent and in what aspect MIM can facilitate student engagement. We address the gap by comparing the effects of using MIM and asynchronous online discussion (AOD) on student online engagement, using a quasi-experimental study involving a historical cohort control group. Understanding which communication mode can better promote student online engagement is particularly important during the current widespread use of online learning. Specifically, we examined engagement from the behavioral, emotional, and cognitive dimensions. The results showed that the MIM group was more behaviorally engaged in discussion activities, producing more messages, more words, and higher rates of participation, task completion, and interaction. Emotionally, no statistically significant difference was found in students’ affective evaluation of course interaction and satisfaction between the two groups. However, MIM appeared to help students with improved intimacy and interpersonal relationships. Cognitively, the MIM group was more engaged than the AOD group. In particular, MIM seemed to facilitate interactive idea exchange and thus contributing to more “creating” activities. We conclude by providing suggestions for future instructional practice and research directions.

Dual Co-Attention-Based Multi-Feature Fusion Method for Rumor Detection

Social media has become more popular these days due to widely used instant messaging. Nevertheless, rumor propagation on social media has become an increasingly important issue. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of various features in social media on rumor detection, propose a dual co-attention-based multi-feature fusion method for rumor detection, and explore the detection capability of the proposed method in early rumor detection tasks. The proposed BERT-based Dual Co-attention Neural Network (BDCoNN) method for rumor detection, which uses BERT for word embedding . It simultaneously integrates features from three sources: publishing user profiles, source tweets, and comments. In the BDCoNN method, user discrete features and identity descriptors in user profiles are extracted using a one-dimensional convolutional neural network (CNN) and TextCNN, respectively. The bidirectional gate recurrent unit network (BiGRU) with a hierarchical attention mechanism is used to learn the hidden layer representation of tweet sequence and comment sequence. A dual collaborative attention mechanism is used to explore the correlation among publishing user profiles, tweet content, and comments. Then the feature vector is fed into classifier to identify the implicit differences between rumor spreaders and non-rumor spreaders. In this study, we conducted several experiments on the Weibo and CED datasets collected from microblog. The results show that the proposed method achieves the state-of-the-art performance compared with baseline methods, which is 5.2% and 5% higher than the dEFEND. The F1 value is increased by 4.4% and 4%, respectively. In addition, this paper conducts research on early rumor detection tasks, which verifies the proposed method detects rumors more quickly and accurately than competitors.

Etika Profesi Konselor dalam Layanan Bimbingan Konseling Virtual

The purpose of this study was to describe the professional ethics of counselors in virtual counseling guidance services. The method used in this research is a literature study with a qualitative descriptive approach. The data sources come from document studies in the form of books and previous research from various references. Furthermore, the data analysis technique used is descriptive analysis. The results of this study indicate that online counseling takes the form of virtual counseling technology, namely, websites, telephone or cell phones, email, video conferencing, chat, instant messaging, computers, and other social networks. The ethical aspects that must be obeyed by online counselors are building good relationships on the Internet, confidentiality when conducting consultations, legal aspects of telecommunications via the Internet, and licensing. Therefore, online counselors need to be professional in conducting virtual counseling by considering ethics.

Feasibility of using a General Health Promotion Approach to Helping Smokers with Non- Communicable Diseases Quit Smoking: A Randomized Controlled Trial

This randomized controlled trial aimed to evaluate the efficacy and ascertain the feasibility of a general health promotion approach that uses instant messaging to deliver brief motivational interviewing to help smokers with non-communicable diseases quit smoking. A total of 60 participants who had medical follow-up in a special out-patient clinic were randomized into two groups, 30 in the intervention group received brief motivational interviewing to assist them with their chosen behavioral changes, and 30 in the control group received only a smoking cessation booklet. The primary outcome, by intention-to-treat, was biochemically validated abstinence at 12 months. The intervention group had a higher biochemically validated abstinence rate than the control group at 12 months (16.7% vs 6.7% P=.23) although the difference was not statistically significant (Adjusted OR 2.4, 95% CI 0.43–13.75; P=.32). In addition, the intervention group had a significantly higher self-reported reduction of at least 50% in daily cigarette consumption than the control group at 6 months (Adjusted OR 7.2, 95% CI 1.22–42.44; P=.03).This study demonstrated the potential efficacy and feasibility of a general health promotion approach that uses instant messaging to deliver brief motivational interviewing to help smokers with non-communicable diseases quit smoking.

Challenges in a mobile English telecollaborative project: Towards a conceptual model

This paper, drawing upon a mobile telecollaborative project, resonates with the rapid development of technology in language learning. We employed the instant messaging app WeChat to create an English telecollaborative environment for two groups of Chinese students to communicate within. Interview data were triangulated with students’ chat transcripts and comments from a teacher’s reflective journal. A mixed-methods approach, including quantitative descriptive analysis, thematic analysis and content analysis, was used to investigate the challenges and the linguistic performance by applying the community of inquiry framework to the students’ chats. The analysis illustrates some of the complexities and challenges of using online apps as a way of communicating in a second language: students expected more teacher support, they struggled to use the app due to their physical environments and they felt that they were not sufficiently well prepared for chatting in an English medium environment. Based on the findings, a conceptual model is proposed for consideration when encouraging students to engage in telecollaborative learning. Implications for practice or policy: Teachers should enhance their visibility in mobile telecollaborative projects by promoting participants’ contribution through different facilitation techniques. Teachers and educators can capitalise on the proposed conceptual model to guide their own design of such online learning experiences for their learners. Telecollaborative learning can be improved by taking into account various factors such as physical environment, the medium of communication and the potential incentives.

Instant Messaging and Other Mobile Technologies to Subvert Voice Dispossession Among Underrepresented Online Doctoral Students

Current research trends, insights, and recommendations for use of mobile technologies in the advent of 5G technologies continue as technologies are adopted and employed within online learning environments. This chapter considers the higher education literature specific to the synchronous communications available via ubiquitous mobile devices and the pedagogical implications these mobile technologies create in the context of online doctoral education. Mobile instant messaging, mobile learning, and other mobile applications are considered to foster engagement of both doctoral faculty and doctoral students. While these mobile technologies may foster engagement and disrupt voice dispossession among underrepresented doctoral students, the research into this specific demographic and the social-relational aspects of synchronous communications within mobile learning remains limited. Continued research into the use of synchronous communications for underrepresented online doctoral students to prevent attributional accommodation and nonuse is needed.

What drives millennials and zillennials continuously using instant messaging? Perspective from Indonesia

This study proposes to explore the relationship between perceived risk, subjective norm, perceived value, and continuous usage intention via trust as a mediating variable. This research applied a survey which involved 320 IM users (160 from millennials and 160 from Zillennial) in Indonesia. The literature’s existing scales were used to operationalize the constructs proposed in this study. The analyses were conducted using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to test hypotheses. The results of the study show that there are differences in the results of the influence of perceived risk on continuous usage intention in the Millennial and Zillennial generations. The results of the study found that continuous usage intention received negative direct impact from perceived risk, positive direct effect from subjective norm, perceived value, and trust on Millennial. In addition, continuous usage intention received negative and not significant direct impact from perceived risk, positive direct effect from subjective norm, perceived value, and trust on Zillennial. The results are useful for instant messaging management into formulating strategies to retain their users in Indonesia. These findings provided theoretical and managerial contributions as well as future research directions.

Development and psychometric testing of a new measure of the determinants that influence the adoption of WhatsApp in hospitals

Background Healthcare contexts are witnessing a growing use of applications to support clinical processes and to communicate between peers and with patients. An increasing number of hospital professionals use instant-messaging applications such as WhatsApp in their daily work. Previous research has mainly focused on the advantages and risks of WhatsApp usage in different clinical settings, but limited evidence is available about whether and how individual and organizational determinants can influence the use of WhatsApp in hospitals. Moreover, instruments to explore this phenomenon are lacking. A theoretical four-factor model based on the ‘Technology Acceptance Model’ and the Institutional Theory, guided the development of a new measure of the individual and institutional determinants of WhatsApp usage in hospitals. Aim To develop and psychometrically test the questionnaire ‘Digital Innovation Adoption in Hospitals’. Method A panel of researchers and clinical experts generated an initial pool of 35 items by identifying and adapting items from existing measures. These items were assessed for content and face validity by fourteen experts. The final 28-item ‘Digital Innovation Adoption in Hospitals’ questionnaire comprising four sections (Perceived risks, Perceived usefulness, Regulative factors and Normative factors) was administered online to nurses and physicians. Construct validity was tested through confirmatory factor analysis. Results The sample included 326 hospital nurses and physicians. The theoretical four-factors model was confirmed and the confirmatory factor analysis yielded acceptable fit indexes. The correlations between the factors were significant and ranged from -0.284 to 0.543 (p < .01). Reliability in terms of internal consistency was satisfactory with Cronbach’s alpha coefficient ranging from 0.918–0.973. Conclusion This study is the first to provide a validated tool to evaluate the use of WhatsApp in hospitals. The new instrument shows reasonable psychometric properties and is a promising and widely applicable measure of factors that influence the use of WhatsApp in hospitals.

COOPERATION BETWEEN PRESCHOOL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS AND FAMILIES IN THE PROCESS OF FORMING PRESCHOOL CHILDREN’S IDEAS ABOUT PROFESSIONS

The article reveals the peculiarities of forming preschool children’s ideas about professions in the process of interaction of educators of preschool education institutions with families. The modern scientists’ research analysis gives the chance to emphasize that a kindergarten teacher needs to constantly improve the level of the pedagogical skill and to carry out a creative search of methods and forms of families’ involvement in the educational process of preschool institutions.Peculiarities of realization of modern forms of interaction of preschool educational institutions teachers with families in the process of formation of ideas about professions are covered. Various methods and forms of pedagogical education and cooperation with parents are considered, namely traditional one, which are widely and long used in the practice of preschool educational institutions, and innovative, non-traditional one.It is determined that during the formation of ideas about the profession it is necessary to follow the stages in working with parents. At the first stage, parents acquire theoretical knowledge. At the second stage, the objectives are to form parents’ pedagogical skills and abilities, to provide actualization of a family’s pedagogical potential, to help parents in education, training, and development of the child by disclosure of the maintenance, forms, methods, means of training and education. At the third stage, the analysis of efficiency of the offered system of interaction of preschool educational institutions with a family is provided.The implementation of traditional and non-traditional forms of interaction, in particular modern ICT technologies, is characterized. There is networking technology (feedback technology); educators’ personal blogs about the organization of the community of users (members of the children’s family), dissemination of educational information for children through social networks (the Facebook, the Instagram); instant messaging (Viber, WhatsApp, Skype, ICQ, Telegram); sms-mailings for informing about a certain event (for example, about the planned event) of those parents who do not have access to e-mail; online meetings of the parent committee (family club, parent conference) in the format of a Zoom conference.The effectiveness of non-traditional forms of interaction is determined. They are the following: weekend excursions, excursions into the profession during which preschool children get acquainted with new professions.