A Multiscalar Coordination of Languaging

Abstract

Abstract This study adds to a new area of research that seeks to harmonize language pedagogies in classrooms and language learning in virtual environments. Harmonious languaging uses co-actional and symmetrical structural dynamics to compare three environments in a Chinese school: a baseline traditional classroom using textbooks, the virtual space of Quest Atlantis Quest Atlantis has recently changed its name to Atlantis Remixed (http://atlantisremixed.org) , and a comparable class using print-based handouts. Each has a different design and thus features, and we show that these affect languaging. We found languaging styles that were contingent upon a) the teacher (e.g. answering questions, correcting, inquiring, repeating, and writing in the form of note-taking), b) Quest Atlantis virtual material artifacts (e.g. individuating multiscalar coordination between reading and writing), and c) the teacher and the handout (e.g. answering questions, self-expressing, and reflection). These styles are important for pedagogy. In our view, the field neglects the harmonious languaging style that arises around virtual worlds. There is lack of engagement with language-as-part-of-nonlinguistic-action. From the distributed view, we show an example of how foreign language learning is facilitated in an experiential domain where verbal patterns are evaluated immediately in the coordination of reading and writing, for which avatar actions, link-clicking, and using dictionaries become other-oriented modes of ambient action.