Emotions and vocal tones in cyberspace: A new literacies perspective

Abstract

Traditionally, the term literacy has referred to the ability to read and write. However, due to a vast array of social, cultural, historical, technological, and economic factors, literacy has continued to evoke during the last century. Based on Leu and Kinzer's (2003) framework of new literacies on the Internet, the present study intended to explore young L2 learners' ability to overcome the communicative skills not compatible with electronic texts, including facial expressions, vocal tones, and body gestures. Nine Korean children engaged in online chatting for ten times using Blackboard. While examining the entire written chat transcripts from the chat room, the children were shown to incorporate various nonverbal cues such as 1) emoticons, 2) capital letters, 3) special characters, 4) repetition of letters, and 5) interjection to compensate for the constraints of chatting. These children were able to rapidly develop new communication techniques during the span of ten chat sessions and appeared to have been adept at the new literacies required to enter into the new millennium of the Internet.