Insights from Mobile Phone Voice Communication

Abstract

Mobile phone communication as an instance of computer-mediated communication (CMC) has not received as much attention as email and others. Indeed, it may be argued that it is not a typical instance of CMC as some people do not consider the mobile phone a computer and also because there is hardly any Internet Protocol (IP) address involved in sending SMS, one might claim. However, as has been mentioned by writers like Prensky (2004) the mobile phone has reached such sophistication that it is indeed more powerful than some computers in terms of processing power, and indeed internet facilities are easily incorporated into mobile phones. While many have studied email and its effects on writing and the school curriculum, among other issues (e.g. Abdullah 1998, 2003, Akers-Jordan 2002, Baron 2001, Crystal 2001, Healey 2007, etc), little has been done on the mobile phone until now (but see Bodomo 2003, 2007, Bodomo and Lee 2002, Thurlow 2003 and Prensky 2004). This chapter and the next focus particularly on the use of mobile phones through case studies based on reports of completed research projects. There are, at least, two aspects of mobile phone communication, voice mobile phone communication and text messaging. Chapter 6 focuses mainly on voice mobile phone communication aspects while chapter 7 dwells on mobile phone texting, especially its grammatical aspects.