Asynchronous Computer-mediated Communication Research Articles

Relational Communication in Computer-Mediated Interaction Revisited: A Comparison of Participant–Observer Perspectives

Studies of online environments estimate that the majority of members in online forums do not contribute to ongoing discussions and only observe or “lurk” (e.g., Nonnecke & Preece, 2000). Despite the prevalence of this form of information acquisition, direct comparisons between the experiences of these “observers” (or “lurkers”) and active participants are lacking. The present research draws on previous research examining perceptual differences between participants and observers as well as social information processing theory (Walther, 1992) and reports on three studies examining such differences in computer-mediated communication (CMC). Study 1 examined the effects in the context of interpersonal interaction in synchronous CMC. Study 2 examined the effects in the context of group interaction in both synchronous and asynchronous CMC. Study 3 replicated and extended the results of the previous studies across two time periods. The overall results (a) support the presence of participant–observer differences in CMC, (b) show that the presence of anticipated future interaction moderates said differences, and (c) provide mixed evidence that participant and observer interpretations of relational messages converge over time.

Reducing foreign language communication apprehension with computer-mediated communication: A preliminary study

Many studies (e.g., [Beauvois, M.H., 1998. E-talk: Computer-assisted classroom discussion – attitudes and motivation. In: Swaffar, J., Romano, S., Markley, P., Arens, K. (Eds.), Language learning online: Theory and practice in the ESL and L2 computer classroom. Labyrinth Publications, Austin, TX, pp. 99–120; Bump, J., 1990. Radical changes in class discussion using networked computers. Computers and the Humanities 24, 49–65; Kern, R.G., 1995. Restructuring classroom interaction with networked computers: Effects on quantity and characteristics of language production. Modern Language Journal 79 (4), 457–476; Lee, L., 2002. Enhancing learners’ communication skills through synchronous electronic interaction and task-based instruction. Foreign Language Annals 35 (1), 16–23; Pérez, L.C., 2003. Foreign language productivity in synchronous versus asynchronous computer-mediated communication. CALICO Journal 21 (1), 89–104; Roed, J., 2003. Language learner behaviour in a virtual environment. Computer Assisted Language Learning 16 (2–3), 155–172; Warschauer, M., 1996. Comparing face-to-face and electronic discussion in the second language classroom. CALICO Journal 13 (2), 7–26]) indicate that computer-mediated communication (CMC) can lower foreign language learners’ anxiety levels. This study investigates the relationship between CMC and communication apprehension by using the established definitions and instruments of foreign language anxiety research. During one semester, 56 students enrolled in third semester German participated in six group discussions. The control group ( n = 12) completed the discussions face-to-face while the two experimental groups used synchronous ( n = 21) or asynchronous CMC ( n = 23). Data from pretest and posttest questionnaires show no significant difference in reduction of communication apprehension between the control and experimental groups.

A Balancing Act: The Interplay of Status Effects on Dominance in Virtual Teams

Findings from a previous study indicate that dominance was a key inhibitor of creativity in virtual teams. This study extends understanding of dominance through an in-depth, qualitative analysis of eight virtual teams. Two research questions are addressed: (1) how is dominance manifested in virtual teams? and (2) why does dominance occur in some teams, and not others? Findings indicate that dominance occurred in three different patterns. Although both males and females dominated, a commonality across patterns was that the dominant individual belonged to the majority sex in each team. Furthermore, dominance was driven by a combination of a few team member status traits. When one or more status markers belonged to a single person - the dominant member - and were absent in other team members, dominance was pronounced. In teams that did not experience dominance, these status indicators were spread across multiple members. Additionally, even though all teams communicated strictly via asynchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC), equalization was not evidenced in the majority of teams. Status characteristics theory and proportional representation theory provide a basis to explain the prevalence, as well as the absence, of dominance in these virtual teams.

Issues Surrounding Use of Online Discussion Groups on Traditional Undergraduate Psychology Modules

This paper discusses issues relating to the use of online discussion groups on psychology modules, drawing on the results from three studies investigating Level 1 students' use of asynchronous computer mediated communication (CMC). The first study examined the language use of large groups of students using CMC to discuss essay topics. The second study compared the online and face-to-face discourse of small groups of students evaluating a journal article, in terms of critical thinking. The third study investigated the use of CMC to support small groups of students engaged in problem based learning (PBL). The paper concludes with some recommendations for practitioners.

The Effects of Task Type on Quantity and Syntactic Complexity of Learner Output in Korean-Japanese Telecollaboration

This paper reports on a telecollaboration project between two EFL writing classes of two universities in Korea and Japan over a period of one semester. The study aimed to compare the effects of two task types, information-exchange and opinion-exchange on learner output and syntactic complexity in students' written communications. Twenty-four students collaborated in asynchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) context to discuss and co-author reactions (i.e., reports and essays) to task prompts. There was no statistically significant difference in total number of words that students produced across two types of tasks. The syntactic complexity, however, was remarkably higher in opinion-exchange tasks than in information-exchange tasks. The result was in contrast of the superiority of information-gap tasks reported in face-to-face settings (e.g., Pica, Kanagy, & Falodun, 1993). The findings of the present study inform that, in CMC, a) opinion-exchange tasks are no less facilitative than information-exchange tasks in promoting learner output, b) opinion-exchange tasks significantly promote syntactically complex constructions, and c) opinion-exchange tasks may offer linguistic and cognitive challenges to students with the potential of stimulating more complex thinking. Based on the findings this paper suggests that opinion-exchange type tasks should be more actively incorporated into the design of asynchronous language learning activity.

Social richness, socio-technical tension and the virtual commissioning of NHS research

BackgroundThis paper draws on a recent study that evaluated the process of commissioning NHS funded research using virtual committees. Building on an earlier paper that reported our evaluation, here we focus on the effects of asynchronous computer mediated communication (CMC) when used to support group work.MethodsTo do this the discussion focuses on how CMC affected three key group factors, building relationships, group cohesion and group commitment. The notion of socio-technical tension is elaborated and the paper explores how social richness can act to counter the socially impoverishing and time extending effects of asynchronous CMC.ResultsWe argue that social richness in this context results from the presence of five principal influences. These are: a dynamic range of participant aspirations and personal agendas; participant commitment to and identification with the work and ideals of the group; a rich diversity of social, professional and work-related backgrounds; a website designed to enhance participation and interaction and the mediating effects of an effective chairperson.ConclusionIf virtual work groups are to be used by the NHS in the future, then there is a need for more research into the role of social context and its relationship to the effectiveness of newly formed virtual groups. Equally as important are studies that examine the effects of socio-technical interaction on groups undertaking tasks in the real world of work.

Misattribution in Virtual Groups: The Effects of Member Distribution on Self-Serving Bias and Partner Blame

Interest in virtual groups has focused on attribution biases due to the collocation or distribution of partners. No previous research examines self-attributions in virtual groups, yet self-attributions—the acknowledgment of personal responsibility or its deflection—potentially determines learning and improvement. This study reviews research on attributions in virtual groups and the effects of distance on members’ proclivity to blame others or themselves. An experiment involved groups whose members were geographically collocated, distributed, or mixed, working over 2 weeks exclusively using asynchronous computer-mediated communication. Attributions for participants’ own poor performance reflected a self-serving bias in completely distributed groups, whose members eschewed personal responsibility and blamed their partners more than in collocated groups. Mixed groups’ results help distinguish among competing theoretical perspectives. Moreover, an externally imposed observational goal mitigated attributional bias among distributed members by raising awareness of the sociotechnical effects of communication medium among those for whom the goal was successfully induced.

Processing Internet-derived Text--Creating a Corpus of Usenet Messages

In recent years, linguists have become increasingly interested in the language of the Internet—both as an object of investigation as well as a source of authentic data to complement traditional electronic corpora. However, Internet-derived data is typically very messy data and a conversion process is often required in order to enable researchers to carry out a reliable quantitative investigation of the patterns observed with the help of standard corpus tools. In this article, I discuss the technical and methodological aspects involved in creating a large corpus of asynchronous computer-mediated communication by downloading and post-processing hundreds of thousands messages posted in twelve Usenet newsgroups. After describing how messages can be arranged into hierarchically structured discussion threads, I focus at some length on the strategies that are required to correctly assign authorship to the different textual elements in individual messages. My algorithms have a success rate of well over 90% for most newsgroups and the resulting corpus can thus serve as a suitable basis for an investigation into the interactive strategies employed in this particular type of written communication.

Pauses and Response Latencies: A Chronemic Analysis of Asynchronous CMC

This study examines the chronemics of response latencies in asynchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) by analyzing three datasets comprising a total of more than 150,000 responses: email responses created by corporate employees, responses created by university students in course discussion groups, and responses to questions posted in a public, commercial online information market. Mathematical analysis of response latencies reveals a normative pattern common to all three datasets: The response latencies yielded a power-law distribution, such that most of the responses (at least 70%) were created within the average response latency of the responders, while very few (at most 4%) of the responses were created after a period longer than 10 times the average response latency. These patterns persist across diverse user populations, contexts, technologies, and average response latencies. Moreover, it is shown that the same pattern appears in traditional, spoken communication and in other forms of online media such as online surveys. The implications of this uniformity are discussed, and three normative chronemic zones are identified.

‘I totally agree with you’: gender interactions in educational online discussion groups

Abstract This paper discusses findings from an extensive project examining gender, language and computer‐mediated communication (CMC) in the context of undergraduate psychology courses. The contributions of 197 introductory psychology students (148 females, 49 males) participating in asynchronous CMC as part of their course were collated and coded for their language content using a qualitative content analysis procedure in Atlas.ti 4.2. Nearly 700 postings were characterised according to gender on the basis of seven categories relating to language and communication style – attenuated, authoritative, traditional male and female language features, mixed language, positive socioemotional and negative socioemotional. Gender interactions were analysed in terms of positive and negative socioemotional content, focusing on explicit markers of agreement and disagreement. Gender‐related patterns in language use and interaction style were found. Females were more likely than males to make attenuated contributions and express agreement, whereas males were more likely than females to make authoritative contributions and express disagreement. These results are discussed in terms of the implications for the increasing use of CMC in education.

Linguistic Innovations and Interactional Features of Casual Online Communication in Japanese

This study explores the linguistic and interactional properties of informal asynchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) in Japanese. Using Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) messages as the primary source of data, the study identifies innovative uses of kanji, other scripts and punctuation, and examines the incorporation of such informal spoken features as final particles. Young Japanese BBS users are found to employ colloquial language online as if conversing offline, and interact appropriately with their fellow participants in their Internet community.

Students’ linguistic behaviour in online discussion groups: Does gender matter?

This research examined students’ language use and interaction styles in text-based, computer-mediated discussion groups. The contributions of 197 introductory psychology students (149 females, 48 males) participating in asynchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) were collated. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used, under the methodological framework of qualitative content analysis [Mayring, P. (2000). Qualitative Content Analysis. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research [online] 1. http://qualitative-research.net/fqs-e/2-00halt-e.htm Accessed 10.06.2001]. A coding system, which incorporated the creation of ‘supercodes’, was developed using Atlas.ti 4.2 and used to code 699 student postings in total. The frequencies of coded categories were analysed using χ2 statistics in SPSS 10. It was found that males and females were similar regarding use of individual linguistic variables, with the exception of intensifiers as more females used them than males. However, significant gender differences were found in use of many of the stylistic variables and the supercode analysis showed overall gender-related patterns in interaction styles. Males were more likely to use authoritative language and to respond negatively in interactions, than females. On the other hand, females were more likely to explicitly agree and support others and make more personal and emotional contributions, than males. The results suggest that gendered power differentials may carry over into online contexts, which has implications for the use of CMC in education.

Student perceptions of a virtual learning environment for a problem-based learning undergraduate medical curriculum

To investigate the effects of a virtual learning environment (VLE) on group interaction and consultation of information resources during the preliminary phase, self-study phase and reporting phase of the problem-based learning process in an undergraduate medical curriculum. A questionnaire was administered to 355 medical students in Years 1 and 2 to ask them about the perceived usefulness of a virtual learning environment that was created with Blackboard for group interaction and the use of learning resources. The students indicated that the VLE supported face-to-face interaction in the preliminary discussion and in the reporting phase but did not stimulate computer-mediated distance interaction during the self-study phase. They perceived that the use of multimedia in case presentations led to a better quality of group discussion than if case presentations were exclusively text-based. They also indicated that the information resources that were hyperlinked in the VLE stimulated the consultation of these resources during self-study, but not during the reporting phase. Students indicated that the use of a VLE in the tutorial room and the inclusion of multimedia in case presentations supported processes of active learning in the tutorial groups. However, if we want to exploit the full potential of asynchronous computer-mediated communication to initiate in-depth discussion during the self-study phase, its application will have to be selective and deliberate. Students indicated that the links in the VLE to selected information in library repositories supported their learning.

Applying synchronous computer‐mediated communication into course design

PurposeThe increased pressure to incorporate communication technologies into learning environments has intensified the attention given to the role of computer‐mediated communication (CMC) in academic settings. However, the issue of how and why these technologies, especially synchronous CMC applications, has been given less attention in pedagogical literature. This paper aims to address this problem.Design/methodology/approachThe paper provides issues for consideration in the deployment of synchronous CMC in educational settings.FindingsShows that there are differences in asynchronous and synchronous CMC with related issues of productivity of student learning and control.Originality/valueThis paper outlines advantages and disadvantages of using synchronous CMC in education while offering practical guides.

Tele-education

Tele-education has been used for many years to deliver continuing education programmes to rural health-care professionals. The main modes are audio, video and computer. Audio technologies involve the transmission of the spoken word (voice) between learners and instructors, either synchronously or asynchronously. Examples of the former include audioconferencing and short-wave radio; examples of the latter include audiotape or audiocassette. Video for distance learning, like audio, can be used in either synchronous or asynchronous fashion. Videoconferencing, or interactive television, are considered synchronous because there is the opportunity for live visual and verbal interaction between instructors and learners. Asynchronous instructional video tools include slow-scan video, interactive videodiscs and videotapes. Computer-assisted learning or instruction can be defined as any learning that is mediated by a computer and which requires no direct interaction between the user and a human instructor in order to run. It is becoming increasingly common. Examples include: the Internet and World Wide Web, email, synchronous and asynchronous computer-mediated communication applications and interactive multimedia applications on CD-ROM. Tele-education technologies have an important role to play in addressing the professional isolation which is experienced by rural and remote health-care professionals.

Student Perceptions of Asynchronous Computer-Mediated Communication in Face-to-Face Courses

While there are many distance education studies of student satisfaction or perceptions of CMC, studies on residential student perceptions of CMC are rare. A paper survey was administered to 105 residential graduate and undergraduate students at a midwestern U.S. university. Results indicated that the majority of students preferred face-to-face discussion over CMC for most tasks; however, CMC was preferred overall for simple learning tasks. Content analyses of student responses to open-ended questions revealed that some students perceived face-to-face discussion to be faster, easier, and more convenient, while others perceived that CMC saves time and is more convenient. A discriminant analysis revealed several important factors that predicted those who preferred CMC for discussion. Students further commented that they would learn better from CMC if their instructors were more involved with and enthusiastic about CMC. Speed and convenience appear to be more important to students than whether discussion is face-to-face or CMC.

The Role of Asynchronous Computer Mediated Communication on Enhancing Cultural Awareness

This study investigates the effect of CMC participation on language learners' willingness to learn more about the target culture through study abroad. Also, it seeks to discern whether CMC activities improve language learners' self-perception that they have learned more about the target culture. An experimental group of 23 U.S. university students engaged in CMC with Mexican university students with a control group of 38 students from the U.S. university. We administered a questionnaire grouped thematically around seven topics. The data suggest that CMC may have a more positive effect on the acquisition of cultural awareness of students that engage in CMC than on those who do not. A conclusion could be drawn that CMC is most effective for increasing awareness about the topic of current events, followed by daily life and educational systems. The most significant increase in the experimental group's perceived awareness of culture was in the students' changing point of view about current events, ability to name two possible majors of a Hispanic student, acquisition of first hand information about daily life in a Hispanic country, and knowledge about what a Hispanic college student does for fun. In addition, the majority of students in both groups agreed that knowing someone personally in a particular country would make them more inclined to study abroad. The conclusions are significant in that they suggest how CMC not only may expand cultural awareness of selected topics, but also likely augments student desire to study abroad.

Asynchronous CMC, Collaboration and the Development of Critical Thinking in a Graduate Seminar in Applied Linguistics

A primary objective of graduate education, and often promoted by peer collaboration tasks, is the development of critical thinking skills. The present study compares how graduate students enrolled in a qualitative research design course in applied linguistics utilized asynchronous computer-mediated communication (ACMC) and face-to-face interactions to critique field-specific research, to design and conduct their own research projects, and to engage in professional discourse in and out of class. The analyses reveal that 1) it was impossible to measure the development of critical thinking skills within one semester, and 2) rather than ACMC serving as a spring-board for such development prior to or in collaboration with classroom exchanges, ACMC and face-to-face interactions served different social and intellectual purposes in the process of practicing critical thinking skills. While face-to-face exchanges were preferred when discussing previous research, only in the ACMC context were students willing to critique each other’s work.

Automating Linguistics-Based Cues for Detecting Deception in Text-Based Asynchronous Computer-Mediated Communications

The detection of deception is a promising but challenging task. A systematic discussion of automated Linguistics Based Cues (LBC) to deception has rarely been touched before. The experiment studied the effectiveness of automated LBC in the context of text-based asynchronous computer mediated communication (TA-CMC). Twentyseven cues either extracted from the prior research or created for this study were clustered into nine linguistics constructs: quantity, diversity, complexity, specificity, expressivity, informality, affect, uncertainty, and nonimmediacy. A test of the selected LBC in a simulated TA-CMC experiment showed that: (1) a systematic analysis of linguistic information could be useful in the detection of deception; (2) some existing LBC were effective as expected, while some others turned out in the opposite direction to the prediction of the prior research; and (3) some newly discovered linguistic constructs and their component LBC were helpful in differentiating deception from truth.

Language learning

Language learning