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‘Community’, semiotic flows, and mediated contribution to activity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2009

Steven L. Thorne
Steven L. Thorne*
Affiliation:
The Pennsylvania State University, [email protected]
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Abstract

This article begins with an overview and problematization of the term community through a brief assessment of its history, diverse uses, core attributes, heterogeneous elements, and collocational companions. Following this, I describe demographics and processes associated with collective engagement in digitally mediated environments. Utilizing select alternatives to the term ‘community’ and incorporating the cultural-historical notions of mediation and activity, I then present research describing exogenous influences affecting educational uses of technology in L2 settings, the use of instant messaging and blogging for out-of-class FL interaction at the secondary school level, and a pedagogically focused example of a remixing text posted to an online fan fiction website. I conclude by proposing bridging activities as an approach for connecting the emergent logics of digital vernaculars with the analytics of formal schooling.

Type
Plenary Speeches
Information
Language Teaching , Volume 42 , Issue 1 , January 2009 , pp. 81 - 94
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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