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Meaning-making in online language learner interactions via desktop videoconferencing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 July 2016

H. Müge Satar
H. Müge Satar*
Affiliation:
Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey (email: [email protected])
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Abstract

Online language learning and teaching in multimodal contexts has been identified as one of the key research areas in computer-aided learning (CALL) (Lamy, 2013; White, 2014).1 This paper aims to explore meaning-making in online language learner interactions via desktop videoconferencing (DVC) and in doing so illustrate multimodal transcription and analysis as well as the application of theoretical frameworks from other fields. Recordings of learner DVC interactions and interviews are qualitatively analysed within a case study methodology. The analysis focuses on how semiotic resources available in DVC are used for meaning-making, drawing on semiotics, interactional sociolinguistics, nonverbal communication, multimodal interaction analysis and conversation analysis. The findings demonstrate the use of contextualization cues, five codes of the body, paralinguistic elements for emotional expression, gestures and overlapping speech in meaning-making. The paper concludes with recommendations for teachers and researchers using and investigating language learning and teaching in multimodal contexts.

Keywords

multimodal analysismultimodal transcriptiondesktop videoconferencingonline language learningsemioticsinteractional sociolinguistics
Type
Regular papers
Information
ReCALL , Volume 28 , Special Issue 3: Multimodal Environments in CALL , September 2016 , pp. 305 - 325
Copyright
Copyright © European Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning 2016 

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Footnotes

1

The data presented in this paper is based on a PhD study conducted at the Open University, UK (Satar, 2010). The theory of social presence within a community of inquiry (Rourke, Anderson, Garrison and Archer, 1999) formed the theoretical framework for the study. See Satar (2015) for details of the qualitative approach adopted for theory development, specifically for one component of the framework, i.e. sustaining interaction.

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