ERIC Number: EJ1254517
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0958-8221
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Analyzing Online Comments: A Language-Awareness Approach to Cultivating Digital Literacies
Chen, Cheryl Wei-Yu
Computer Assisted Language Learning, v33 n4 p435-454 2020
The advent of technology has made the Internet a fertile ground for much literacy learning to take place, and how to use the Internet discourse for language learning remains to be explored. The current study adopted a language-awareness approach to raise students' awareness of the forms and function of online language. A sample online comment thread was prepared to lead the participants to begin to observe and analyze online language before they collected their online comments to build their personal portfolios. It was found that the participants mainly resorted to Facebook (58.0%) and YouTube (35.8%) to find comments; 69.1% of their topics were related to news stories while the remaining can be categorized as entertainment and personal interests. Students reported to have learned the importance of taking responsibility for one's words online. In terms of knowledge, many students gained new knowledge about slang and world issues. They also felt that learning to read and evaluate online comments was an enjoyable and empowering experience. This study concludes with a few suggestions for future research to further investigate the potential benefits of incorporating online comments into language pedagogy.
Descriptors: Computer Mediated Communication, Social Media, Internet, Discourse Analysis, News Media, Media Literacy, Second Language Learning, Information Seeking, Information Sources, Portfolios (Background Materials), English (Second Language), Two Year Colleges, Undergraduate Students, Foreign Countries, Student Responsibility, Critical Reading
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education; Two Year Colleges
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Taiwan
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A