This paper examines the step show or code-switching involving two dialects of English, Standard American English (SAE) and Black English Vernacular (BEV) at a Historically Black College and University (HBCU). The data point to a reversal of dominant institutional language and literacy practices at the university under focus. The conscious and…

This paper describes a qualitative study of asynchronous electronic conferencing by three tutorial groups on the same postgraduate course ("Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Worldwide"), forming part of an MA in Applied Linguistics (via Distance Education) at the Open University, UK. The groups varied in the degree to which…

This qualitative study focused on the learning experiences of four third-year Spanish student enrolled in a college-level Spanish composition and conversation course. The study provided insights into the impact of expanding out-of-class opportunities to engage in communicative task through the use of streamed feature films, online chats, and video…

To explore the impact of the communication medium on building common ground, this article presents research comparing learner use of reception strategies in traditional face-to-face (FTF) and in synchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC). Reception strategies, such as reprises, hypothesis testing and forward inferencing provide evidence of…

This qualitative study examined the professional growth of literacy teachers as they scaffolded students' one-to-one literacy learning within a university reading clinic tutoring experience. These teachers--graduate students within a reading education program--documented both their own learning and that of their students through various venues.…

Many theological educators ask how on-line classes can provide students with the kind of personal teacher-student interaction that is needed in a healthy and holistic approach to preparation for ministry. A quantitative study was undertaken for the purposes of examining the relationships between three major types of teacher-student interaction…

Since 1999, the blog has become a pervasive communication and information-sharing Internet-based tool in certain segments of the society. Within education, it is becoming much more widely used and will continue to expand rapidly as instructors learn about its adaptability for the classroom. Not only will an ever-increasing number of individuals…

The increased demand for Internet courses, especially in schools of business, has raised questions about instructional interaction and teacher-student immediacy, which online courses may lack. Because current research suggests immediacy behaviors may indeed be present, we developed a strategy for measuring immediacy in an online MBA course and…

Around the globe, people with HIV/AIDS are increasingly those who are most marginalized within their societies and with least access to health education and prevention efforts. Rising HIV infection rates within underserved populations demonstrate a vital need to critically reflect upon the nature and practice of HIV/AIDS education and prevention.…

Personal response systems, better known as "clickers," are all the rage on college and university campuses and are beginning to expand into the K-12 market. Clickers allow students and instructors to interact in a variety of interesting and innovative ways, both in classroom situations and professional development sessions. In this…

A variety of instructional methods have been shown to be effective in fostering employee learning in workplace training. These include problem-based learning, cooperative learning, and situated learning. Despite their success, however, there are at least two important reasons to actively foster learning beyond the training room: The transfer of…

Interactional ethnography with a social constructionist perspective was used as an orienting theoretical framework to investigate how a community of learners was constructed in a postsecondary distance education class. The question guiding this research was: How do the interactions of the participants in an on-line classroom construct the social…

This study analyzed discussions in asynchronous and synchronous communication of a course given in the online Information Technologies Certificate Program, using Bales's Interaction Process Analysis model. This model focuses on Social Emotional (SE) and Task Oriented (TO) areas. The content analyses of asynchronous and synchronous communication…

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…

This paper will describe an ESP approach to the design and implementation of computer-mediated communication (CMC) tasks for computer science students at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, and discuss the effectiveness of the chat feature of Windows NetMeeting as a tool for developing specified language skills. CMC tasks were set within a programme of…