By Christine, Heidi, Carina and Sophia.

Almon, a teenager emigrating from Hong Kong to the United States, was quite desperate about English learning in the beginning and had little hope for his future as poor English proficiency means few job opportunities. However, only after about one year, Almon had made great progress in English and became much more positive about his future. So, how does such a big change happen? And what could ESL teachers learn from his experience?

According to Lam’s (2000) research, computer-mediated communication plays an important role in facilitating ESL acquisition. Almon found an international server called Geo cities (as the below picture shows) where he could construct his personal website based on his interest in Japanese pop music. On the website, Almon showed various materials in English about J-pop music collected from magazines, relevant websites and so on, “establishing himself as a knowledgeable and helpful member of the international J-pop community” (Lam, 2000, p. 471). Much of the communication on the website was also done in English. As a result, he felt that he had found a place, the global J-pop community, to which he could belong through the Web technology. This sense of belonging excluded Almon’s feeling as a marginalized person in society and helped build his identity recognition to some extent, thus enhancing his confidence in English learning especially in reading and writing. In addition, the process of computer-mediated communication between Almon and his online pen-pals also helped foster his identity as a member of the English-speaking world.

This is a screenshot of the Geo cities website. Image credit: DOOBYBRAIN

The website construction as well as the online communication through e-mails were two positive examples of Almon’s “actively acquiring and reproducing the many discourses and narrative roles in the English networked electronic environment” (Lam, 2000, p. 475). But there are more things waiting to be discussed about the affordances and constraints of the use of CMC in L2 learning.

Strengths:

In Almon’s case, CMC is achieved by writing and constructing a personal Web site through an international server called Geo cities (as the picture above shows). We can conclude from the study the following affordances of computer-based communication and its benefits to English learning:

1. To stimulate English learning practice and develop L2 literacy

Through social networking media like Geo cities, learners are provided with multimodal resources to establish their own homepages based on interests. Besides, in the virtual world, they can design and construct textual identities or imaginative selves as they like. By posting and browsing through the website, learners are more motivated to use English and increase theirL2 exposure, thus developing L2 literacy.

2. To establish L2 confidence and a sense of belonging to the global English-speaking community

CMC allows learners to reach a large community of English users sharing the same interest with them, from whom they can seek help and get positive feedback in establishing confidence in the L2. It enables EFL speakers to develop a sense of belonging and connectedness to the global English-speaking community, which might not be easy to achieve in classroom learning.

3. To develop a global vision and awareness of world English

In the international forum where multiculture prevails, the language that learners use is non-standard yet typical of internet interactions, providing learners with “the linguistic tools to enter into a multicultural world” (Lam, 2000, p.23) where a broad and critical conception of language and literacy, rather than only Englishness, Americanness, or other exclusive cultural ideologies are advocated.

Drawbacks: 

Although this electronic textual experience can motivate ESL or EFL learners to practice writing actively by constructing a computer-mediated community with a wide range of intriguing resources and like-minded friends, some drawbacks mainly caused by the inherent characteristics of the network cannot be ignored.

  1. The absence of mature and efficient regulation and anonymity of the network make it possible for users to receive negative information and feedback. People hiding under the umbrella of the virtual world may abandon moral and legal restrictions and release irresponsible or even aggressive statement, which places high demands on learners’ ability to judge right from wrong and resist negative comments, especially for teenagers.
  2. The satisfaction derived from establishing the textual identity which is the imaginative “I” may make learners indulge in the virtual world. They may enjoy expressing themselves, interacting with people only in an online community and be afraid of showing the reality “I” in real life. Gross, Juvonen, and Gable (2002) found that CMC users with social anxiety were more likely to interact with complete or relative strangers, which may intensify disconnection from FTF contacts.
  3. In view of the practicability, it would be too demanding for teachers to apply CMC to their in-class or out-class instructions since teachers should be equipped with the knowledge of high-quality network multimedia teaching. They would have a heavy workload of offering every student high-quality guidance as well as considering multifarious interests of different individuals in order to combine CMC with teaching contents efficiently, even though as a creative out-of-class activity, it could be a good method to assist English teaching to some extent.

This is a video about the introduction of Geocities, the website Almon used.

 

Questions for discussion:

  1. Do you have any similar learning experience related to computer-mediated communication? How has your experience of CMC influenced your identity formation or literacy development?
  2. As a future language teacher, will you encourage your students to learn English through CMC? Why or why not?

60 thoughts on “Welcome to My Cool Website — the Combination of CMC and EFL Learning

  1. I think Canvas is one of the most recent and impressive CMC experiences I have. The announcement, collaboration and discussion functions have created an integrative, authentic and connected environment where my peers and I can brainstorm and communicate with each other in terms of academic issues. Exchanging information and seeking negotiation for meaning on Canvas allow me to form the identity of an active and contributing member of the academic community and also help me develop my literacy a lot.
    As a future teacher, I will try to encourage my students to learn English through CMC as the trend of CMC is likely to be unstoppable in the future. It will be fun and beneficial for my students to use CMC as a supplementary way to improve their communicative competence out of classroom.

    • Hi Daniel, thanks for your posting. I share the same views with you that Canvas is really helpful in developing literacy and establishing our identity as a member of the academic community. I suppose that some functions of Canvas maybe still unexplored as yet. As for your plan of using CMC as a supplementary teaching method in the future, I am quite interested in how will you implement it, could you please elaborate it a little bit more?

  2. Well, I think ZOOM is one example. ZOOM is now used as a temporary teaching platform, with teachers as the hosts of every online class. In each class, all the present students can have the chance of interrupting the teacher to ask questions, giving answers by simply clicking a “hand” icon, and then un-mute themselves to say something. Also, if they don’t want to show their faces, they can close the camera. I like this function best because it can reduce my anxiety level when I wanna take the floor. You know, when in an actual classroom, I do not dare to speak for I always feel that there are so many eyes staring at me. Therefore, I think this tool can do good to other students who are shy or self-conscious about physical characteristics. By using it, shy people can break down defenses and become more active step by step.
    Having experienced this, as a future teacher, I think I will introduce CMC in my classroom as a supplemental means to learn English so as to encourage timid and shy students to show themselves. Also, there are many interesting functions in CMC which I think can motivate them a lot.

    • Thank you so much for your posting Flora. CMC is really a good way for us to encourage shy students to express themselves and produce more output in English–now we all benefit from Zoom, don’t we? I believe it would be effective and help your students a lot in your future teaching !

  3. 1. Do you have any similar learning experience related to computer-mediated communication? How has your experience of CMC influenced your identity formation or literacy development?
    I think the website Geo cities is quite familiar to Facebook groups I joined before. The facebook group is like a fan community , people enjoy the group and communicate with others who have the same preference with him/her. I joined a Winner(a Korean idol group)’s fan group in the facebook, and people are all using English to discuss about the songs, albums, and idols. I think it is an effective way for me to practice English and use English to communicate and negotiate for meanings. Moreover, the facebook provides us with multimodal resources that we can make use of, which devoted to my development of digital literacy abilities.
    2. As a future language teacher, will you encourage your students to learn English through CMC? Why or why not?
    Yes, I think I will encourage them to learn English through CMC, as it is a platform for students to use the language instead of just learn the language without any practical uses. But I will not use the method in the curriculum, as I think it is interest-driven and students should not be pushed to do so.

    • Hi, Tiffany! Thank you for your response.
      I agree with you that learning experience related with computer-mediated communication is interest-driven. When learners are doing something associated with their interest, they are usually highly motivated, which actually increases their learning efficiency.
      I also think that students should not be pushed to do this kind of activity, otherwise they can not feel the pleasure of this activity but will feel under pressure, which run counters with our original intention.

  4. Yes, I had the language learning experience related to CMC. Actually, I used one online platform named Xiao Daka in 2018 to help those friends around me who wanted to improve their English. Daka can be thought as a daily attendance of class or work. I posted the learning materials of various kinds of topics with several sentences, pictures, my own video or sound recordings of just reading or explanations about the learning topics. And those friends would learning it in the platform just as we had a virtual class there. They can also make recording of their own reading or share there feelings and everyone can make comments, for example to give feedback on the pronunciation.
    In the future, since it is such a great trend for everyone to get access to the online world whenever we like, I will definitely encourage my students to use it for language learning so as to get themselves well adapted to the ever-changing world. But there should be a balance between the traditional formal class and this learning platform which is better to be used as a complimentary part.

    • Hi, Lyla! Thank you for sharing your response.

      Your experience of using Xiao Daka demonstrates that language learning associated with CMC is very efficient and convenient for learners. They do not have to travel a long distance to attend classes. As long as they have internet connection, they can study wherever they want. And learners can also learn from others on this platform through giving feedback to each other.

      I agree with you that language learning related with CMC can be used as a supplement to traditional formal classes because generally speaking, it is not as systematic as traditional formal classes.

  5. For the experience of CMC, I have to talk about Canvas. In the discussion part, my classmates and I always give comments to a certain topic and our professors also give feedback to us. Every time when I do the task, I will weigh my words, which is really significant and helpful for my academic writing. Also by reading my classmates’ comments, I also learn different ideas about one aspect, which is essential to develop my critical thinking.
    As a future language teacher, I think I will encourage my students to learn English through CMC. It has so many advantages, isn’t it? Besides, the students are highly motivated if they can do their interesting things. At the same time, they can improve their English. You can kill two birds with one stone.

    • Hi, Betty, thank you for your feedback!
      I have the same kind of feelings with yours when I post discussions on Canvas. When reading my classmates’ posts, I can learn not only some different ideas, but also some English expressions, which greatly improves my academic writing ability.
      I also agree with you that students should be encouraged to learn English through CMC because when their learning are associated with their interest, they tend to be highly motivated, which helps make their learning more efficient. But one thing that I think we should pay attention to is that we should not force them to do so, or else it will definitely lower their learning interest.

  6. I have experienced CMC before and I think it is really inspiring. When I was in university, one of my friends introduced an English learning app named Interesting Dubbing in English for me. As the name suggested, people conducted English dubbing activities on it. I was enabled to have access to various interesting clips, dub them and post my dubbed versions online. After sharing my works, I would usually receive lots of comments from others. Most of them were compliments and that helped me boost my confidence indeed. But there was also a downside. Normally I couldn’t get professional feedback on how to improve my pronunciation or intonations. Therefore, I simplify imitated without receiving much useful advice from other users. I think that led to inefficient learning to some extent.
    As for future teaching, I think I will encourage students to use it after class. Perhaps I will create a communicating site on topics they are interested in for my students, encourage them to reply to each other and respond to students regularly myself. But probably I won’t use it in class because although it is interesting, it’s hard for me to integrate learning materials perfectly with CMC in such a limited amount of time in class as I think this combination is quite time-consuming.

    • Hi, Coco! Thank you for your response.
      It is really interesting to know your experience of using Interesting Dubbing to improve your oral English. Actually I had the same experience of using Interesting Dubbing when I was an undergraduate student. Lack of professional advice is indeed a problem of using it to improve spoken English, but when we practice dubbing the same clip again and again in order to find the most satisfied one, actually some aspects of our oral English like intonation, pronunciation have already been improved. But maybe there are only slight improvements, so I have quitted using it haha.
      I think your idea of creating a communicating site on topics students are interested in for them to rely and respond to each other is brilliant! The part which attracts me most is that students can get teachers’ feedback. By receiving professional guidance and advice, they will make greater efforts and will not come across with the same problem as we encounter when we use Interesting Dubbing haha.

  7. Thanks for your sharing. I do have learning experience through CMC. When I was in college, I had little chance to practice my English out of class before using Tandem. It is quite a large language exchange community, which enables you to team up with native speakers to practice the language. As an introvert, I felt more comfortable and confident when communicating with native speakers on a virtual platform than I did in the English corner. Besides that, sharing topics in the Tandem community and arouse a meaningful discussion between my tandem friends can cultivate our consciousness of intercultural communication. Tandem does help me make the gradual transition from an L2 learner to an L2 user as well.

    As a future English teacher, I suppose I will encourage my students to learn English through CMC. As those drawbacks mentioned in the post, it is inappropriate to take CMC as the main teaching method. So I prefer to regard it as an extra-curricular task rather than an in-class activity without compromising the fixed teaching curriculum.

    • Hi, Yvaine, thank you for your feedback!
      It is interesting to know your experience of using Tandem to learn English. I agree with you that learning English through tandem is beneficial to introvert people since they do not have to communicate with each other face to face. And when they chat with others through a virtual platform, they are less afraid of making mistakes, which can help increase their oral English fluency. Besides, since people who interact with them on these platforms are generally English speakers with different cultural backgrounds, they can also learn from each other different cultures. As culture learning is generally missing in traditional English classes, this kind of learning through CMC can be a good supplement.

  8. Yes! I was once a Flicker user. Flicker is a social application where people can share photos that they have taken. The lay-out of Flicker is user-friendly, with several simple frameworks such as pictures and comments. Details like camera type, lens, aperture are shown under the photo. Users can share their questions or suggestions on each photo. Also, users are able to follow the photographers that they are interested. I think this experience enables me to gain some knowledge of photographing especially the explanations of unfamiliar terms. I will encourage my students to learn English through CMC as long as they can have a balanced timetable between off-line study and online surfing. CMC can provide a wide range of knowledge and information that students are interested in.

    • Hi, yanyue, thank you for sharing your experience of using Flicker with us!
      From your experience I have found another strength of learning through CMC, that is, apart from developing English knowledge and ability, learners can also gain plenty of knowledge of different fields that they need or are interested in. In that case, CMC may be conducive to learners’ future career development. Say for example, they may become a professional photographer if they regularly learn through Flicker.

  9. Yes, I used to join a fansub group online, a group of people who translate and produce the subtitle for videos out of personal interests and it is non-profits. In our group, we are all fans of Western films and series, and we have different role in the project of making subtitles: dictator, translator and producer. Though it took me a lot of time while participating in a project, it was a great pleasure to work on something I’m very interested in. This experience has definitely enhanced my ability of dictation and translation. Moreover, we even had some followers online, their positive comments and reposts of our productions motivated us a lot, and the friendship between our group members still remain though we never met. All of these give me a sense of belonging.

    I think it will depend on students’ level. Because young learners can easily be misguided by negative and false information online and they may come across the problem of indulgence. But for students who are self-disciplined, I believe they can benefit from CMC as they can be driven by their interests.

    • Hi, Shanice, thank you for sharing your experience of joining an online fansub group with us!
      It is really good to hear that your experience not only improves your English dictation and translation abilities, but also helps you develop long-lasting friendship with your group members. I think this kind of sense of belonging can also become your long-term support to learn English. For example, when you encounter some difficulties in learning English, your group members can help you and encourage you. Besides, it also serves as a kind of driving force for you to learn English because dictating and translating subtitles are related with your interest. You can find pleasure in doing these activities.

  10. Well, actually, I hadn’t had any similar experience related to computer-mediated communication before I came to City U. It is during this period of using Zoom and Canvas that I realize the usefulness and benefits of Computer-mediated communication. Our teachers would post some questions on the discussion page for us to comment on our own opinions. We can share our own ideas, raise questions, and comment on our classmates’ comments. In this way, we would gather a lot of information and creative ideas. This is obviously beneficial for identity formation as well since users would be happy and feel a kind of connectedness when they receive other’ s feedback.
    As a future English teacher, I would like to encourage my students to learn English through CMC as it can stimulate students’ learning passion and belongings and let them actively acquiring and practicing English. Learning would be more efficient with interests.

    • Hi, Manty, thank you for your response!
      I think you share similar feelings of using Canvas with Betty. The discussion function of Canvas really develop our critical thinking ability because apart from posting our own thoughts, we can also read our classmates’ various opinions. Besides, by constantly responding to each other, we can also feel that we belong to the same community, which helps develop a closer relationship among us.
      I agree with you that learning will be more efficient when it is linked with interest. Hence this kind of learning can make students more active in English learning.

  11. When it comes to my experience of using CMC, I think one of them is Google doc. Unlike the traditional forms of group discussion, it can be done by many members simultaneously. Regardless of the restrictions of time and space, it’s convenient for us to share our ideas and modify the text. And it also has many multimodal functions like adding an image or videos, using hyperlinks and etc. It greatly increases the efficiency of gathering the ideas of the whole group. And we can also use Wechat group to discuss at the same time. So I think it is beneficial to improve our outcomes of the tasks. And it could also be used by teachers to give the whole class to do the same work at the same time. The teachers would monitor the process by participating into the specific page of the Google doc, he could make some suggestions aside by giving some notes and the students will respond that under it. And the correlated e-mail will also be used to inform the participants whenever someone has made such suggestions. And through this kind group work, we learn how to cooperate and we also feel less pressure when do the work with others.

    As a future teacher, definitely I will apply CMC into teaching. Something like critical learning is really helpful in cultivating their ability of thinking. And it can raise the students’ motivation by giving them more freedom to research and coordinate with others. Whether it is used in class or in extracurricular activities, it is beneficial for them to learn something interesting by exposing themselves to the authentic contexts. And with the development of new technology like 5G, I believe it is the trend of the age to combine CMC into teaching.

    • Hi, Connor. Thanks for your comment! I share a similar experience with you. I used to cooperate with my partners through Tencent Doc which is quite similar to Google Doc, allowing multiple people to have access to and edit the shared document online. One of the advantages of Tencent Doc is that it is an efficient way to modify the text and record flashing moments of inspiration with the form of the Litter Program which is more responsive to Wechat users. When I first used Google Doc in class this semester, I found it more powerful than Tencent Doc. Besides, I agree with the last thing you said. The combination of CMC and teaching is irreversible, so we English teachers need to develop the knowledge of new literacies.

  12. Well, I don’t have much learning experience related to CMC, if only chatting with my friends on social networking apps cannot be counted as one kind of learning. But according to my knowledge and the analysis shared by the blogger, I am not that into encouraging my students to use CMC for English. On one hand, assuming students are primary or secondary level, if they become accustomed to the informal ways of using English, it is very hard for them to adjust to academic demands, which is another way of destroying their motivation for further learning. On the other hand, if students are those who already learn English for years, they do have their own academic goals on English. CMC may seem to be one way to entertain instead of learning since the language or the situation mostly doesn’t directly relevant to their academic purposes. They may not be so convinced to initiate.

    • Hi, Phoebe. Thank you for your sharing! Maybe you mean that you don’t have such a CMC learning experience like Almon who is the protagonist in this blog and established his own home page. However, you definitely have experienced other forms of CMC, such as Canvas, Zoom and Google Doc, etc. If that is the case, would you like to apply CMC to your formal classroom as an assistant method?

  13. As a netizen for more than 10 years, I do have a lot of learning experience of CMC, and Bilibili is one of my favourite website for both online learning and entertainment. It shares a lot of common functions as YouTube, where people can post videos online on their channels and welcome other netizens to watch them, make comments and share different perspectives with each other. Honestly speaking, I benefit a lot from an experienced English teacher in Bilibili, for example, I’ve accumulated many new translations in Chinese network language and skills to get rid of Chinglish in daily expressions, which are quite interesting and inspiring in terms of English learning. Although the whole process is not a real-time learning experience, it boosts my confidence in looking for novel ways to communicate and exchange our viewpoints in English, which is actually a rewarding experience in learning a foreign language.

    I will definitely encourage my students to make use of any suitable learning resources through CMC because it’s important in finding their own strengths and passion in learning a language, which is also a process of self-exploration, and I believe internet provides us endless possibilities to achieve the goal.

    • Hi, Stefanie. Thank you for your response. It is good to hear that you have a wonderful learning experience through Bili Bili, so do I! Well, I agree that it is called China’s YouTube, and even now in Hong Kong, without the restriction of VPN, I still prefer to surf the Bili Bili which has a wide range of learning resources. Maybe we could exchange uploaders, haha. Besides, I like the word ‘self-exploration’ you said. It is quite crucial for learners to internalize it as their own learning strategies.

  14. Actually, I do not have much learning experience related to CMC. Until I came to CityU, I started to use Canvas. I think Canvas is a very useful platform for students. We can easily have discussions with other classmates, which is quite different from my learning process in college. In the traditional way, I always only have discussion with some close classmates or someone sit next to me, which means I can’t know other classmates’ thoughts. However, via Canvas, I can share my opinion, view lots of comments and also reply to others. To some extent, it helps me use English to communicate in practice and improve my critical thinking.

    As a future teacher, I will encourage my students to learn English through CMC in their spare time. It is a good platform for them to use English to communicate with others. They can share their thoughts freely and have discussion on some interesting topics. I believe that students will enjoy this kind of way to learn English.

    • Hi, Eva. Thank you for your posting. I really like your point that the CMC learning experience we have had these days, like dicussing in the breakout room, can make us make new friends and know more people’s thoughts, which are conducive to our deep learning and critical thinking. So that it will be good for students to explore this kind of learning method, like you’ve said, maybe they can get inspiring ideas and feedback from others by learning through CMC.

  15. Yes, I do have learning experience related to computer-mediated communication. AO3( Achieve of our own) is a quite famous website for fanfic creation. When I was in my college, in order to improve my translation skills and recommend good fanfics to people within the wall who shared similar interests, I asked for a translation copyright and began to translate my favourite fanfic into Chinese. During the process, I was warmly welcomed by different language speaking communities and I form the identity as a bridge for information exchanging through negotiating with meanings.
    As a future language teacher, I will willingly encourage my students to learn English through CMC, because it will be more interesting to practice L2 skills in a real situation rather than dealing with piles of exercise. It can be a supplement to the traditional classroom teaching for there always something can not be learned from a formal language learning lecture.

    • Hi Charlotte, thanks for your response! You’ve really shared an interesting CMC learning experience with us. Though I have not heard of AO3 before, from your description I can see that it is quite a useful website for us to share ideas and use English for anthentic purposes. It might be an asset for your future teaching. You can share your experience with your students and also guide them to explore it, and I believe you will do well in offering tutorials and students would be attracted–since you have the first hand experience! It would be really helpful for students if their teacher recognized the novel learning methods mediated by computer and even tried it in person!

  16. Thanks for writing the article. Great summary and analyses. I remember I wrote long emails to a pen pal when I was in secondary school. That helped improve my English.

    Regarding using CMC for teaching, I am still sitting on the fence. Drawback #1 mentioned in the article is a very real one that could lead to very serious consequences. I’m not sure I would want to actively promote forums or platforms. It’s another question to discuss with students who are already using them.

    Drawback #2 is also an everyday problem for teachers. Students nowadays are always on their phones. During lunch time at the school I teach, only a few students would play ball games during lunch. Where are the other students? Many of them are on their phones. I’d think twice to encourage them to spend even more time facing the screen.

    • Thank your so much for offering us real-life examples and pushing us to think more before using CMC for pedagogical purposes. How to monitor students’ behavior and protect them from cyber violence and Internet addiction are serious isssues for us to explore further, though it is neglected more often than not. Maybe we could try to use it in certain contexts, for example when our students are adults and students with high motivation and self-discipline. I suppose that in these cases CMC would make English learning more appealing.

  17. I have lot of CMC learning experience since college. learning platforms like Canvas make it easier to get access to learning material and teachers’ feedback. And I find myself become more active and devoted in the virtual world. I can not only be students but sometimes become knowledge distributor, too.

    I’d like to encourage my students learning through CMC. It’s efficient and time-saving for teachers when there is only one teacher or lecturer facing numerous students. And students can benefit a lot as they can constantly review the material or share knowledge on CMC tools as well.

    • Hi, Cathy. Thank you for your comment! I agree that it can provide learners with a wide range of beneficial learning materials through CMC, and teachers and students can interact with each other via online discussion forum as a supplement of FTF classroom instructions. It’s an efficient way to combine this kind of new literacies with classroom teaching.

  18. With regard to computer-mediated communication, the first one that pops up is the channel of Oxford Online English in youtube. It is a platform offering variours free courses for those who are eager to improve their English competence for a wide range of purposes like preparing for IELTS and daily communication. Take the spoken English as an example. If you are keen on improving your speaking proficiency, you can subscribe the oral English channel. And then watch the video take down the topic vocabulary and sentence patterns. Next pause the video and make your own sentences. Finally ,combine what is mentioned before to make a longer answer and type it on the comment area. The tutor will give feedback in three days. In this way, you can share your own story and also read others’stories and feedbacks. To some extent, I assume this can be called a kind of computer-mediated communication which does facilitate language learning.
    As a to-be teacher, I will take computer-mediated communication into consideration if it is possible. For one thing, learners may be quite interested in the new of learning English in the authentic context. For another, it is the trend that English language leaning is closely connected with new technology and literacies.

    • Hi, Catherine. Thank you for sharing your experience. I think you have provided us with a good example of learning English through CMC. Based on your description, the channel of Oxford Online English looks like an online oral English community where English learners all around the world could exchange their ideas. I also agree that new technology will play a much more important role in language learning, so it may be a good option for teachers to introduce CMC to the classroom.

  19. Thanks you very much for the interesting sharing.

    I remember when Tumblr was still accessible in Mainland China, I am absorbed in posting pictures and comments on it. Tumblr is a internet interest community where people share similar interests post their favorite pictures with notes. There are various themes and topics covered, mostly are about films, dramas celebrities and so on. The category I usually posted pictures on was celebrity. I would post the pictures of Chinese celebrity to Tumblr and introduce him in short sentences. If the picture is good, others will forward the picture to their own page and complement it. I felt that I acted like an ambassador of Chinese pop culture and spread the culture to the world. Through interacting with people on the internet, I learn some new terms that are frequently used in online environment. It may not be helpful in English examination but it does help me in building a close relationship more quickly with people in English.

    I would definitely love to encourage my students to implement and practice English through CMC. They can learn and improve English level by expressing themselves, interacting with people who share same interests. This method can facilitate the in-class language learning and main their motivation.

    • Hi, Ariel. Thanks for your response. I think Tumblr is quite similar to the Geo Cites we mention in the post. Both the websites offered a place for people with the same interest to share the information they knew. Almon, the protagonist in the above post, like you, became more confident during the process of constructing his own websites, and gain identity recognition as an expert in the field of his interest. So, encouraging students to be a member of CMC may motivate them to learning English.

  20. I think Canvas is a good platform to conduct CMC. I have resources of learning materials and I can communicate with others to share and learn some new ideas. When I can’t understand some knowledge, I go to google to get some help. I need to read and write, so I do improve my literacy. As for identity formation, I don’t feel that CMC has a very strong influence on it. Even though there are fixed members who are contributing to the platform like posting something, I didn’t feel a very strong sense of community which face-to-face communication gives me this kind of feeling.

    Yes I will definitely encourage students to learn English through CMC because it helps them to develop their digital literacy. But whether students accept it or not, it depends on them. Everyone has his own preference. Some people may prefer paper and pencil, and others may prefer computer. Students just need to choose the way they like.

    • Hi, Vanessa. Thank you for your response. Canvas is a really good platform to get the targeted learning materials and share students’ thoughts on specific topics. I agree with you that people may feel more connected with each other in the face-to-face interaction than in the computer-based mediated communication. Because in the face-to-face interaction, we can not only talk to each other, but also can see everyone’s face. But the way to feel people’s emotion hidden in their words is limited in the CMC.

  21. Honestly speaking, when it comes to CMC, Canvas, as the most frequently used ones at the present, occurs in my mind immediately. It is a platform with a function that teachers post some questions or topics, and then students write comments and exchange opinions with each other. Teachers also reply to the comments so as to provide some professional insights. Thus, through it, I can not only know different experiences and opinions, but also improve my reading and writing skills. Furthermore, google docs is also a good platform to conduct CMC. In the past few weeks, it impressed me a lot when Dr. Christoph divided us to different groups to accomplish certain tasks through google docs. Its efficiency really makes me feel astonished, and I get more involved in the group collaboration, which does give me a sense of achievement and identity(I am a member of the group) when we successfully worked them out together.
    In the future, I will definitely use CMC to my students. On the one hand, language teaching and learning tends to connect with new technology. On the other hand, this new and innovative way of learning is more likely to arouse their interests, so they may get more motivated and learn more effectively compared with learning without it.

  22. Actually, my learning experience of CMC can only be using Canvas, Zoom, Google doc and now commenting on posts. At the beginning, when I participate in discussions, there is always a sense of embarrassment. However, sometimes it is such kind of feeling that reminds me that I am an L2 learner and that it is an open platform to express myself. The reason why we gather here and communicate and exchange ideas is that we are English learners, language learners. Though we may come from different places and have experienced different things, it is the MAES program that gives us the chance to meet with and to share ideas on the same topic through CMC.
    As a future language teacher, l would recommend learning English through CMC to students. Students themselves can choose to utilize this kind of learning approach.

    • Hi, Brenda. Thanks for your comment. I believe many Chinese people have similar CMC experience like yours. We, the MAES students gathering here to practice how to learn through CMC and thus obtain self-reflections on the English learning as well as how to teach English in a changing environment.

  23. I believe many Hong Kong students, like me, were exposed with Geocities until the website hosting services were cancelled by Yahoo. I think it was in our IT curriculum in the past. I used to do the same thing with Almon too, but instead of making it space-oriented, I created mazes for online users to try it out. Gone are the days when we were establishing a website solely for personal interest. Luckily with some similar services like WordPress and Wix, it can foster students’ creativity again. Using WordPress and Wix enables students to share their feelings and opinions on something they like. When they have the interest to learn about particular things, they do not mind finding information in another language, leading to an enhanced English ability or the targeted language they are reading. With regards to other CMC, I still remember using Moodle and Mahara. The former is a Learning Management System, and Mahara is mainly for our sharing. It is similar to a blog. I remembered asking students to post stuff on Mahara, such as the progress of their SDL (self-directed learning). It has proven to be a successful way of fostering students’ collaboration online and offline. I will continue to promote CMC in my classroom, especially in this era of eLearning.

    • Hi, Warren. Thank you for sharing your experience. I think you have presented a good way of utilizing CMC in language learning. Students are willing to explore the field in which they have already been interested. And if they find that they can obtain more interesting and abundant materials related to their interests in their targeted language, they may voluntarily resort to language learning so as to learn more about their interested topics. In this case, CMC could enhance students’ motivation of language learning.

  24. 1.Yes, I do, although not much. I usually interact with ESL speakers in blog websites and learning-based apps, which are created by my teachers and school. Through communication with them, the sense of L2 users is getting stronger and feel a part of this community. Probably having reached a plateau of learning English, I don’t think I’ve learnt much through CMC, at most new words or phrases.
    2. I probably will. Many resourses in the existing textbooks in China mainland are not authentic and students are forced to learn formal and sometimes awkward-seeming English. The English that occurs in CMC, on the contrary, is authentic and natural. Students can also find their own fan-community or other communities which much motivate them to learn English.

    • Hi, Olivia. Thanks for your comment. Thanks to the Internet technology, language learners could find different resources such as blogs and apps for people throughout the world. From people’s comments, we may find that we are not alone in facing certain kind of learning problems and sometimes we could try to adopt some suggestions from other netizens. I think CMC could help students learning English a lot as they can have access to many thoughtful ideas.

  25. As a future primary school English teacher, I will not recommend my students to learn English through CMC. First of all, English level of students restricts them from learning on a public website. We can’t control the major users’ English level, so it would be too demanding and confusing for students at the beginning level to comprehend a message from a native speaker. If online learning were continuously above the level of comprehensible input, it would eventually lead to low motivation in learning English in class. Additionally, they aren’t even embedded with a systematic grammar and vocabulary knowledge yet. Encountering idioms and informal writings through CMC are ways to hinder their formal English habits formation at the beginning level. Furthermore, as you mentioned in the text, one of the drawbacks is developing anxiety when interacting with strangers in everyday life. Yes, I totally agree to that. And I think my poor speaking skill is rooted in massive writing practices and limited speaking practices since I started learning English. So, I always lack of confidence and get anxious when having a real-time English communication without prepared written script. Therefore, I learn a lesson from myself and try to guide students speak more and not get used to communication through written texts. Last but not least, I don’t have the confidence in their self-control at the time of using computer and the proportion of L1 use instead of L2.

    • Hi, Krystal. Thank you for sharing your opinion. I agree that when we consider about the use of CMC, it is necessary for us to think about who we are going to teach. Primary students, usually the language learning beginners, may lack the ability to distinguish the informal and formal use of language as the netizen’s language proficiency cannot be guaranteed. But may be some English websites for children could arouse students’ interest on learning English.

  26. Once I signed up an account of gaming forum where users post something about that game and receive some comments from other users. In the process of participating in this forum, I blended in this forum and formed my identity as a member. Afterwards, I was more willing to argue with other users and learned a lot of game-related vocabulary, which increased my interest in English learning.
    From my point of view, CMC may not be suitable in Mainland schools, because school curriculum is designed for the purpose of taking exams and students and teachers focus on testing results. To sum, this approach can be considered as an out-of-class activity to help students develop their interest of English learning. In addition, the side effect of CMC approach is that students may encounter cyber bullying and violence, which requires us to raise attention on.

    • Hi, Yili Hua. Thank you for your posting. I agree with you that CMC can be a good way of promoting English learning, but it may not be suitable to be used as the main approaches in the classroom as both the teachers and the students have fixed learning tasks to be completed. Also, as the comments from netizens are unpredictable, we do need pay attention to teaching students how to deal with some unfriendly comments.

  27. Honestly speaking, when it comes to CMC, Canvas, as the most frequently used ones at the present, occurs in my mind immediately. It is a platform with a function that teachers post some questions or topics, and then students write comments and exchange opinions with each other. Teachers also reply to the comments so as to provide some professional insights. Thus, through it, I can not only know different experiences and opinions, but also improve my reading and writing skills. Furthermore, google docs is also a good platform to conduct CMC. In the past few weeks, it impressed me a lot when Dr. Christoph divided us to different groups to accomplish certain tasks through google docs. Its efficiency really makes me feel astonished, and I get more involved in the group collaboration, which does give me a sense of achievement and identity(I am a member of the group) when we successfully worked them out together.

    In the future, I will definitely use CMC to my students. On the one hand, language teaching and learning tends to connect with new technology. On the other hand, this new and innovative way of learning is more likely to arouse their interests, so they may get more motivated and learn more effectively compared with learning without it.

    • Hi, Jiaxin. Thanks for your sharing. Your experience is similar to what happened to Almon, which proves that CMC can contribute to students’ motivation of learning English as well as the formation of identity as a member of English-speaking world. So using CMC as one way of teaching English can encourage students to learn English if they can receive positive feedback from the CMC.

  28. The most impressive CMC experience for me would be my over 6 years’ subtitle group experience . In 2014, as a fan of super model Karlie Kloss, I formed a subtitle group named ‘teamkarlie’ with some of the fan club members aiming to update Karlie’s information for Chinese fans. I was in charge of the listening and translation of English and French information.
    In 2015, our subtitle group was invited by VogueChina 10th year anniversary and interviewed Karlie in Shanghai. Until now, our official channel on Weibo has over 720000 subscribers.

    This experience not only improved my English interpretaion ability, which in return motivated my English study, but also diversified my English learning approaches.

    As a future language teacher, I would definately encourage my students to learn English through CMC. Because this is an ideal approach for them to combine their interest with language learning, which motivates and inspires the students to go further.

  29. So far, I have only experienced online learning with my classmates during this time. In addition, I learn different languages by using the computer, but there seems to be a lack of communication in the process. Therefore, the recent online courses have given me more opportunities to communicate with and learn from others. I find that everyone seems to have more motivation and a more comfortable space to communicate because of the platform created by CMC, and I also achieve a lot through it. This kind of classroom and activities could enhance our awareness and sense of belonging as second language learners, and the interaction shows that various forms of language learning could work. It created more language practice.

    As a future English teacher, I will definitely encourage students to improve their learning with CMC. Although the final learning effect is not necessarily excellent, it depends on the individual differences. I am not sure the efficiency when students use CMC. However, CMC might provide them with a large number of resources and opportunities for communication, which can be very helpful for them to develop their hobbies and broaden their horizons. It may also increase their motivation to learn.

  30. When I was about 17/18, I liked to talk to foreign people online. There were some public chatting rooms, so I would join these communities and talked to my online foreign friends. I did that mainly because I was so curious about the outside world, and how people lived in different countries. I don’t think my English had improved a lot during that period, since a lot of people didn’t use grammatically correct expressions, and incomplete sentences and slang were often shown in our conversations. But the desire to communicate well definitely motivated me to learn this language better.

    I think the Internet has already been an essential part of our life, and my students, unlike my generation, are indeed internet natives. So they will be very familiar with CMC, and my job is to guide them properly under the overwhelming internet culture and teach them how to improve their language learning through CMC.

  31. As a future language teacher, I would like to encourage students who have specific and strong interest in any areas to learn English through CMC. For these student, this way of learning is fun and helpful because they can communicate with people who have the same interest from all over the world; They can express their thoughts and exchange ideas and so on and their language ability would increase through these communication. Different from the traditional way of learning, learning through CMC are excited and students will be more self-motivated.

    But for students who do not have specific interest, forcing them to find a topic to share with others may become their burden and they can not find a sense of belonging through this way. So I would not encourage this kind of student to learn through this way in the future. What is more, as you have mentioned, this way of learning also have a lot of drawbacks so it would be better if we regard it as a supplement to the traditional way of learning.

  32. Yes I’ve had similar learning experience related to computer-mediated communication. Like some apps such as facebook, instagram and tandem where you can communicate with people all over the world. And also right now, our online course via zoom. It’s kind of convenient in a way.
    I will encourage my students to learn English through CMC because it not only is good for their language learning, but can also enrich their knowledge on computers.

  33. Yes, I had similar learning experience related to CMC. When I joined an exchange program in Taiwan, it is very common for Taiwanese teachers and students to use Facebook pages and Facebook groups to share information. In this way, I had a chance to cooperate with Taiwanese students and learn more about the local culture, which I believe is a really good method.

    As for me, I will definitely encourage my students to learn English through CMC. Through online communication, we can exchange opinions with other students and teachers, and we may also find lots of useful resources from the Internet. CMC can motivate students to participate actively and enhance self-learning, which is a tendency in the future teaching.

  34. Yes, actually I think what we are doing on this Edublogs website is a precious learning experience, because our English has been practiced through posting blogs, commenting and even reading our classmates’ comments. Since we all involve in this blogging activity, it help to form a community and we can share our English learning and teaching experiences, it definitely provides us a sense of belonging. Most of us are preparing ourselves to be an English teacher, and here in this community, we can learn from our classmates’ interesting weekly posts and it also gives us opportunity to learn from each other through sharing ideas.
    As a future language teacher, I will definitely encourage my students to learn English through CMC, it’s a good way to build up their confidence in L2 learning and such CMC experience can be really rewarding.

Comments are closed.