Social Media Networks and the Discourse of Resistance: A sociolinguistic CDA of Biafra Online Discourses

This study focuses on how Social Media Networks (SMN) have been used in recent times to champion social protests and resistance against oppression and political power abuse. Hence, ‘discourse of resistance’ takes a cue from the current waves of resistance and political revolutions in North Africa and the Arab world, which have been largely attributed to the vibrant SMN. In Nigeria, SMN have been used to mobilize support and active participation in popular efforts to achieve socio-political reforms. The corpus comprises mainly blogs and discussion forums hosted by the Biafra Online Campaign Groups (BOCG). The BOCG consist of persons and groups of the Igbo ethnic group of Nigeria, living in and outside of the country, that advocate a separate nation for the Igbos and accuse the government of Nigeria of marginalizing them. The study applies a sociolinguistic-based Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to investigate how sociolinguistic issues such as virtual community, identity, language variations and social interaction are used to project self-determination and the struggle for political independence. It further examines how ideology is reflected in this context via the discourses produced by BOCG in relation to the Nigerian state

Faculty Perceptions and Experiences of “presence” in the Online Learning Environment

The purpose of this interpretive phenomenological research study was to gain an understanding of how faculty who teach fully online courses perceive and experience presence. The 25 faculty participants in this study were drawn from a four-year institution of higher education in the Midwest. The faculty designed and taught their own courses. Data were collected through: (1) semi-structured in-depth interviews with each participant, (2) documentary analysis of two course syllabi from two different course offerings for each participant, and (3) observations of five participants’ online course sites over the duration of an academic semester (16 week course). Findings revealed that faculty perceived presence as “being seen.” Faculty were concerned with projecting their personalities online and they wanted their students to see them for who they were. An emotional dimension to the experiences of presence emerged in the interviews. Emotional responses of faculty to online instruction influenced their experiences of presence. An intriguing finding was that the perception and experience of presence required a cognitive reframing of the online learning environment. A traditional classroom environment is characterized by a one-to-many relationship from faculty to students. In the online environment, this transformed into many one-to-one relationships between faculty and individual students. Experiences of presence were heightened when participants were able to change their mindset and understand and acknowledge the change. Finally, this study introduced the conceptualization of online instruction as a dramatic performance enacted by the faculty to an audience of students. A diagrammatic depiction of online instruction as a staged performance is also provided

Computer-mediated language learning: Making meaning in multimodal virtual learning spaces

This article argues that when using Internet-based computer-mediated communication technologies for language teaching and learning (e.g., email, internet relay chat, or, more recently, instant messaging and audio-conferencing), it is not sufficient to see the new learning spaces as replicates of conventional face-to-face settings. We suggest that it may be useful to consider how meaning is made using the modes and media available in electronic environments. This approach offers a new framework for the investigation of both the limitations and the possibilities of the new information and communication media and the modes they afford. It incorporates notions of design, authorship and dissemination, and the increasing importance of modes other than writing in virtual language learning spaces and can thus also contribute to an enhanced understanding of the phenomenon of new literacies. In this article we seek to demonstrate how this framework can inform the development of language learning and teaching in Internet-based environments, using an audio-graphic conferencing application as an example. We examine some of the demands made on tutors and learners and consider ways of meeting the arising pedagogical challenges

Investigating critical talk between preservice English teachers and middle school students in online literature discussions

In this current political climate of No Child Left Behind, pressure to perform affects teachers and the choices they make in their classrooms. As Rothman, Slattery, Vranek, and Resnick (2002) contend, As test-based accountability becomes more stringent, schools and teachers will match their curriculum to what is on the tests rather than to what the standards say ought to occur (p. 29). Since high-stakes testing is the only tangible measurement of accountability, teachers have resorted to teaching to the test and employing direct instruction methods. As a result, few opportunities exist for preservice teachers to practice the facilitation of open-ended discussion about literature. Still fewer opportunities exist for teachers to take a critical stance toward literature instruction.Teachers who take such a stance in the discussion of literature highlight diversity and difference; call attention to the nature and role of literacy in our society; and focus on building students\u27 awareness of how systems of meaning and power affect people and the lives they lead (Harste & Carey, 2003). Housed in a young adult literature course in 2005, the Web Pen Pals project was a telecollaborative partnership between prospective secondary teachers enrolled in the course and local middle school students. Both sets of students met six times over the semester to discuss young adult literature online. The online chat medium created a virtual classroom space that provided 1) access to adolescent students preservice English teachers might not otherwise have had and 2) a safe, low-risk context where preservice teachers could practice taking on a critical literacy stance--a stance that may not feel safe in other contexts (e.g. field experiences).The purpose of this qualitative collective case study was to explore what critical talk topics, if any, occurred and what processes encouraged and developed critical talk in the online discussions of literature between beginning English teachers and middle school students. Since I was interested in the characteristics of the preservice English teachers\u27 discussions within the online space, and their perceptions of the experience, three participants comprised the sample for my study. The primary data source for the study consisted of eight chat transcripts (63 pages of data). Secondary data sources consisted of six interview transcripts (two per preservice teacher) and reflection logs kept by the three preservice teachers during the project. Findings suggested that only one of the three preservice teachers came close to achieving engaged, substantial critical talk; and the types of discourse moves used by the preservice teachers seemed to affect whether or not critical talk occurred.Findings also revealed that it appeared a relationship existed between the process of critical talk, as defined by Burbules\u27s (1993) rules of dialogue, and the occurrence of critical talk: when preservice teachers adhered to Burbules\u27s rules, critical talk seemed to occur. Interpretations based on the findings of this study included the following: 1) developing relationships with students and establishing a social presence may help teachers achieve critical talk; 2) beginning teachers need time and opportunity to explore and develop a critical stance toward literature; and 3) a CMC forum, on its own, does not ensure equitable participation in online discussion

Chat and instant messaging : the risks of secondary orality

The synchronous nature of chat and instant messaging (IM) make them unique among computer-enabled communications technologies in that their real-time exchange of data allows for rich media experiences, even though users can only use text symbols to trade messages. Chat and IM are also important in that they enable secondary orality, or the merger of the most beneficial aspects of orally-based cultures with the well-documented benefits of print and text. Where print in the modem day has fostered contemplative behavior and inward thought among human beings, chat and IM breathe vitality into print and, in a sense, allow print to be spoken. Chat and IM have provided well-documented benefits for business, academia and everyday human socialization. However, when the tools are used beyond these narrow contexts they not only lose their effectiveness; they also pose credible threats to society. Because chat and IM provide anonymity to their participants, the virtual communities they support are typically loosely governed, driven by stereotype, and replete with social deviance. Further, the more attractive online environments become, the less time and energy people will invest in the physical world, thereby threatening that the habitats of humans will ultimately wither and decay. Finally, as humans become less able to extricate themselves from their computer-enabled habitats, they will increasingly rely on the computer as a social prosthetic--if not evolve to the point where human beings and computers become indistinguishable