Dialogizität und sequenzielle Verdichtung in der Forenkommunikation: Editieren als kommunikatives Verfahren

Drawing both on conversation analysis and text linguistics, this article retraces the emergence of a new communicative practice in an online discussion forum: Based on data from an academic learning environment, we demonstrate how peers in a student study group start using the "edit button” which allows them to modify in retrospect not only their own but also other people's posts. This communicative practice of post editing in online discussion forums develops in four stages: It starts out as simple postings of messages on a discussion board. Next, the collocutors make use of the edit button to change their own posts, and, in a dialogical manner that of their discussion partners. Finally, it comes down to a complex form of exchange between the interlocutors who innovatively use the edit button within a single post. By using the edit button in innovative ways the participants bring together sequentially related messages in a single post that are usually spread over multiple posts. We argue that the emergence of this innovative use of the strategy of "sequential compression” (sequenzielle Verdichtung), as we shall call it, may be understood as an answer both to the affordances of asynchronous communication in discussion forums and to the learning situation which is characterized by pressure of time calling for new and innovative strategie

Dialogische Textkompetenz - Routinisiertes Schreiben in studentischer Online-Teamarbeit

Current concepts in writing research primarily focus on monological texts, by which we mean texts that do not demand a reply. But nowadays, dialogical writing - the exchange of messages via e.g. e-mail, text message or internet forum - is increasingly prevalent in private, educational and professional life. We therefore argue that concepts of writing research should also be made applicable to dialogical writing. Based on empirical data from two university e-learning classes, we show how students use communicative routines in order to manage a specific (writing) task: During their group work students face the challenge of initiating new steps and mobilising other group members to proceed with the project. Our study shows that texts accomplishing this task usually follow a three-part structure: They give reasons why writing to the group becomes necessary ("account”), they request the start or continuation of working ("projection”) and they present a personal contribution to the task ("achievement/input”). In cooperative online work, appropriate dialogical writing is a crucial skill. This "dialogical text competence”, as we call it, cannot be taken for granted; indeed it must be taught and practiced as it differs from competences necessary in face-to-face interaction or for writing texts in non-dialogical contexts. We therefore close our paper with a discussion of our results under the aspect of learning and facilitating dialogical text competence in contexts that offer practical experience

Personelle Transitionen in Mehrpersonenkonstellationen: Zum Übergang von nicht-fokussierter in fokussierte Interaktion

Thema dieses Beitrags sind personelle Transitionen als ein Typ der Herstellung fokussierter Interaktion. Personelle Transitionen werden innerhalb bestehender sozialer Situationen vollzogen, wenn Anwesende zu Interaktionsensembles hinzustossen und so von ihrem Status als Umstehende zum Status ratifizierter Teilnehmender einer fokussierten Interaktion übergehen. Situativ führen diese Übergänge zur Umordnung der personell-räumlichen Strukturen innerhalb der sozialen Situation und etablieren neue oder veränderte Teilnahmerahmen in bestehenden Interaktionsensembles. Im Gegensatz zu ‚klassischen‘ Situationseröffnungen wurde dieser Typ der Herstellung fokussierter Interaktion bislang kaum untersucht. Anhand von Videodaten eines Empfangs zeigt der Beitrag, wie in Mehrpersonen-konstellationen Transitionen von nicht-fokussierter in fokussierte Interaktion multimodal vorbereitet und vollzogen werden und welche Interaktionsaufgaben dabei zu bewältigen sind

Schweizerdeutsch und Sprachbewusstsein: zur Konsolidierung der Deutschschweizer Diglossie im 19. Jahrhundert

Die deutsche Schweiz gilt als typischer Fall einer Diglossiesituation, in der die Dialekte die ausschliessliche Alltagsvarietät aller Bevölkerungskreise darstellen. Die historischen Bedingungen, die zu dieser sprachgeschichtlichen Entwicklung geführt haben, sind bislang jedoch wenig untersucht. Die Studie analysiert die öffentlichen Debatten zum Schweizerdeutschen und zum Verhältnis zwischen Dialekt und Standardsprache in der Deutschschweiz des 19. Jahrhunderts. Auf dieser Grundlage rekonstruiert sie zeitgenössische Spracheinstellungen und dominante Formen kollektiven Sprachbewusstseins. Sie zeigt, wie sich vor dem Hintergrund gesellschaftsgeschichtlicher Entwicklungen ein nationales Sprachbewusstsein ausbildet, aus dem heraus sich die Diglossie als spezifisches Element einer (Deutsch)Schweizer Sprachkultur konsolidiert, die bis in die Gegenwart anhält. Die Erkenntnisse über die sprachbewusstseinsgeschichtlichen Prozesse des 19. Jahrhunderts, zu denen die Untersuchung eines umfassenden Quellenkorpus gelangt, führen zu nachhaltigen Einsichten in die Geschichte der Deutschschweizer Diglossie und leisten einen massgeblichen Beitrag zum Verständnis der Deutschschweizer Sprachsituation

Dialogische Textkompetenz – Routinisiertes Schreiben in studentischer Online-Teamarbeit

Current concepts in writing research primarily focus on monological texts, by which we mean texts that do not demand a reply. But nowadays, dialogical writing – the exchange of messages via e.g. e-mail, text message or internet forum – is increasingly prevalent in private, educational and professional life. We therefore argue that concepts of writing research should also be made applicable to dialogical writing. Based on empirical data from two university e-learning classes, we show how students use communicative routines in order to manage a specific (writing) task: During their group work students face the challenge of initiating new steps and mobilising other group members to proceed with the project. Our study shows that texts accomplishing this task usually follow a three-part structure: They give reasons why writing to the group becomes necessary (“account”), they request the start or continuation of working (“projection”) and they present a personal contribution to the task (“achievement/input”). In cooperative online work, appropriate dialogical writing is a crucial skill. This “dialogical text competence”, as we call it, cannot be taken for granted; indeed it must be taught and practiced as it differs from competences necessary in face-to-face interaction or for writing texts in non-dialogical contexts. We therefore close our paper with a discussion of our results under the aspect of learning and facilitating dialogical text competence in contexts that offer practical experience

Schweizerdeutsch und Sprachbewusstsein

The German Linguistic Studies Series is a comprehensive and outstanding forum in its field. It has borne the name of its subject in its title since the foundation of the series in the eighth decade of the last century.The series is comprehensive in the broad spectrum of topics covered (language levels, varieties, communication forms, epochs) in the range of research perspectives (theoretical and empirical studies, fundamental research and applications, interdisciplinarity with psychology, the social sciences etc.) and methodologies (the sole criterion is quality), in the rhythm of research (trends are perceived and also set, achievements are secured) and in the forms of presentation (monographs, textbooks, collected volumes, dictionaries).Professorial theses, outstanding doctoral theses, pioneering research findings from wider contexts, but also the surprising ‛stroke of genius’ set the standards for inclusion in the series