Online chat and the language learning classroom: synchronous computer mediated communication (SCMC) at the UEM LAB

Abstract

This article is a preliminary study that analyses how 14 Students of English from the UEM Lab interact in a controlled virtual environment doing synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) exercises. In the past decades controlled virtual environments have increasingly gained more importance in education, especially since -as Presky defines them- the appearance of “digital natives”: individuals who have implemented technology in their communication processes from a very early age, mainly born in the late 80s and 90s. In order to carry out this research, the Students were paired up and given tasks that they had to complete using Messenger. Once the online-task was completed, they were given a satisfaction survey to measure their degree of comfort and interest when approaching online interactions in SLA classes. These surveys confirmed that Students feel less intimidated and exposed when doing collaborative online tasks than when face to face interactions take place. These data or Learners Corpora present -in line with previous studies- a great number of negotiation, confirmation and reconfirmation strategies that could be used to modify or adapt the UEM Lab syllabus.