Denise E. Murray

The context of oral and written language: A framework for mode and medium switching

This article demonstrates that our descriptions of orality and literacy – from the traditional dichotomy to the more recent continuum – are inadequate, largely because they are grounded in the Western positivist tradition and use as their typical texts casual conversation and academic writing. The introduction of a new medium of communication, the computer, into the workplace clearly demonstrates that medium of communication is itself a linguistic choice, depending on the context of situation. The article presents a case study identifying those aspects of the context of situation that affect both choice of mode/medium and mode/medium-switching. The article then proposes a framework that expands on previous work that has sought to describe the dimensions involved in the choice of language (e.g., Halliday 1973; Hymes 1972; Jakobson 1960). This framework suggests an integrated approach for examining oral and written language, an approach grounded in the view that literacy and orality are social practices whose forms and functions vary for different social groups. (Literacy, dimensions of sociolinguistics, discourse)

Conversation for Action: The Computer Terminal as Medium of Communication

Today, computer-mediated communication spans a range of activities from interactive messages to word processing. Researchers interested in this new technology have concentrated on its effects in the workplace for knowledge production and dissemination or on its word processing function. The study reported here examines communication events in which the computer is the medium and views such computer-mediated communication from the perspective of language use. Its goal is to understand, through data collected from an anthropological perspective, the ways of communicating used by members of an established community of computer users. In particular, it answers the questions: (i) How do computer communicators choose among the available media and modes of communication? (ii) What are the basic and recurring discourse patterns across media and modes through which this community achieves its institutional goals of innovation and product development? (iii) How do the answers to the previous two questions inform our understanding of language use in general?

Scaffolding Instruction for Reading the Web.

Research has found that text reading and Web reading, while sharing some similarities, require a different balance of strategies. Adult language learners, especially those with limited previous experience with the Web, may therefore need explicit, scaffolded instruction in order to read the Web. This article reports on teacher action research and demonstrates the scaffolded activities teachers developed to help learners read and navigate the Web. First, a linguistic analysis of web pages was conducted. Through this analysis, it was determined that, while there is much published research on web page design, many web pages that could be used in order to support the ESL curriculum do not employ a readable design. The study then followed a collaborative action research model (Burns, 1999) with five teachers across Australia. The study revealed two distinct, but interrelated, reading activities learners need to engage in to use the Web: reading web pages to find their way around a website (that is, reading to navigate) and navigating web pages in order to find and read information to achieve some other language learning goal (that is, navigating to read). The research indicates that learners can read and navigate with fewer problems and less stress for them and their teachers, if instruction includes carefully scaffolded activities that help learners become independent readers and navigators of the Web.

Creating a Technology-Rich English Language Learning Environment

The use of computer technology in English language teaching and learning is accepted, often uncritically, in many settings, even though in other settings, computers are not available, while in still other settings, teachers and learners often lack the necessary computer literacy skills to exploit the technology effectively for language teaching and learning. While many articles and books discuss tips for using computer-based technologies in the classroom, research studies tend to be small scale and seldom generalizable. Still lacking is a rigorous approach to the study of the implementation of computer-based technologies (both how the technologies are implemented and which technologies are chosen); the effects of computer-based technologies on instruction (including effects on the role of the teacher); the effects of computer-assisted instruction on language learning; and the integration of computer-assisted instruction into curriculum design. This chapter summarizes extant research in these areas, while identifying the assumptions underlying much of the literature on the use of new technologies. The chapter also predicts, from the existing research data, what would be necessary for computers to be ubiquitous and part of teachers’ repertoire of instructional approaches.

Requests at Work Negotiating the Conditions for Conversation

This article is based on a longitudinal study of communication in a business environment. The majority of interactions in this business environment are conversation for action, that is, conversations through which participants get things done. Typically, these conversations begin with a bid for action (usually realized by a request) by one party. The requestee can accept the bid or negotiate to change the conditions of the initiating bid for action. Four validity conditions are negotiable: comprehensibility, truth, sincerity, and rightness. This article presents a model for the opening of such conversations for action. The opening moves are represented by a transition network with the options available at each node represented by system networks. This model demonstrates the two-tier nature of interaction: participants respond to both the request and its conditions.

Ebonics: A Case Study in Language, Power, and Pedagogy

* The Ebonics debate is relevant to all those engaged in language education, whether as classroom teachers, teacher educators, materials writers, or policy makers. All educators who wish to validate and nurture diversity (e.g., Delpit, 1995) need to be informed by the issues raised by Smitherman (this volume). My goal here is to demonstrate that the issues around Ebonics are the issues vital to all language educatorslanguage, power, and pedagogy. These issues are not confined to African American language use in the U.S. The axes of language, power, and pedagogy affect the teaching of languages in a variety of situationsMalaysian parents choosing to send their children to a school where American English rather than Malaysian English is used, Korean educational policy whereby English is taught in primary schools, the hiring of a Spanish speaker from Spain to teach a bilingual Spanish-English class in which all the Spanish-speaking students speak Mexican Spanish, mother tongue education in Kenya, and the retraining of Russian teachers to teach English in Poland. I will confine my remarks to the field of language education, which I use to include teaching English to speakers of other languages.1

The world of English language teaching: Creating equity or inequity?

English language teaching takes place in a variety of different contexts around the globe, contexts that are affected by the megatrends of global competition, population mobility, and technological interconnectedness. These trends have resulted in increased demand for English as a tool for advancement individually and nationally. However, because language is a social practice, the introduction of English within existing linguistic, sociocultural, and political values and practices can create tensions. Learners investment in learning English depends on the extent to which they and their communities envisage any benefits from English or are positioned by societal forces. Additionally, local educational practices or quality may militate against the learning of English. English may therefore be rejected by communities or may maintain current societal inequities. Teachers, teacher educators, and teacher education programs need to be aware therefore that English teaching is not neutral, but a complex educational change.

Applied Linguistics in Australasia and the Pacific

The domain of applied linguistics is contested in the region of Australasia and the Pacific, but for this article, it includes the broad areas of language in education, language in the workplace, and language in social life. Because of the multilingual nature of countries in the region, a large focus is on mother tongue education, additional language education, and language planning and policy. The region covered is Australia, New Zealand, and neighboring islands of the South Pacific, with a primary focus on Australia and New Zealand because there is a larger body of research and theory concerning these two countries.