Technology-mediated
communication in ESL:
balancing multiple dimensions
Presented by Katrina Tour
Faculty of Education
Monash University
Overview
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Background study
 Research questions and objectives
 Theoretical framework
 Research design
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Technology-mediated communication in ESL
Findings
 Examples: participants’ voices
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Discussion
Background study
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Technoliteracy and ESL at the intersection:
contradictions and challenges
 ICT use in ESL in everyday life and learning
(from a literacy perspective)
 ESL students’ challenges
 Students’ capability needs
 Rethinking the role of ICT in L2 education
Theoretical Framework

New Literacy Studies (NLS) (Barton, Hamilton &
Ivanic, 2000; Gee, 1991, 1999; Hamilton, 2002;
Lankshear & Knobel, 2003; Pahl & Rowsell, 2005;
Street, 1995, 1999)
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NLS as a framework for second language learning
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Technology use is a social practice. Technoliteracy
as a contemporary form of literacy (Lankshear,
Snyder & Green, 2000)
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Technoliteracy in an ESL context
Theoretical framework (Cont.):
Technoliteracy in an ESL context
is an approach which suggests how to teach English
as a second language in the Digital Age.
The aim of this approach is to promote the
development of a wide range of capabilities so that
students from non-English speaking backgrounds are
able to deal with multimodal texts in a technological
environment both in written and oral ways in their
personal and professional lives appropriately and
successfully – access, use, comprehend, analyse,
evaluate, develop critical understanding, create, and
engage in communication and other activities.
Theoretical Framework (Cont.):
Three dimensions model (3-D model) of
literacy/technoliteracy (Green, 1988; Lankshear et
al., 2000)
(Durrant & Green, 2001, p.152)
Technology-mediated communication in
ESL

is a technoliteracy practice




sociocultural
multimodal
multidimensional
requires a number of diverse capabilities
Research Design of the Study
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Qualitative study
Case study approach
Briston University English Language Centre as a
research site (Located in Melbourne, Australia. A
pseudonym)
Computer Study Skills Module
4 students (Thailand, Saudi Arabia, China, France)
A teacher of the class
Methods: observations, diaries, interviews
Findings of the study

Communication is one of the main purposes of ICT use in ESL in
everyday life and learning

Active and diverse technology use in ESL for communication
 Synchronous (MSN Web messenger, phone/mobile calls)
 Asynchronous (texting, emails, online discussions – wikis,
Youtube, news websites)

Multimodal practices – reading, writing, listening, speaking,
viewing

Many challenges for a wide range of reasons
 Misunderstanding / non-understanding
 Limited self-expression / inappropriate discourse use
 Limited knowledge and understanding of critical literacy practices
 Anxiety
Operational capabilities
Teacher:
There is a lot of mistakes obviously in everything they
write… A lot of grammar, vocabulary, spelling,
sentence structure.
Chen Lin:
[U, pls, thru, R]… First I can’t understand and I just
think what’s these words… I think it’s a kind of
special language but I don’t know much about it.
Operational capabilities (cont.)
Pierre:
Here in Australia it’s ‘qwerty’, in France and Europe it’s ‘azerty’. When you
use it, you have to change because the letters are not in the same
place. It takes time. If I type in English keyboard because I used to the
French one, I am slower.
Kate:
I could not understand very well when I talk by telephone. …[R]eal estate
[agent] … I think he is a real Aussie. Aussie accent is very difficult, very
fast and too many rhythms–I could not catch. Accent and vocabulary–all
together.
Contextual capabilities
Kate:
When I send e-mail to teacher and if … I like the teacher and I then I begin
with ‘how are you?’ But if in Thai language I start by ‘how are you’ it’s
look like friend-to-friend. In my language it’s like strange! It’s strange in
my thinking!
Pierre:
For me it’s the most difficult thing is to talk to English people by telephone.
[Because of] all the things - the language, the culture… This is
something really different in the culture. Here they say ‘hallo’… and
start talking about the business, ask what they want… In France it’s
rude. You talk a little bit - you make jokes on phone. You stay longer
because it’s quite rude to call someone and to stay two minutes and to
end up.
Critical capabilities
Teacher:
[Critical literacy] is definitely something that I have to
teach them… Giving an opinion is that something
that they have to learn. They are not used to.
Particularly the Asian students.
Kate:
I wouldn’t contact any agency and that’s why I will not
say anything… I loose confident [confidence] in this
situations.
Ahmad:
I don’t care about the comments… I just ignore.
Affective domain: anxiety (task performance,
social embarrassment & sense of disadvantage )
Kate:
I afraid to talk by telephone… if I have to contact something I try to
avoid this situation!
Chen Lin:
So I need to give that bank a telephone call and I remember that
that operator keep speaking to me and I can’t understand and I
just keep asking ‘pardon’, ‘pardon’, ‘pardon’. I think she will be
crazy because I can’t understand and keep asking [to repeat].
Kate:
I afraid I could not write English very well and this might affect our
application. Because I thought that may be they don’t want to get
Asian people, especially if they can not use English very well. I
think it’s a little bit affect to our application form.
Communication in 3-D:
Chen Lin:
I [was] afraid what if I speak and they [a real estate
agent] can’t understand and then I can’t deal with this
problem… [I]t’s not talking with friends… it is some
formal things. So I need to choose some style to give
them some pressure and also to press [that] I am a
little bit angry, so you need to take these things
seriously! … I just told them because I do everything
right, you need to give my bond back! They say: ‘Yeah’
but they didn’t do that. And then I just told them if you
don’t give my money back, I will just call police and
ask police to deal with it… At that time I feel a bit
nervous … Well…very nervous.
Findings of the study: technoliteracy
capability from the perspective of the 3-D
model
Feedback
Questions
Discussion