Learning Electronic Literacy Skills in an Online Language Learning Community

摘要

This paper is about the learning that happens in the synchronous text chat forum of on online group of English Language learners and tutors. It is a socioculturally oriented case study of an informal virtual community called Webheads, who meet online in various places on the internet. Although dedicated to English Language learning, much other learning takes place within the group. The study concerns the learning of certain skills associated with electronic literacy, namely discourse management and technological skills involved in using synchronous text-based computer-mediated communication (SCMC). The paper focuses on the analysis of the concepts of collaboration and scaffolding in learning. Attention is also paid to the analysis of SCMC text, employing the notion of the conversational floor as an appropriate analytical unit for this type of discourse.