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Full-Text Articles in Chinese Studies

Intercultural Learning Via Instant Messenger Interaction, Li Jin Dec 2006

Intercultural Learning Via Instant Messenger Interaction, Li Jin

Li Jin

This paper reports a qualitative study investigating the viability of instant messenger (IM) interaction to facilitate intercultural learning in a foreign language class. Eight students in a Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) class participated in the study. Each student was paired with a native speaker (NS) of Chinese, and each pair collaborated on eight intercultural-learning tasks over a 2-month period through IM. Data were collected through an ethnographic survey, intercultural sensitivity scale, follow-up interviews, the researcher's reflective journal, and participants' IM conversation transcripts. The results showed that student participants' intercultural interaction engagement and attentiveness steadily increased, they developed self-reflection …


Computer-Mediated Peer Response In A Level-Iv Esl Academic Writing Class: A Cultural Historical Activity Theoretical Perspective, Li Jin Dec 2006

Computer-Mediated Peer Response In A Level-Iv Esl Academic Writing Class: A Cultural Historical Activity Theoretical Perspective, Li Jin

Li Jin

Very few studies focus on how English as a second language (ESL) students’ agency and their unique histories as an integral part of the social cultural environment influence his or her participation in computer-mediated peer response tasks, particularly in a multimedia-based synchronous communication environment. Considering each ESL student as an active agency with unique historical bearings, the dissertation investigated ESL students’ participation in computer-mediated peer response (CMPR) tasks that used instant messenger (IM) as the communication technology between students from the cultural historical activity theoretical (CHAT) perspective, which views all human interaction as a dynamic developmental process. A case study …