Transcript Computer-Mediated Communication and Video Chat

Computer-Mediated
Communication and Video
Chat
Randall Sadler
University of Illinois @
Urbana-Champaign
What is CMC/NBLT?

Computer-Mediated
Communication (for
language learning) is
the use of computers
connected by
networks to engage
in authentic
communication with
other language
learners and/or
teachers.
“NBLT represents a
new and different
side of CALL, where
human-to-human
communication is
the focus” (Kern &
Warschauer, 2000, p. 1).
How is that different from CALL?

•Many of these
influenced by The
Audiolingual
Approach
•Aka, Drill and Kill
“…CALL has
traditionally been
associated with selfcontained,
programmed
applications such as
tutorials, drills,
simulations,
instructional games,
tests, and so on” (Kern
& Warschauer, 2000, p. 1) .
A VERY short review of research…

Email: Absalon & Marden, 2004; BiesenbachLucas & Weasenforth, 2001; Fedderholdt,
2001; O'Dowd, 2003; Shang, 2003
 Message Boards: Benton, 1996; Kamhi-Stein,
2000; Ware, 2004
 MUDs and MOOs: Kötter, 2001b; Peterson,
2001; Weininger & Shield, 2003
 Text Chat: Bearden, 2003; Freiermuth, 2002;
Perez, 2003; D. B. Smith, 2001; Tudini, 2003;
Williams, 2003
Okay, a fairly short review…
Audio Chat: Cziko & Park, 2003;
Hampel & Hauck, 2004; Kötter, 2001a;
Kötter, Shield, & Stevens, 1999; Lamy,
2004
 Video Conferencing: Goodfellow et al.,
1996; Kinginger, 1998; Matthews, 1998;
McAndrew, Foubister, & Mayes, 1996;
Egert, 2000
 Video Chat: Wang, 2004

Research Questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
What programs are freely available for
engaging in synchronous video chat?
How different are these tools from each
other in terms of technical and
pedagogical issues?
How suitable are these programs for
personal communication?
How suitable are these programs for
language teaching purposes?
What did the study do?

Evaluated 8 freely available video chat
programs
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
CU-See Me World
ICQ
MSN Messenger
Paltalk
Skype
Yahoo Messenger
Participants

Turkey
 8 MATEFL students
 4 female & 4 male
 Taking course on
“The use of
computers for
language learning”





US
10 MA TESL
students
5 male & 5 female
U.S., Argentina,
China, Cambodia,
and Korea
Taking course on
“CMC for Language
Teaching”
Procedure
Groups of 2-3 students used each
program for international communication
 Each student completed a 28-item
questionnaire for each tool & a final
questionnaire


3,132 item responses total
Results
Tool
M (over 95) SD
Rank
MSN
80.50
13.10
1
Skype
76.55
9.30
2
Yahoo
56.44
14.23
3
ICQ
46.77
15.20
4
CUworld 41.83
15.16
5
Paltalk
16.63
6
35.61
Paired t-tests
15 possible combinations of video tool pairs.
MSN
Messenger
Skype
Yahoo
ICQ
ICQ
CUworld
CUworld
Paltalk
Use issues
Tech Issues
Technical & Use Issues
Items on the
questionnaire
website user
friendly
easy to install
easy to setup
good
help/support
easy to use
easy to add
members
easy to start a
conversation
easy to see if
others were
online
Average
Average Rank
CU
World
2.29 (6)
ICQ
MSN
Paltalk
Skype
Yahoo
3.18 (5)
4.18 (2)
3.27 (4)
4.39 (1)
3.67 (3)
2.41 (6)
2.59 (6)
2.90 (3)
3.41 (5)
3.44 (5)
2.80 (5)
4.73 (1)
4.67 (1)
3.67 (1)
3.73 (4)
3.73 (4)
2.40 (6)
4.44 (2)
4.38 (2)
3.73 (2)
4.00 (3)
4.00 (3)
2.85 (4)
2.53 (6)
3.18 (6)
3.00 (4)
3.29 (5)
4.69 (1)
4.53 (1)
2.64 (5)
3.53 (4)
4.28 (2)
4.06 (2)
3.65 (3)
4.06 (2)
2.82 (5)
3.06 (4)
4.67 (1)
2.60 (6)
4.50 (2)
3.44 (3)
3.33 (5)
3.81 (4)
4.82 (1)
3.13 (6)
4.35 (2)
4.12 (3)
2.75
5.36
3.25
4.25
4.50
1.13
3.13
4.89
4.27
1.89
3.72
3.00
The Upper 3rd—MSN & Skype (Traditional)
What they liked/disliked
High audio and video quality
 Ability to make landline calls
 Familiarity

No possibility for multi-user video chat
 Skype—small user video

The Lower 3rd—Paltalk & CUworld
(Community Oriented)
What they liked/disliked
“Potential” for multi-user chat
 Pre-existing interest groups

Free usage restricted
 Button turn-taking (Paltalk)
 Technical Issues (CUworld)
 Wow/Yikes Factor

The Middle 3rd—Yahoo & ICQ
(Transitional Tools)
The Middle 3rd—Yahoo & ICQ
(Transitional Tools)
Free
 Multiuser video chat for free—ICQ

Some video and audio issues
 Annoying extra software (Yahoo)
 Chat overload—317

What does all this mean for us?
1.
2.
Do you need video?
In class or out of class usage?
1.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Individual or class to class (videoconferencing)?
Free or pay?
1-1 or multi-person communication?
Have a partner or need a partner?
xLingo & mylanguageexchange