| This study analyzes the language produced in four composition classes in three classroom contexts: traditional classrooms, computerized conferences, and computerized chats. The study uses both quantitative and qualitative analyses. The quantitative portion focuses on frequencies of language functions produced by teachers and students, while the qualitative portion focuses on the overall structure of the classes and the students' reactions to the different class contexts.;Six classroom texts were gathered from each of four composition courses: two in the traditional classroom, recorded and transcribed; and four in the computerized classroom. Each text was analyzed into idea units, a unit of analysis roughly equal to a clause. Idea units were categorized into a functional framework, delimiting academic, social, procedural, regulatory, grammatical leftovers, and questionable idea units. Statistical comparisons across the three contexts revealed that students produced very little language in the traditional classroom context. They produced significantly more academic talk in the computerized conferences and significantly more social talk in the computerized chats.;Four student characteristics were used for statistical comparisons of the language functions produced by students: gender, ethnicity, MBTI profiles (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator--a measure of personality), and academic and computer preparation. Results revealed that men and women produced roughly equal amounts of academic and social language in the computerized contexts, lending support for the notion that computerized media can equalize participation among male and female students. Men were found to "flame" (use inappropriate attacks on others) in the computerized chat context more than women. The numbers of non-Anglos in the study were very small, so only descriptive statistics were analyzed. The Judging/Perceiving scale of the MBTI revealed significance in terms of quantities of slightly larger amounts of social language being produced by Perceivers in the computerized chat function. In terms of academic and computer preparation, e-mail experience was found to correlate negatively with academic talk in chats and conferences.;Teacher control was found to be a better predictor than classroom context of student language production. The two more experienced teachers encouraged their students to participate more in the traditional classroom context than the two less experienced teachers. The level of teacher monitoring, or control, affected student participation in the computerized contexts. The two less experienced teachers used chats less in the computerized classroom, and when they did use chats, they controlled the discussions very carefully, resulting in more academic talk than that produced by the students in the more experienced teachers' computerized chats. The students in one of the more experienced teacher's class produced almost all of the flaming type of language found in this study.;Student portfolios were also evaluated to determine whether a match between student and instructor personality type influenced their score on the portfolio. These analyses showed only low correlations. |
