A corpus‐based analysis of online synchronous and asynchronous modes of communication within language teacher education

Elaine Riordan, Liam Murray • 9/28/2010

Abstract

Current technologies are affording more varied types of communication and collaboration than has ever before been possible, and many disciplines are beginning to exploit these technologies, with language teacher education (LTE) being one such discipline. Several researchers have explored synchronous and asynchronous online communication and their uses and benefits within different pedagogical contexts. Adding to this field of work, this paper provides a corpus‐based analysis of virtual synchronous and asynchronous student teacher and peer mentor interactions, highlighting the pertinent issues of interactivity and reflection. Variation and similarities between both modes are considered and compared against larger spoken and written corpora to investigate if either mode appears more akin to the spoken or written media. The paper closes with a discussion of the pedagogical implications of such research findings for the teacher education arena.

Citations: 12