Manuala Delfino and Stephania Manca (?2010/2011)
The expression of a social presence through the use of figurative language in a web-based learning environment
Accepted in Computers in Human Behavior.
Topic: Figurative language as a possible indicator of social presence in CMC. Research initiated after the regular use of fl noticed; although the students had not bee encouraged to do so.
( KRO but data collected from a forum where students were reflecting on personal experience)
Use of FL in CMC
1. To refer to self , feelings and emotions
2. To conceptualise the components of the virtual learning environment
What is fl? ‘An iconic use of language aimed at expressing a non-literal meaning’ includes metaphors, hyperboles, idioms, understatement, simile.
Backgound
Lack of non-verbal cues - Leh A.S.C. (2001) Computer-Mediated Communication and social presence in a distance learning environment. International Journal of Educational Communications 7(2), 109-128
P3 ‘users seem to compensate for communicative lack of ‘spoken’ discourse with linguistic interventions and adaptations, emotiocons, typographical marks, capital and lower case, ellipsis, exclamation, as well as typing errors)’ Murphy and Collins. 1997 – led to ideas about verbal immediacy. ‘Not a substitution or a surrogate but a way to express the same communicative needs that emerge in a face –to-face setting but rather as a very different medium that should be taken into consideration.’
P4 De Simone, Lou and Schmid (2001) – use of ‘metaphor as a means of bonding in online e.g. ship ‘ to foster students’ sense of belonging to a larger community and to provide a framework for role assignment , identity, and responsibility)
Aims
· To analyse the distribution of figurative language theat emerged in the social areas throughout the course, the relation between participants’ educational background and their use of fl and finally the relation between fl and the structure of the written threaded discourse
· A parallel aim - the classification of the fl occurrences into two categories, identity and context. Figurative language was found to be key to interpreting how participants gave shape and body to their online identities, as well as to the setting
Theoretical framework
1. Social presence and online learning ( see PhD key terms for more on this)
2. Figurative language
p6 metaphor has a cognitive function- metaphor creates ‘ a bridge from abstract domains to perceptual experience’ can be a guide to future action.
‘helps understand a new domain in terms of what is familiar’
‘could be considered as a refelection of a community’s conventional pattern or world views’
Figurative language and emotion
Tannen, 1889, 1992 fl ‘has a central role in establishing a climate of closer intimacy between speakers. The power of imagery facilitates the sharing of personal experience and creates involvement , communicating meanings and emotions’ (KRO but why?)
Ortony & Fainsiber (1989) ‘ concrete vividness as the main characteristic of metaphor and fl in the expression of emotions’ ‘intense emotions lead to a greater use of metaphor’
Gibbs et al, 2002 fl ‘ can create a sense of closeness and intimacy between speaker and listener that literal language cannot achieve, allowing them to speak about their own emotions without touching them directly’
P7 Fussel & Moss, 1998 ‘People are more likely to use metaphor and metaphorical comparisons to describe their subjective experience of emotion than to describe the actions they took in response to that emotional experience’
RQs
1. What is the distribution of fl during the 10 week course? Is there any connection between figurative language and crucial social events of the course?
2. Is there any relation between the participant’s educational background and their use of figurative language?
3. Is there any relation between the structure of message threads and the use of figurative language.
Method
Context & Participants
10 wk course FC, 3 face to face meetings at beginning, middle, end.
57 students, 7 tutors, 10 supervisors. ( KRO so not collaborative groups)
Phased instructional activities: Analysing and comparing educational software and discussing its integration in the school setting then collaboratively developing a project for the implementation of educational technology in a specific school setting.
Research carried out in the ‘social’ and ‘meta-cognition reflection’ forums - ‘those areas that are mainly related to the expression of the social dimension’ (KRO interesting assumption).
Longditudinal
Membership knowledge
Student precourse evaluation – familiar with email; novice with chat rooms and forums, final grade depended on participation in the reflection forum.
Data collection
Unit of analysis – a posting
Data : each occurrence of FL
Data collation
| Objective | Subjective |
| Record no. | FL (Yes/No) |
| Sender name | No of occurrences |
| Role (student, tutor) | Type ( identity/context) |
| date | |
| Course week | |
| Posting subject | |
| Posting text | |
| Type of posting (first in thread, reply, unthreaded) | |
Nb any expression that had lost its metaphoric import through frequent use i.e. dictionary item, was excluded.
Results
Occurrence 86/843 messages = 10.2%
Both non FP and FP down at the midpoint which also coincided with a critical event. Raises the question of whether there is a need to emphasise negativity with silence.
No discernable patterns in the use of FL associated with educational background ( arts or science) or position in the thread.
P4 ‘FL was found to be key to how participants gave shape and body to their online identities’
P4 ‘FL was a means through which participants projected themselves i.e. their identity, their emotions ( KRO but didn’t actually have emotions as a RQ) feeling as well as their way of conceptualizing the online learning environment’
FL used proprtionally more when meaningful or critical events happened. The higher the emotional involvement (KRO ? how known) the more metaphorical the language adopted’
Conclusions
P23 FL a resource ‘to create the new learning and social reality in which they are involved’
“Metaphors and fl were used to understand a new domain of experience in terms of what was already familiar to them’
‘A major aspect of fl in the context of online learning, based on the approach of collaborative learning and social construction of knowledge is that fl are the elective means with which to explicate and conceptualise tacit knowledge into knowledge shared among the group. Personal knowledge is embedded in individual experience and involves intangible factors such as personal beliefs, perspectives as well as the value system. It must be socialized and transformed through close interaction and collaboration within a group, into explicit knowledge in order to become group knowledge’
