CMC for Language Acquisition

Abstract

Authentic experiences encourage the student to cognitively engage the content by actively trying to make sense and to integrate the experience. This chapter describes a range of currently available and emerging mediated communication technologies for supporting both didactic and constructivist approaches to language acquisition. Even though CMC has several unique characteristics that make it suitable for designing authentic instructional experiences but as the research indicates, using CMC effectively requires careful consideration of the intended discourse goals. Through collaborative discourse, student and teacher engage the content and incorporate it into their cognitive repertoire. These activities are discursive in nature, writing, verbal interaction, and presentation. Consequently, this chapter discusses how to effectively choose the CMC software most effective for epistemic engagement.