Alumna Binbin Zheng (Assistant Professor, Michigan State University) and Professor Mark Warschauer publish in Journal of Educational Computing: "Language Development and Epistemic Engagement Among Upper Elementary Students in Synchronous Computer-Mediated Communication."
Abstract This study examined the synchronous computer-mediated communication of 48 fifth-grade students and their teachers in a public school for large numbers of English learners during a school year. We collected all participants’ discussion threads in the first 2 months and last 2 months of the year-long activity. Students’ language complexity was assessed through descriptive statistics and content analysis of student posts. In addition, an epistemic engagement framework using a combination of top-down and bottom-up coding schemes was developed to further examine students’ collaborative engagement in knowledge construction. The results suggest that well-designed online synchronous computer-mediated communication among linguistically diverse upper elementary students is related to increased complexity in language use and sophistication in interaction. Zheng, B., & Warschauer, W. (2018). Language development and epistemic engagement among upper elementary students in synchronous computer-mediated communication. Journal of Educational Computing. https://doi.org/10.1177/0735633118794059 Comments are closed.
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