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Chat how-to
I started using chat with my ESL writing classes because I was convinced that
it would be essential for their development as writers in English in their
futures. Chat is to writing as conversation is to speech; one cannot claim to
be fluent when one can give a perfect speech, yet be unable to carry on a
conversation, or unfamiliar with the process.
Fortunately my communicative background taught me to make clear
communicative objectives, and then learn to evaluate how well students
can use skills to actually communicate. Assume that the medium is
entirely new to everyone; hold their hand getting there and let their
classmates help them. In fact as time goes by I find very few people who
haven't chatted, fewer still who have trouble with the mechanics of it
once there. Yet I myself was quite intimidated when I first tried. So,
I'd advise anyone who is new to it, as I was, to become familiar with it
first before trying it. I'd go to Tapped In, log in as a member, see
who was in the reception area, and say hello, tell them what I was
doing (1). They were all in favor but also maintained that if I did it
regularly I should get my own room, or consider becoming a sponsor of
the organization. I agreed with both of these in principle, yet we were
always waiting for Blackboard and didn't consider TI to be a permanent
thing. I'd click on "Comfy Conference Room," a chat venue, and go sit
there; meanwhile I'd explain to the class how to do what I'd just done.
Some were interested in becoming members, thus receiving a transcript
and an occasional e-mail; most just logged in as guests, joined me and
said hello. Their assignment was to bring me URLs and drop them in the
chat window. First I would start with any URL from their hometown; this
gave us something to talk about ("oh, you're from Tianjin?" - often I'd
forgotten this even though they had told me on the first day). I had
them bring me YouTubes. But most importantly I had them deliver the
URL's of the papers they had posted on their weblogs- essays, summary
responses, research paper, abstract; they would become familiar with the
term "post URL," be able to grab one they had created, and then turn
around and paste it into the chat window, often using keyboard paste
(control + apple + v) which I had at first never heard of, being from the mac
side. It took me a while myself to learn how to find my way around the
keyboard, and do what I wanted, but eventually I was able to not only
bring things to the chat window myself, but explain to them exactly how
to do it. Very few had trouble with it, but I gave them two days to do
it, so that if they failed to do it on the first day, they could go home
and discuss it in their own language with their friends. We'd work
together on the project; often the class would have other things to
write simultaneously, so that only a few people would still be trying to
finish the chat assignment, while others had moved on to another
project.
In any case, the transcript would show who had finished it and how well;
I could go back and read, pick out exactly what had happened. And I
noticed another thing; for some, basic politeness was not part of the
situation. So I began to require it. Say hello and goodbye; answer when you
are asked a question; identify the URL's you throw on the table. For
example, say, "here is my research paper: http://..." This created a
culture where anyone who chose to keep the chat window open and
experience the conversation could keep up with it very well and even
enjoy it. I of course knew what I was looking for, and wasn't surprised
by what I saw. But to many, it was quite a lively spectacle.
My chat classes, their opportunity to finish this assignment,
would be the last half of two different classes In a
row, say Thursday and Friday afternoons; if they finished, often, they
could go home, or move on to another class. I had one problem that
students would come and talk to me when I was engaged in conversation
with other students; they either wouldn't realize what chatting was, or
just think that it didn't matter, that despite the fact that I was
chatting, I could be interrupted. I actually wanted to make my office
hours chat hours, but I always felt that office hours were extra and for
people who needed extra help, whereas this was a class assignment that
everyone had to do. So I kept it during class hours and encouraged
everyone to chat on office hours anyway, especially at the end of the
term, and when they were late in handing in their papers for other
reasons.
There were times when I felt that I had come into their neighborhood and
was for example hanging around on a street corner with them - my biggest
problem really was what I interpreted as their disrespect for each
other, or sometimes, just for the situation itself. But probably they
were much more used to the chat environment than I was, and the
disrespect was more a sign of informality than of true disrespect.
They quickly learned which emoticons and symbols were not
universal; to me it's an interesting sidelight that some are more
readily and universally interpreted than others; therefore some just
wouldn't work. I didn't discourage them though. It's like short versions
in conversation (gonna, gotta): if it works, and everyone understands it, it is
inherently ok. Sometimes we would talk about what they meant by
something. For example, there is a clear tongue sticking out: P. But
does that have the same meaning in every culture? I doubt it.
Most have said that it helped them. It forced them to operate in a
writing environment; it increased their reading speed in particular, and
it helped their typing. There were some for whom semi-formal English
chat was such a novel idea that they wanted to hang around and keep
talking with it; they clearly saw it as an opportunity to improve
reading-writing, to learn, and to speak to a native speaker. Others were
busier, focused on finishing and moving on, and not especially surprised
or even put out by the assignments at all. Still a third group couldn't
believe it, and would stare at the chat window virtually unable to
respond in time. I realized that for them reading was a painfully slow
process, and people from this group would have trouble finding the best
time to jump in, if that was a consideration. As time went by there were
fewer of these, anyway.
Reading and responding quickly is crucial; following different threads
is also challenging (see
Chat behavior). If one shuns punctuation and uses other short
forms, can one be understood? That is an ongoing question. One must keep
fingertips ready to try again if one fails on the first time. They would
frequently ask to find out if they had finished the assignment, but I
wasn't always sure, and it was difficult for me to scroll up and count
what they had dropped, at the same time I was speaking actively with
other students. They therefore had to become more responsible for
what they themselves had done; and, I had surprising success. Virtually
all of them completed all assignments, every time (2).
1-09
1. Tapped in (see below) was set up by grants to encourage academic use of
new technology. It has the advantage of being there for the purpose you are
using it for, and also being by nature invested in the success of what you are
doing. I am eternally grateful to TI for their help with my classes and would
recommend them to anyone. There are of course many alternatives (see
Choice of venue).
2. To retrieve transcripts, go to "Me" and "Places" in Tapped In. As a member, you
can have transcripts for any conversation you've been a part of. Why are they so hard
to find? Just chance; it won't stay that way.
bibliography
Leverett, T. (2008, April). brb: Using chat in
an esl/efl writing class. From Teaching writing in
online and paper worlds, Demonstration, Writing IS, TESOL 2008, New
York City. http://www.siu.edu/~cesl/teachers/pd/tw6.html.
___ (2008, April). Digital fluency
as goal and objective. From Teaching writing in
online and paper worlds, Demonstration, Writing IS, TESOL 2008, New
York City. http://www.siu.edu/~cesl/teachers/pd/tw4.html.
___ (2007, Mar.). Fluency first:
Fluency as a construct. From Student weblogging
for fluency, skills and integration, Demonstration, Writing IS,
TESOL 2007, Seattle WA.
http://www.siu.edu/~cesl/teachers/pd/wf3.html
___ (2007, May). Dialects in a
changing language. Global Study Magazine 4, 3. London. pp. 56-57.
Available online at:
http://globalstudymagazine.com/site/articles/359.
Resources:
Tapped In
1. Presentation home
2. Introduction
[ CESL ][ Tom Leverett's weblog ]
Faner corner, from TL's pop collection
 Page maintained
by
Thomas
Leverett, CESL, SIUC
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