CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND
Introduction
There is no doubt that Communication has gone through a lot of changes
in the past few years. We started off with telephones and beepers and later on it
developed further in computers and smart phones. With the development of
technology came a continuous innovation for the medium of communication.
Social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & Internet Forums became very
influential nowadays because people have easy access to it. These dramatic
changes have of course sparked much discussion of the shifting (and sometimes
even "collapsing") of cultural discourse practices and identities (e.g. AL-SAGGAF
& WILLIAMSON, 2004), very often framed in terms of debates about
globalization (see BACHMANN's, 2007 review of BLOMMAERT's, 2005,and
FAIRCLOUGH's, 2006, approaches to the study of discourse and globalization).
Discourse analysis offers a broad range of options designed to investigate a
language and the context by which it is used. This study will apply the
Conversational Analysis Approach to try and identify the common styles being
used by forums members in a familiar, yet complicated context which is the
internet. One of the central concerns in CA is with the operations of culture in
action; that is, the accomplishment of culture through "talk in social interaction"
(HESTER & EGLIN, 1997; SCHEGLOFF, 1997). CA shares with its "sister
discipline" ethnomethodology (EM), an interest in the ways in which societal
members display and make "accountable" their actions in relation to the culturein-action. Accountable, means something like "intelligible" or "understandable"
(TEN HAVE, 2002), so EM and CA are directed towards the investigation of how
members create "understandability" in social action. CA is particularly concerned
with the ways that conversational machinery is used to this end. An Online Forum
or a Newsgroup is just like a giant electronic bullet where messages are posted
for everybody to read and respond to. There are different news groups on
different topics of interest where questions and opinions can be raised and
responded to via email. The main agenda of this research is to give readers a
glimpse of online forums discussions in the Philippines. This will serve as a way
to make more people appreciate a particular aspect of our present culture and
our growing interest in advanced form of entertainment. In turn this will also make
individuals realize that Filipinos can be at par with other countries when it comes
to the use of technological innovations.
connection. Public gatherings are not. The competition for time is tough.
Everybody has lots to do. Its hard enough getting someones attention, let alone
convincing them to prioritize your issue above all of the other things they have to
get done in a day. Convenience is a crucial strategy. Online participation, like
online learning, is the most convenient form of citizen participation.
Definition of Terms
Theoretical Framework
Discourse analysis offers a broad range of methodological devices
designed to investigate language and the context by which it is used. Over the
years, there has been an increased focus on diversities than commonalities in
discourse. Thus there are those who set forth discussions on how differences
and problems in understanding could be addressed before they become fullblown communication breakdowns. Discourse analyst Emmanual A. Schegloff for
his part considers that formal accounts in conversation analysis are some sort of
INPUT
PROCESS
OUTPUT
Conversations
extracted from
the English
Grammar and
Usage Tutorial
Thread under
the Academe
sub topic of the
Education
Forum from the
Pinoy
Exchange
website.
Selecting
sample
conversations
that would
demonstrate
the concepts to
be revealed in
the study and
conducting a
discourse
analysis with
the collected
data
Understanding
how
communication
works in an
Online
Discussion
Forum and get
insights with
the way
participants
engage in this
type of
interaction
CHAPTER II
Pinoy Exchange
A website for Forum Discussion offers a wide range of information which is
segmented based on your interests: whether academic or non academic. The
PinoyExchange (PEX) website alone offers a wide range of interests to its
subscribers. On the website there are main topics listed according to the nature
of interest. Under each main topic, there are subtopics which are segmented
based on a specific subject. There are many different threads here that could
interest anyone.
In this website you can do things like sharing your thoughts about a
wonderful book that you have just read, getting suggestions on what movies to
see the next weekend or you could even seek some love advice from people who
might know better than yourself.
Online Discussions
An online discussion in the online community is a conversation in a virtual
community whose members interact with each other primarily via the Internet.
Those who wish to be a part of an online community usually have to become a
10
11
Lothian describes fandoms are amorphous, as can be seen from the diverse
communities (from music to sports to soaps), and fandoms, to the established
groupings of media fans whose norms and expectations around production and
discussion of fan fiction, art, and remix video which OTW (Organization for
Transformative Works) has sought to represent. There are a vast number of
sites which allow for users to share and read articles and reviews of the hobbies
or chosen subject. International Communication, is a simple way of describing
the types of interaction that fandoms/communities do. They create ideas, share
opinions, report up-to-the-minute events, and create original content for viewers
to see.
Online communities have grown in influence in shaping the phenomena
around which they organize according to Nancy K. Baym's work. She says that:
More than any other commercial sector, the popular culture industry relies on
online communities to publicize and provide testimonials for their products. The
strength of the online communitys power is notably displayed through the
season 3 premiere of BBCs Sherlock. Online activity by fans seemed to have
had a noticeable influence on the plot and direction of the season opening
episode. Mark Lawson of The Guardian recounts how fans have, in a way,
directed the outcome of the events of the episode. Compared to most shows,
Lawson states that Sherlock has always been one of the most web-aware
shows, among the first to find a satisfying way of representing electronic chatter
on-screen. Though ideal for the fan base, Lawson worries of the narrowing of
12
approach when creating the show, and how this approach may affect other
shows in the future.
Whether it is for a grassroots campaign or a creative direction for a
television series, online communities have become a significant force for change
in todays culture. Many major events in current news can be pinpointed to
origins within online communities.
When developing an online community, it is important to have the
technologies necessary to keep members interested, manage assets, and uphold
community relations. Developers take into consideration whether all the online
community members are good at using technology. If an online community is not
workable for some users, they may be discouraged. Surveys and discussions
where members may post their feedback are essential in developing an online
community.
Online communities are developed to encourage individuals to come
together to teach and learn from one another. They encourage self learners to
discuss and learn about real-world problems or situations as well as focus on
things such as teamwork, collaborative thinking, personal experiences, et cetera.
Online communities are dynamic by nature and researchers and
organizations work to classify them. For example it is important to know the
security, access, and technology requirements of a given type of community as it
may evolve from an open forum to a private and regulated forum.
A number of authors have looked at classifying online communities and
those within them to better understand how they are structured. It has been
13
argued that the technical aspects of online communities, such as whether pages
can be created and edited by many, as is the case with wikis including Wikipedia,
or whether only certain users can post entries and edit them, as is the case with
most blogs, can place specific online communities into types of genre. Another
approach argues that 'online community' is a metaphor and that contributors
actively negotiate the meaning of the term, including values and social norms.
Some research has looked at the users of online communities. Amy Jo
Kim has classified the rituals and stages of online community interaction and
called it the 'Membership life cycle'. Clay Shirky talks about community of
practice whose members collaborates and helps each other in order to make
something better or improve a certain skill. What makes these communities bond
is love of something as demonstrated by members who go out of their way to
help without any financial interest. Others have suggested character theories to
break particular patterns of behavior of particular users into certain categories.
A 2001 McKinsey & Company study showed that only 2% of transaction
site customers returned after their first purchase, while 60% of new online
communities users began using and visiting the sites regularly after their first
experiences. Online communities have changed the game for retail firms, forcing
them to change their business strategies. Companies have to network more,
adjust computations, and alter their organizational structures. This leads to
changes in a companys communications with their manufacturers including the
information shared and made accessible for further productivity and profits.
Because consumers and customers in all fields are becoming accustomed to
14
15
16
Approaches to Discourse
Deborah Schifrrins Approaches to Discourse (1994) discusses the scope
and the application of discourse analysis. According to her, discourse is defined
in three ways: 1) language above the sentence which is about functional
relations with the context of which discourse is a part 2) language in use-thus, it
cannot be restricted to the description of linguistic forms independent of the
purposes or functions which these forms are designed to serve in human affairs
and as 3) utterances this definition suggests that discourse arises not as a
collection of decontextualized units of language structure , but as collection of
inherently contextualized units of language use (Schiffrin 1994:20). In Chapter III
of her book, Schiffrin outlines several methods in discourse analysis. One of the
methods is Conversation Analysis (CA), an approach concerned with the
problem of order and how language both creates and is created by social
context (Schiffrin 1994:232). Simply put, CA rejects the idea that the meaning of
every utterance is the same for every context. It regards meaning as dependent
on specific context and purpose.
Conversation Analysis
A number of studies have used CA's concern with the examination of the
operations of common sense understanding within conversational practice to
look at the intersections of different cultures in a common language. Schegloff's,
17
Jefferson's and Sacks' (1977) early work in CA, and their observations about the
organizational structures of American English conversations led to a number of
studies looking at the variation of these practices across different language
contexts, (e.g. Bowles & Palloti, 2004; Sifianou, 1989, Hosoda, 2006) as well as
in contexts of intercultural common language communication. Halmari (1993)
analyzed the differences between Finnish and English speakers in the context of
business meetings conducted in English in the U.S. and showed that there were
marked differences in the organization of the speech encounters. English
speakers used a "how are you" sequence as part of the formal opening of the
talk, and as a brief sequence used to get to the "business at hand" (see BUTTON
& CASEY, 1984, on the organization of topics in conversation). In contrast,
Finnish speakers treated such "introductory issues" as more lengthy topical
sequence in their own right, requiring quite detailed exploration. It is easy to
imagine comedy sketches playing on this subtle difference and the difficulties it
may create for the hapless participants. This is not by any means intended to
trivialize the matter: the apparently "minor" problem of "doing introductions" has
serious consequences for basic communicative exchanges. Indeed, YOUNG
(1994) has looked at the ways in which Chinese communication strategies and
their "translation" into English as a second or other language have impacted on
the perceptions of the Chinese by U.S. Americans. YOUNG shows that these
simple cultural "ways of doing" create very tangible problems for communication
that result in very real cross-cultural misunderstanding. There is also a growing
body of work that looks at the interaction between second language and native
18
19
Etiquette in Technology
This governs what conduct is socially acceptable in an online or digital
situation. While etiquette is ingrained into culture, etiquette in technology is a
fairly recent concept. The rules of etiquette that apply when communicating over
the Internet or social networks or devices are different from those applying when
communicating in person or by audio (such as telephone) or videophone (such
as Skype video). It is a social code of network communication.
Communicating with others via the Internet without misunderstandings in
the heat
of
the
moment can
be
challenging,
mainly
because facial
20
several
recommendations
to
attempt
to
safeguard
against
these
rules
for
and
Usenet
such
as
avoiding flame
wars and spam are constant across most mediums and communities. Another
rule is to avoid typing in all caps or grossly enlarging script for emphasis, which is
considered to be the equivalent of shouting or yelling. Other commonly shared
points, such as remembering that one's posts can easily be made public, are
generally intuitively understood by publishers of Web pages and posters to use
net, although this rule is somewhat flexible depending on the environment. On
more private protocols, however, such as e-mail and SMS, some users take the
privacy of their posts for granted. One-on-one communications, such as private
21
messages on chat forums and direct SMSs, may be considered more private
than other such protocols, but infamous breaches surround even these relatively
private media. For example, Paris Hilton's Sidekick PDA was cracked in 2005,
resulting in the publication of her private photos, SMS history, address book, etc.
More substantially, a group e-mail sent by Cerner CEO Neal Patterson to
managers of a facility in Kansas City concerning "Cerner's declining work ethic"
read, in part, "The parking lot is sparsely used at 8 A.M.; likewise at 5 P.M. As
managersyou either do not know what your EMPLOYEES are doing; or YOU
do not CARE... In either case, you have a problem and you will fix it or I will
replace you." After the e-mail was forwarded to hundreds of other employees, it
quickly leaked to the public. On the day that the e-mail was posted to Yahoo!,
Cerner's stock price fell by over 22% from a high market capitalization of US$1.5
billion.
Beyond matters of basic courtesy and privacy, e-mail syntax (defined
by RFC 2822) allows for different types of recipients. The primary recipient,
defined by the To: line, can reasonably be expected to respond, but recipients
of carbon copies cannot be, although they still might. Likewise, misuse of the CC:
functions in lieu of traditional mailing lists can result in serious technical issues. In
late
2007,
employees
of
the
United
States Department
of
Homeland
Security used large CC: lists in place of a mailing list to broadcast messages to
several hundred users. Misuse of the "reply to all" caused the number of
responses to that message to quickly expand to some two million messages,
bringing down their mail server. In cases like this, rules of netiquette have more
22
23
on digital citizenship have been taught in some public education systems and
some argue that the term can be "measured in terms of economic and political
activities online."
Standard English
In the entry for Standard English" in The Oxford Companion to the
English Language (1992), Tom McArthur observes that this "widely used term . . .
resists easy definition but is used as if most educated people nonetheless know
precisely what it refers to." For some of those people, Standard English (SE) is a
synonym for good or correct English usage. Others use the term to refer to a
specific geographical dialect of English or a dialect favored by the most powerful
and prestigious social group. Some linguists argue that there really is no single
standard of English.
What counts as Standard English will depend on both the locality and the
particular varieties that Standard English is being contrasted with. A form that is
considered standard in one region may be non-standard in another, and a form
that is standard by contrast with one variety. For example the language of innercity African Americans may be considered nonstandard by contrast with the
usage of middle-class professionals. No matter how it is interpreted, however,
Standard English in this sense should not be regarded as being necessarily
correct or unexceptionable, since it will include many kinds of language that
could be faulted on various grounds, like the language of corporate memos and
television advertisements or the conversations of middle-class high-school
24
students. Thus while the term can serve a useful descriptive purpose providing
the context makes its meaning clear, it should not be construed as conferring any
absolute positive evaluation (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English
Language, 4th edition, 2000).
There are many grammar books, dictionaries and guides to English usage
which describe and give advice on the Standard English that appears in writing.
These books are widely used for guidance on what constitutes Standard English.
However, there is often also a tendency to apply these judgments which are
about written English to spoken English but the norms of spoken and written
language are not the same; people do not talk like books even in the most formal
of situations or contexts. If you cannot refer to a written norm to describe spoken
language, then as we have seen, you base your judgments on the speech of the
best people - the educated or higher social classes but basing your judgments on
the usage of the educated is not without its difficulties. Speakers, even educated
ones, use a variety of different forms
(Linda Thomas, Ishtla Singh, Jean Stilwell Peccei, and Jason Jones, Language,
Society and Power: An Introduction. Routledge, 2004).
If Standard English is not therefore a language, an accent, a style or a
register, then of course we are obliged to say what it actually is. The answer is,
as at least most British sociolinguists are agreed, that Standard English is
a dialect. Standard English is simply one variety of English among many. It is a
sub-variety of English.
Historically, we can say that Standard English was selected though of
25
course, unlike many other languages, not by any overt or conscious decision as
the variety to become the standard variety precisely because it was the variety
associated with the social group with the highest degree of power, wealth and
prestige. Subsequent developments have reinforced its social character: the fact
that it has been employed as the dialect of an education to which pupils,
especially in earlier centuries, have had differential access depending on their
social class background (Peter Trudgill, "Standard English: What It Isnt,"
in Standard English: The Widening Debate, edited by Tony Bex and Richard J.
Watts. Routledge, 1999).
In countries where the majority speak English as their first language one
dialect is used nationally for official purposes. It is called Standard English. It is
the national dialect that generally appears in print. It is taught in schools, and
students are expected to use it in their essays. It is the norm for dictionaries and
grammars. We expect to find it in official typed communications, such as letters
from government officials, solicitors, and accountants. We expect to hear it in
national news broadcasts and documentary programs on radio or television.
Within each national variety the standard dialect is relatively homogeneous
in grammar, vocabulary, spelling,
and punctuation
(Sidney
Greenbaum, An
26
like who versus whom - get all the public discussion in language columns and
letters to the editor, so it may seem as if there is much turmoil; but the passions
evinced over such problematic points should not obscure the fact that for the vast
majority of questions about what is allowed in Standard English, the answers are
clear (Rodney Huddleston and Geoffrey K. Pullum, A Student's Introduction to
English Grammar. Cambridge University Press, 2006).
The so-called native speakers of Standard Englishs are those people who
have somehow espoused a particular set of conventions that loosely have to do
with the way English has been codified and prescribed in dictionaries, grammar
books and guides to good speaking and writing. This group of people includes a
large number of those who, having espoused the conventions, nevertheless do
not consider themselves to be excellent users of those conventions.
For many of these so-called native speakers, the English language is a
unique entity that exists outside or beyond its users. Rather than considering
themselves owners of English, users often think of themselves as guardians of
something precious: they wince when they hear or read uses of English that they
consider being sub-standard and they worry, in their letters to newspapers, that
the language is becoming degraded.
Those who do feel they have rights and privileges, who have a sense of
ownership of the English language and who can make pronouncements about
what is or is not acceptable, as well as those to whom these attributes are
accorded by others, do not necessarily belong to a speech community whose
members learned English in infancy. Native speakers of non-standard varieties of
27
English, in other words, the majority of native speakers of English, have never
had any real authority over Standard English and have never owned it. The
actual proprietors may, after all, simply be those who have learned thoroughly
how to use a Standard English to enjoy the sense of empowerment that comes
with it.
So those who make authoritative pronouncements about a Standard
English are simply those who, irrespective of accidents of birth, have elevated
themselves, or been elevated, to positions of authority in academe or publishing
or in other public areas. Whether or not their pronouncements will continue to be
accepted is another matter (Paul Roberts, "Set Us Free from Standard
English." The Guardian, January 24, 2002).
It is in fact a great pity that the Standard English debate is marred by the
sort of conceptual confusions and political posturing no matter how poorly
expressed. For I think there are genuine questions to be asked about what we
might mean by standards in relation to speech and writing. There is a great deal
to be done in this respect and proper arguments to be made, but one thing is
clear for sure. The answer does not lie in some simple-minded recourse to the
practice of the best authors or the admired literature of the past, valuable though
that writing is. Nor does the answer reside in rules for speech laid down by either
the educated of any official body held to be able to guarantee spoken
correctness. The answers to the real questions will be found to be much more
complex, difficult and challenging than those currently on offer. For these reasons
they might be more successful (Tony Crowley, "Curiouser and Curiouser: Falling
28
29
do this well. At the end of the day, pathos has the greatest influence on followers
perception of their leaders effectiveness as a communicator.
But all the authority and empathy in the world wont really help you if
people dont understand what youre talking about or how you came to your
conclusions. Logos is your mode for appealing to others sense of reason, ergo
the term logic. Employing strengths in strategic thinking, problem solving, and
analytical skills are how today leaders expresses logical ideas in clear and
compelling enough terms to influence outcomes. While some people can get by
on gut feel, as Steve Jobs famously tried to convince us he did, most leaders are
required to provide some kind of analysis to make clear their decisions. This is
where many leaders feel on the firmest ground when assembling and
analyzing data to address organizational problems. Effective leaders know the
effort and time spent making explicit the connections theyre drawing from the
data to the analysis to their conclusion are well worth it. These three elements of
communication reinforce one another. You may rely heavily on data and analysis
(logos) to make a point and in so doing create a perception of expertise and
authority on a topic (ethos). And while all three are necessary to excellent
communication, improving your ability to do any one of them will help you
become a better communicator and so a better leader. Combining them is the
path to achieving the greatest success.
Effective communication plays a vital role in the success of every
professional and personal relationship. Becoming a skilled communicator
30
requires you to learn the roles of every element of communication. You can use
these elements in many ways, including public speaking, interpersonal
relationships,
media
development
and
business
relations.
The
basic
31
The
message
may
be
the
most
crucial
element
of
effective
32
the receiver interpreted the message and how it can be improved. As a result the
model has a cyclical appearance, as the original receiver becomes the sender
and vice versa.
Communication may be defined as a process concerning exchange of
facts or ideas between persons holding different positions in an organization to
achieve mutual harmony. The communication process is dynamic in nature rather
than a static phenomenon.
Communication process as such must be considered a continuous and
dynamic inter-action, both affecting and being affected by many variables.
33
for intermediate and final outcomes. This also served as a good reference for
some of the findings from this research is true to the current study the
researchers conducted.
On the other hand, the research titled "Intercultural Communication
Online: Conversation Analysis and the Investigation of Asynchronous Written
Discourse" by Gibson (2009) works through the methodological issues involved
in treating "culture" and "interculturality" as interactionally demonstrable and
observable phenomena in written online asynchronous discourse. In particular,
the research also explores the ways that conversation analysis (CA) and its focus
on sequential and membership categorization analysis that aids the analysis of
culture as a textural interactional achievement. The research argued that, while
there are some clear differences between sequential talk and written
asynchronous discourse, there are still interesting ways in which CA's analytic
foci may be worked through in relation to online discourse. Both the concern with
sequentiality and with membership categories helped its researchers to see how
the construction of visible and recognizable intercultural discourse practices are
accomplished through written modes in online forums.
Another helpful reference to this research is Conversation Analysis of
Online Chat by Zaferanieh (2012). This research examined some dominant
discourse features of online chat. Using the methods of Conversation Analysis
(CA), it examined the discourse strategies chatters used to maintain conversation
and manage turn-taking, repair and adjacency pairs. These principles were
34
Communities of Inquiry
Originating out of computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL)
research, and in particular analysis of online discussion forums, the community of
inquiry (CoI) model developed by Garrison et al. (2000) has been used
extensively. The model focuses on a community of inquiry consisting of teachers
and students. Learning occurs within the community when three key
prerequisites are sustained: cognitive presence, teaching presence, and social
presence. This framework is often used as a basis to derive coding templates for
analysis of online discussions, used to develop student evaluations of learning
contexts (Arbaugh et al., 2008) and is particularly powerful when triangulated
with methods such as critical recall and social network analysis (De Laat, 2006;
De Laat et al. 2006).
Communities of Practice
Although originating from a different research context (social anthropology
and the analysis of work-based community practices), Wengers communities of
practice (CoP) framework (1998) has also been extensively applied to
understand networked learning and it shares a number of similarities to the CoI
35
Activity Theory
Firmly derived from socio-cultural perspectives, activity theory (AT)
provides a descriptive framework for considering online interactions (see for
example Daniels, Cole, & Wertsch, 2007; Engestrm, Punamki-Gitai, &
Miettinen, 1999). The central premise is that activities occur in a context and that
this context needs to be taken into account if we are to make meaning of the
situation and appropriately interpret the results. One of the most common ways
of representing activity theory is as a triangle diagram, showing a subject-object
nexus of mediating artefacts (MAs) intended to achieve an outcome; around this
are rules and regulations, divisions of labour, and community. Both the broader
contextualisation that AT enables and the foregrounding of mediating artefacts
are useful in terms of understanding interactions in online environments (see
36
Actor-Network Theory
Latour (1997) argues that instead of thinking in terms of surfaces or
dimensions, actor-network theory (ANT) focuses on nodes and connections. The
central concept is the notion of an evolving, dynamic actor-network. A second key
aspect of ANT is that it combines the basic properties of a network with actors (or
actants) who do some work; these actors include both human and non-human
entities. Actors and networks are mutually constitutive, meaning that there is no
actor without action; that is, relationship with other actors, and the network is built
on the mutual influences and intermediaries that actors exchange between each
other (Esnault, 2007). The inclusion of non-human actants is one of the
attractions of using ANT in a networked learning context as it enables
researchers to foreground technological mediating artefacts and to describe their
interactions with other actants within the networked context. ANT is also useful
because of its focus on networks and connections instead of on physical
distances, which arguably is a more appropriate metaphor to apply to
technological communication and interaction environments.
37
Synthesis
The literature enumerated in this chapter all contributed to particular
aspects of this research. Online articles and books on Discourse Analysis and
Conversation Analysis in particular provide a framework for the analysis of the
language in Online Conversation Forums from the Pinoy Exchange website.
The first two parts talk about the Approaches to Discourse and
Conversation analysis which served as the framework of the whole study. The
next two parts talked about the online discussions and the manner of conversing
in that specific context. The next three sections talk about the Language and its
complexity as participants posts in the Forums. This also included Elements of
Good Communication which is an important aspect of this research. The other
sections namely: The Nature of Conversation of Primary Students in Technology
Education, Intercultural Communication Online: Conversation Analysis and the
Investigation of Asynchronous Written Discourse, Conversation Analysis of
Online Chat are researches which all served as a guide as the whole research is
drafted.
On the other hand, those that discussed the nature of online
conversations and the language of cyberspace would serve to contextualize the
area of the study in a way that it differentiates this particular conversation from
other types of discourse.
38
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
39
This chapter discusses the instruments, research method used, and data
gathering procedures.
40
Research Tool
The researchers are to use Discourse Analysis for this kind of study. This
will help the researchers reveal the way people communicate in Online
Discussions.
41
Sampling
Purposive sampling technique was used to generate the sample for the
study. This form of sampling technique is the intentional selection of a sample
that allows the researcher to focus in great detail on a certain issue, subject, or
phenomenon (Flick, 2009; Patton, 2002; Silverman & Marvasti, 2008). The logic
and power of purposeful sampling lie in selecting information-rich cases for study
in depth (Patton, 2002, p. 230, emphasis existing). Purposeful sampling is
appropriate for researchers who want to investigate online material such as
websites and web pages (Creswell, 2003; Flick, 2009; Gee, 2005).
Source of Data
The source of data would be actual conversations from the Pinoy
Exchange website which were initially extracted into text documents through the
42
43
CHAPTER IV
PRESENTATION, INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA
44
This chapter deal with the result of the study, analysis and interpretation of
data which were organized in accordance to the sub problems presented in the
first chapter of this research.
rather
than
undermined,
our
personal
relationships.
More
specifically, people with a great deal of on-line conversations have just as many
offline conversations as those who decline to participate in the former. The
Internet just increases the overall frequency of communication.
What is more is that the on-line world is not truly distinct from the off-line
one. People use the Internet and social media largely to stay in touch and make
plans with whom they already know from face-to-face relationships. Email and
45
social media communications are not better or worse than in-person ones; they
are just different and they complement each other.
46
47
48
49
Adjacency Pairs
Another phenomenon studied under the rubric of Conversation Analysis is
adjacency pair (AP) a paired sequence of turns in which the second turn is
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
that the only problem on the first one is the punctuation. The second sentence on
the other hand is correct as per alegn. Magnabash then quoted the answer and
wrote the revised sentence to clarify the answer. Alegn came back to check the
revised sentence and gave tips to make the sentence better.
Sender
Message Channel
Receiver
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whether or not to respect a name, and often disagree with the same people, but
there's still very little personality in those cases. "SUX2BU" answered a lot of
questions in the thread and is known and respected by other members who read
through the responses of this user. In the forums, discussions revolve mainly
around question and answer and partly because when a member is not linear
there is no reason to get to know other people. A member you can just skip over
their strand of conversation.
In the first few examples that will be shown in Figures 9 to 10, the threads
demonstrated a Linear Structure which starts off from a Question followed by an
Answer from another member. The former then expresses gratitude for getting an
answer to the question. If the first member is lucky, the other member who
answered the question acknowledges the gratitude by saying Youre Welcome.
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Capitalization rules for article titles. The questions were again answered by
SUX2BU via the "Multi Quote" option. This way, SUX2BU would be able to
include the questions individually in the reply as the questions are being
answered one by one. ardieLlauder's acknowledgement in the answer started off
with an "up" ^ sign indicating that the reply was intended for the earlier post. This
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Threaded discussions take the form of a tree structure like the image
shown in figure 12. Tree Structure Conversations is a phenomenon in which each
topic is the starting point for a branching tree of responses. Figures 8 10 are
basic examples of a linear discussion which involved only two members while
figures 11.1 and 11.2 show an example of a tree type discussion in which at least
five people participated. But although a hierarchical tree is a good way to
organize static information, it does not work as well for conversation. It is easy to
get lost in the tree, and it's often hard to figure out where to attach a response.
Discussions tend to fragment and dissipate. In the given example however, the
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members managed to converse successfully given the fact that every other
member acknowledges the answer of another.
to
show
how
the
conversation
flows
in
the
forums.
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Activity
Opening
Request
Indicator
1 good day!
2 I dont know if the grammar usage that I will
be consulting here is already asked previously
Interrogative Series
Response
more info)
Closing
8 thank you for the answer its great help
Table 1. Tabular Representation of Figure 4
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Conversation Strategies
Asynchronous discussions, just like what was discussed in the first sub
problem, are typically an important part of learning in online or hybrid courses.
Discussions offer a way for students to learn and articulate their understanding of
learning through interactions with each other and the instructor (Parker & Hess,
2001). When native speakers and non-native speakers hold conversations, they
must generally work together to avoid and overcome communication
breakdowns. The strategies and tactics which they use include selecting salient
topics, checking comprehension, requesting clarification, repeating utterances,
stressing key words, and switching topics (Ellis, 1985). In online discussion
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forums, people would utilize different strategies for asking questions and giving
answers or responses. After going through the whole thread, the researchers
were able to pinpoint specific strategies for conversing in this thread.
Questions
A question is any sentence which has an interrogative form or function.
(Cotton, 2001). There are two main ways of seeking information from this forum
or support from its members:
The first is to search the knowledge base represented in the topics already
posted. A member can do this by using the forum's search engine through the
search button at the top right of every forum page, or by selecting the Advance
Search option. Alternatively, one can use one of the Internet search engines such
as Google adding the keyword "pinoyexchange" to the query.
The second method is to post a question on the forum yourself. If a
member wants to post a question then he/she must first register to accept the
forum's Policies and Terms of Use in respect of your submissions, so that others
like him/her can benefit from any dialogue. This simple process only takes a few
minutes. Before posting any question, it is worth doing a search and also
familiarizing oneself with the Survival Guide for the forum. Remember: new
question, new topic; old question post on existing topic.
Preference Questions
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The most common way of questioning in this forum is the way people
would post two different things and ask everyone which among those two is
correct. Online forum participants who ask these kinds of questions are usually
just confused with the similarity of concepts in grammar that people would
commonly interchange which, in turn, ends up with a grammar mistake.
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Short Questions
Some questions may only be composed of one sentence just like the
examples given. These are simple questions that often require a short answer
too. Sometimes these could only be yes or no questions.
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Long Questions
This is perhaps the most intelligent way of asking questions in an online
discussion forum. The person who asks the question would sometimes give a
little background of the question so he would b able to get a more specific
answer from other participants.
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Making Preferences
This is in response to the preference questions that are being raised in the
forums. Members would either choose one of the choices and some would prefer
to elaborate on the answer to enlighten the co-member.
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Quoted Answers
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The reply with quote option found at the bottom of each post allows a
participant to choose a part of the post to be included in his/her reply. This way,
the quoted part will be emphasized. Participants usually do this when they want
to make a certain point off of a previous post or if they want to answer a specific
part of that post.
Hyperlinked Answers
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this section. The following figures show examples that were found during the
analysis of this thread.
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tips, advertisements and off-topic posts which also add up to the content of the
thread.
Answered Questions
This data reveals that 95% of questions posted are being answered by
other members of the forum. This means that the members actively participated
in the forums within the timeframe of the data collected. And so if any member
posts a question, it is most likely that the question would be answered at any
time.
CHAPTER V
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
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This
chapter
presents
the
summary,
findings,
conclusions
and
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
After the analysis on the contents of the English Grammar and Usage
Tutorial Thread of the PinoyExchage website, the researchers found out that the
nature of online conversations is asynchronous. An asynchronous conversation
is one [that occurs at] any time all parties involved in the conversation have
access to the conversation but are not communicating instantaneously. Its a
conversation that is persistent, but which can happen in the background and
doesnt require right-now attention. The researchers were also able to pinpoint
four other natures being demonstrated in the forums.
A.
B.
C.
D.
Turn-Taking
Sequence of Organization
Repair Mechanisms
Overall Structural Organization
For the structure of conversations, the researchers were able to plot two
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making preferences
quoted answers
hyperlinked answers
answering pronunciation questions
Under each example there were notes attached to further explain &
interpret the flow of conversation in each given example.
CONCLUSIONS
Computer mediated communication particularly online forum discussions
is almost the same as the conversation that we have on other social networking
sites. What makes this case different is that the message that a certain member
is posting is visible to the public and any other members may respond to it.
People who are new to this kind of communication might find it hard to participate
at first. As a member, you have to make sure that you are on the right section of
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the forums first before you start asking questions. To make it easier, this research
might serve as a guide to communicating effectively not only on this website but
also on other similar websites that we might possibly use in the future. Just like in
regular conversations in the real world, being aware of conversational styles in
the virtual world of chatting is a must for a better flow of communication.
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Finding The Right Forums To Engage In
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Before someone can start listening and posting, they first need to find
some forums to engage in. From online gaming to breast cancer survivor
groups, theres literally an online forum for just about any topic or industry.
Because of the sheer number of online communities and forums, finding the right
forum(s) to engage in can be a bit of a challenge. To make this a little easier, the
researchers recommend using a forum-specific search engine like BoardReader.
2. Active Community Building
Contrary to what many may think, a fairly large number of people are still
uncomfortable sharing a lot of information about themselves on social media
sites. However, they will share a lot more information in private forums, as they
tend to be smaller, more tight-knit and conversational. This provides that sense
of security and community feel that allows people to be more open.
Once an individual gain peoples trust, this can be a great place to engage
in active listening about your target audience as well as find and build
relationships with key influencers.
3. Fantastic Educational Resources
Forums have always been a great way to disseminate information and
resources. This only expands when a member gets forum participants asking
questions, answering other peoples questions, and providing their own tips and
tricks. This can become a fantastic place to create and share how-to tips, guides
as well as answer support questions.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Aquino L, Aureus E, Calderon et al. Encounters: Mastering English Through
Content. Quezon City, Philippines: C & E Publishing, Inc.; 2006 p. 323-339.
Leticia P. Atienza, Ed. D. et al. Communication and Thinking Skills for College
Freshmen.
Gisela May A. Albano et. al Information Technology. Copyright: 2003 by Trinitas
Publishing, Inc,.
Prentice Hall. Writing and Grammar Communication in Action. Copyright: 2004
by Pearson Education South Asia Pte Ltd.
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