Distance Learner Support and Discovery in Virtual Interactional Non-Judgmental Environments A presentation by Andrew Boon Toyo Gakuen University

The Research Process What problems do you usually encounter when conducting research? - Identifying a research area - Developing a research question - Conducting a literature review - Determining data collection methods - Analyzing data - Drawing conclusions - Writing up research (From Nunan, 1992)

What problems do you usually encounter when conducting research?

- Identifying a research area

- Developing a research question

- Conducting a literature review

- Determining data collection methods

- Analyzing data

- Drawing conclusions

- Writing up research

(From Nunan, 1992)

It’s good to talk! Ordinary Interaction Vs. Non-Judgmental Interaction

It’s better to listen! COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT SPEAKER AWARENESS SPEAKER DISCOVERY SPEAKER PLAN OF ACTION UNDERSTANDER Attending - Reflecting - Thematizing - Challenging - Focusing - Trialling

COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Instant Messenger Cooperative Development IMCD is an adaption of Edge’s Cooperative Development framework (Edge, 1992, 2002) enabling two research students to work together online to interact in a virtual environment in order to facilitate and support each other’s reflections and investigations of research projects to gain new perspectives on them . ADD CONTACTS SEND & TYPE MESSAGES ISOLATED

IMCD is an adaption of Edge’s Cooperative

Development framework (Edge, 1992, 2002)

enabling two

research students to work together online

to interact in a virtual environment in order

to facilitate and support each other’s

reflections and investigations of research

projects to gain new perspectives on them .

The problem: Establishing a focus 174] P says: The AWD assignment is coming along. My main problem has been in establishing a particular focus. 175] P says: I think that the problem are in that there has not been much research on the technical English front, where as on the general English side we have an abundance of work. 176] P says: In away you can argue that I'm cutting new ground, on the other side of the coin it means that there isn't much on which to hang anything. 177] P says: Thinking ..... 178] P says: I guess that the point here is that I'm looking for something that is both new, but has some elements of security to it so that I know I'm on the right track with what I'm doing. Or do I just throw caution to the wind and go all out on something as yet not explored? 179] P says: OK? 180] A says: So you have had difficulty deciding a focus and although would like to examine technical English have had difficulty finding a lot of research in the field. your decision then is whether to sail down unchartered waters or stay with something where there is something written about it - is that right? 181] P says: In a nutshell yes.

174] P says: The AWD assignment is coming along. My main problem has been in establishing a particular focus.

175] P says: I think that the problem are in that there has not been much research on the technical English front, where as on the general English side we have an abundance of work.

176] P says: In away you can argue that I'm cutting new ground, on the other side of the coin it means that there isn't much on which to hang anything.

177] P says: Thinking .....

178] P says: I guess that the point here is that I'm looking for something that is both new, but has some elements of security to it so that I know I'm on the right track with what I'm doing. Or do I just throw caution to the wind and go all out on something as yet not explored?

179] P says: OK?

180] A says: So you have had difficulty deciding a focus and although would like to examine technical English have had difficulty finding a lot of research in the field. your decision then is whether to sail down unchartered waters or stay with something where there is something written about it - is that right?

181] P says: In a nutshell yes.

Feelings, Issues, factors, next steps 185] P says: My feelings as I run through this are to throw caution to the wind. I can, and in fact have already started to some extent to, link some of the ideas across. 186] P says: It is not impossible to see the links between what Tom Bloor is saying for example on theme and rheme or cohesive devices with the technical texts I'm working on. 187] P says: The real issue is to establish the whys and wherefores, the reasons why technical texts are so complex for L2 language learners. 188] P says: Another factor which clouds my mind is that I was at some stage in the past an Engineer, so I have a knowledge overflow. 189] P says: Controlling that and focusing it has been a real problem. 190] P says: It is ever so easy to bring in all kinds of spurious issues which need to be supported by hard fact and research, not simply a bit of personal experience. 191] P says: What I think I shall do though is this. 192] P says: Collect what data I do have and sort it into categories. 193] P says: Look at a specific situation and relate that situation to the data I have collected. 194] P says: Focus on that area, and save the other situations for further research and a possible dissertation if it shows to be a distinct possibility. 195] P says: OK?

185] P says: My feelings as I run through this are to throw caution to the wind. I can, and in fact have already started to some extent to, link some of the ideas across.

186] P says: It is not impossible to see the links between what Tom Bloor is saying for example on theme and rheme or cohesive devices with the technical texts I'm working on.

187] P says: The real issue is to establish the whys and wherefores, the reasons why technical texts are so complex for L2 language learners.

188] P says: Another factor which clouds my mind is that I was at some stage in the past an Engineer, so I have a knowledge overflow.

189] P says: Controlling that and focusing it has been a real problem.

190] P says: It is ever so easy to bring in all kinds of spurious issues which need to be supported by hard fact and research, not simply a bit

of personal experience.

191] P says: What I think I shall do though is this.

192] P says: Collect what data I do have and sort it into categories.

193] P says: Look at a specific situation and relate that situation to the data I have collected.

194] P says: Focus on that area, and save the other situations for further research and a possible dissertation if it shows to be a

distinct possibility.

195] P says: OK?

Finding a way in 197] A says: So - you feel you'd like to go it alone but can see links between your ideas and that of the core course book (Tom Bloor). However, you feel you need a balance between your own extensive experience and the theoretical aspects. You have decided to look at why technical texts are difficult for L2 learners and now need to break down the data into categories - and compare to specifics and narrow your 198] A says: focus - right? 199] A says: ok. 200] P says: There is as I see it a problem with the go it alone issue. 201] P says: I think that re-inventing the wheel is not viable and I'm in no way suggesting I should do that. 202] P says: What I do see though is a lot of research in academic teaching and other areas, but specifically not technical. My thinking is less to the ground breaking stuff, that being rewrite the books that Halliday etc have written, but find a distinct way into the area of technical English. 203] P says: Does that make sense or is it gobbledygook? 204] P says: OK?

197] A says: So - you feel you'd like to go it alone but can see links between your ideas and that of the core course book (Tom Bloor). However, you feel you need a balance between your own extensive experience and the theoretical aspects. You have decided to look at why technical texts are difficult for L2 learners and now need to break down the data into categories - and compare to specifics and narrow your

198] A says: focus - right?

199] A says: ok.

200] P says: There is as I see it a problem with the go it alone issue.

201] P says: I think that re-inventing the wheel is not viable and I'm in no way suggesting I should do that.

202] P says: What I do see though is a lot of research in academic teaching and other areas, but specifically not technical. My thinking is less to the ground breaking stuff, that being rewrite the books that Halliday etc have written, but find a distinct way into the area of technical English.

203] P says: Does that make sense or is it gobbledygook?

204] P says: OK?

Shifting the focus 205] A says: thinking... 206] A says: so rather than try to write something completely new - you are thinking about how to relate the reading you have done to the specific focus area you have chosen, technical English - Is that right? 207] A says: ok. 208] P says: There is sufficient material which forms the foundation work. That being Halliday, Bloor, Coulthard, Winter etc etc. 209] P says: There is no real substantive material on the engineering technical side. This is where I want to be focusing. My point though was whether to play safe on the analysis, i.e consider aspects of genre or theme and rheme, or whether to go for something far more substantive like cohesion, compound nouns etc. The nuts and bolts of the sentence. 210] P says: When I approached this though the first time, the issue became one of being careful not to start treading on issues of pure grammar, rather than actual text analysis. 211] P says: Thus my focus has to some extent shifted to ensure that what I am dealing with is the substantive issue of the sentence and the meaning, rather that the individual words. 212] P says: OK?

205] A says: thinking...

206] A says: so rather than try to write something completely new - you are thinking about how to relate the reading you have done to the specific focus area you have chosen, technical English - Is that right?

207] A says: ok.

208] P says: There is sufficient material which forms the foundation work. That being Halliday, Bloor, Coulthard, Winter etc etc.

209] P says: There is no real substantive material on the engineering technical side. This is where I want to be focusing. My point though was whether to play safe on the analysis, i.e consider aspects of genre or theme and rheme, or whether to go for something far more substantive like cohesion, compound nouns etc. The nuts and bolts of the sentence.

210] P says: When I approached this though the first time, the issue became one of being careful not to start treading on issues of pure grammar, rather than actual text analysis.

211] P says: Thus my focus has to some extent shifted to ensure that what I am dealing with is the substantive issue of the sentence and the meaning, rather that the individual words.

212] P says: OK?

Discovery 216] P says: Yes. When I first took a look at the area I was considering modality in the sentence structure. That it transpired was too word focused and not sufficiently structural. 217] P says: However, even with the parameters of what I'm shifting towards now I have to be careful not to focus again in grammar. 218] P says: What I'm looking to achieve is a system of marking the text such that it is clear that it varies on a structural level, not just a verbal one. 221] P says: In many instances what seems to happen is that we try to focus on the specific area, not on the fact that technical texts have many similarities. I think that is what I'm trying to get to. 222] P says: OK? 223] A says: So what you are saying is you'd like to move away from focusing on the technical lexis but look at ways to determine the similarities and differences of texts on a structural level - right? 224] P says: Actually while you were writing it occurred to me that what I have just found my way to is exactly that. This is a matter of genre and how we can analyse the actual sentence structure to establish the discourse community. 225] P says: It is true that there are a higher proportion of compound nouns used in the text, and indeed the Lexical Density reflects that fact. But still the overall issue is that the style, the mood is distinctly technical.

216] P says: Yes. When I first took a look at the area I was considering modality in the sentence structure. That it transpired was too word focused and not sufficiently structural.

217] P says: However, even with the parameters of what I'm shifting towards now I have to be careful not to focus again in grammar.

218] P says: What I'm looking to achieve is a system of marking the text such that it is clear that it varies on a structural level, not just a verbal one.

221] P says: In many instances what seems to happen is that we try to focus on the specific area, not on the fact that technical texts have many similarities. I think that is what I'm trying to get to.

222] P says: OK?

223] A says: So what you are saying is you'd like to move away from focusing on the technical lexis but look at ways to determine the similarities and differences of texts on a structural level - right?

224] P says: Actually while you were writing it occurred to me that what I have just found my way to is exactly that. This is a matter of genre and how we can analyse the actual sentence structure to establish the discourse community.

225] P says: It is true that there are a higher proportion of compound nouns used in the text, and indeed the Lexical Density reflects that fact. But still the overall issue is that the style, the mood is

distinctly technical.

Ending the Session 226] P says: OK? 227] A says: so although there are differences between technical texts in terms of compound noun usage - there is also differences between the style of texts and you are now thinking of how to analyse the sentence structure to reflect that style - right? 228] P says: Exactly. Bingo! 229] P says: OK? 230] A says: ok 231] A says: (sorry the speaker usually says this but can we leave it there for now 232] A says: I've got to cook dinner soon) 233] A says: ok. 234] P says: It seems to me that the problem has to some extent been solved. 235] P says: Thanks for your support.

226] P says: OK?

227] A says: so although there are differences between technical texts in terms of compound noun usage - there is also differences between the style of texts and you are now thinking of how to analyse the sentence structure to reflect that style - right?

228] P says: Exactly. Bingo!

229] P says: OK?

230] A says: ok

231] A says: (sorry the speaker usually says this but can we leave it there for now

232] A says: I've got to cook dinner soon)

233] A says: ok.

234] P says: It seems to me that the problem has to some extent been solved.

235] P says: Thanks for your support.

Conclusion This is very much a work in progress. FURTHER RESEARCH: How can participating in online Instant Messenger Cooperative Development (IMCD) sessions assist or facilitate the research process for university students? IMCD handout, reading list, and contact information. THANK YOU! EMAIL: andrew.boon@tyg.jp

This is very much a work in progress.

FURTHER RESEARCH: How can participating in online Instant Messenger Cooperative Development (IMCD) sessions assist or facilitate the research process for university students?

IMCD handout, reading list, and contact information.

THANK YOU!

EMAIL: andrew.boon@tyg.jp