Restructuring Classroom Interaction with Networked Computers: Effects on Quantity and Characteristics of Language Production

Abstract

This study describes the use of Daedalus InterChange, a local area computer network application, to facilitate communicative language use through synchronous, written classroom interaction. The study compares the quantity and characteristics of the discourse produced by two groups of second‐semester French students during an InterChange session and during an oral class discussion on the same topic. Students had over twice as many turns, produced two to four times more sentences, and used a much greater variety of discourse functions when working in InterChange than they did in their oral discussion. Furthermore, the distribution and direction of turns were radically different in the two conditions, with much more direct student‐to‐student exchange in the InterChange condition. Students' and instructors' responses to using InterChange were assessed: both groups responded favorably, although students more enthusiastically so than the instructors. Features of InterChange that may be unsettling for teachers include: decentering of teacher authority, lesser attention to grammatical accuracy, and less clear coherence and continuity of discussions.