A Study on the Quality of Language in Text-Based CMC Tasks

A Study on the Quality of Language in Text-Based CMC Tasks

The purpose of this study is to explore the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of language generated by six different text-based CMC tasks in terms of the amount of language output, diversity of lexical use, complexity, accuracy of language, and the turn-taking and topic development. The participants of the study were 16 EFL learners enrolled in a freshman English class at a university in Korea and they were divided into four groups. A total of 24 chat scripts were analysed. The major findings of the present study were as follows: first, the free talking task was the most significantly effective in triggering the amount of language output, whereas the decision making task was the least effective. Secondly, the free talking task was the most significantly effective in triggering the diverse and rich lexical use of language, whereas the decision making task was the least effective. Thirdly, no statistical significant difference was obtained with respect to the accuracy of language across the six different types. This indicates that the students performed the tasks, mainly focusing their attention on the meaning while paying little attention on the forms of language. Lastly, incoherent and interwoven topic developments were persistently observed in the text chat scripts, which often led to communication breakdowns. Based on these findings, some pedagogical suggestions are made on the effective use of text-based CMC tasks in Korean English classroom settings.