Multiple Voices at Play : How Native and Non-Native English Writers Experience CMC

Multiple Voices at Play : How Native and Non-Native English Writers Experience CMC

Academk writing is a big issue for many Korean students who pursue higher education in the United States. As more and more Korean students are enrolled in American college and graduate classrooms, we need to critically examine how the students adapt themselves to a new academic culture and perceive a variety of academic writing tasks. Among others, computer-mediated communication (CMC) has recently become an integral part of the academic writing activities in many disciplines. The purpose of this study is to elucidate both native and non-native English students' learning experiences involved in the construction of CMC texts using a Bakhtinian lens. This study investigated nonnative writers as members of a course with native writers, focusing on nonnative writers' perception of CMC in a new cultural context. The results of the study indicated that many non-native English writers added their multiple voices to the academic conversation in CMC not only as novices in the discourse community but also as cultural agents, or as participants with unique perspectives and specializations.