Towards evaluative meaning-making through enactive role play
The case of pre-tertiary students in Second Life
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/japl.v4i2.171Keywords:
Evaluation, Appraisal, Argumentation, Virtual role play, Second LifeAbstract
This paper is an exploratory study into enhancing students’ critical thinking and argumentation skills through enactive role play in a virtual environment. Specifically, it focuses on the construction of evaluative expressions within a community of 17-18 year old Singaporean participants in the Second Life virtual world. Drawing on Martin and White’s (2005) Appraisal framework, the investigation delves into how participants overtly encode through linguistic means the virtual roles which they enact as they challenge, defend or persuade each other where appropriate. Participants’ evaluative meaning-making practices are reflective of the argumentation process at work through the virtual role-play. The study also examines paralinguistic cues adopted by participants. Form-function analysis of features such as facial expressions, head movements, body gestures in the virtual dialoguing offers a study of the interplay of these modalities as strategic devices which enhance to varying degrees the nuances of evaluative meaning-making in the virtual environment. Pedagogical implications of our findings are discussed.
References
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Thompson, G. and Hunston, S. (2000) Evaluation: An introduction. In S. Hunston and G. Thompson (eds) Evaluation in Text: Authorial Stance and the Construction of Discourse 1–27. New York: Oxford University Press.
Webster, R. and Sudweeks, F. (2006) Enabling effective collaborative learning in networked virtual environments. In A. Méndez-Vilas (ed.) Current Developments in Technologyassisted Education 1437–1440. Badajoz, Spain: Formatex.
White, P. R. R. (2001) ‘Standing with, against and over- Solidarity and power in mass media discourse’, Seminar handout. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
White, P. R. R. (2003) Beyond modality and hedging: A dialogic view of the language of intersubjective. Text 23 (2): 259–284. doi:10.1515/text.2003.011
Wu, A. and Allison, D. (2005) Evaluative expressions in analytical arguments: Aspects of appraisal in assigned English language essays. Journal of Applied Linguistics 2 (1): 105– 127.
Bakhtin, M. M. (1981) The Dialogic Imagination (translated by C. Emerson and M. Holquist). Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
Brown, A. L. (1992) Design experiments: Theoretical and methodological challenges in creating complex interventions in classroom settings. The Journal of The Learning Sciences 2 (2): 141–178. doi:10.1207/s15327809jls0202_2
Brown, G. and Yule, G. (1983) Discourse Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bull, P. (1990) What does gesture add to the spoken word? In H. Barlow, C. Blakemore and M. Weston-Smith (eds) Images and Understanding 101–121. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Channell, J. (1994) Vague Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Cobb, P. (2001) Supporting the environment of learning and teaching in social and institutional context. In S. Carver and D. Klahr (eds) Cognition and Instruction: 25 Years of Progress 455–478. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Coffin, C. and Hewings, A. (2005) Engaging electronically: Using CMC to develop students’ argumentation skills in higher education. Language and Education 19 (1): 32–49. doi:10.1080/09500780508668803
Coffin, C., Painter, C. and Hewings, A. (2006) Patterns of debate in tertiary level asynchronous text-based conferencing. International Journal of Educational Research 43 (7–8): 464– 480.
Collins, A. (1992) Toward a design science of education. In E. Scanlon and T. O’ Shea (eds) New Directions in Educational Technology 15–22. New York: Springer-Verlag.
Derewianka, B. (2007) Using appraisal theory to track interpersonal development in academic writing. In A. McCabe, M. O’ Donnell and R. Whittaker (eds) Advances in Language and Education 142–165. London: Continuum.
DiPietro, R. J. (1987) Strategic Interaction: Learning Languages Through Scenarios. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ellis, R. (2006) Investigating the quality of student approaches to using technology in experiences of learning through writing. Computers and Education 46 (4): 371–390. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2004.08.006
Gee, J. P. (2003) What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. New York: Palgrave-Macmillan.
Gee, J. P. (2004). Situated Language and Learning: A Critique of Traditional Schooling. New York: Routledge.
Goodfellow, R. (2005) Academic literacies and e-learning: A critical approach to writing in the online university. International Journal of Educational Research 43 (7–8): 481–494. doi:10.1016/j.ijer.2006.07.005
Halliday, M. A. K. (2004/1994) An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Edward Arnold.
Ho, M. L. C. (2005) Using electronic discussions to develop skills in the language classroom. Asian Journal of English Language Teaching 15: 43–67.
Ho, M. L. C. (2006) Introduction. In C. Ho, P. Teo and M. Y. Tay (eds) Teaching the General Paper: Strategies that Work 1–4. Singapore: Pearson Longman.
Ho, M. L. C. (2007) Globalization in the language classroom: The case of the Waga Waga Islands. Modern English Teacher 16 (3): 29–35.
Hyland, K. (1996) Writing without conviction: Hedging in scientific research articles. Applied Linguistics 17 (4): 433–454. doi:10.1093/applin/17.4.433
Hyland, K. (1998) Hedging in Scientific Research Articles. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Kolko, B. E. (1999) Representing bodies in virtual space: The rhetoric of avatar design. The Information Society 15 (3): 177–186. doi:10.1080/019722499128484
Lakoff, G. (1972) ‘Hedges’: A study in meaning criteria and the logic of fuzzy concepts. Proceedings of the Chicago Linguistics Society 8: 183–228.
Languagelab.com (2006-2007) Languagelab.com. Retrieved on 2 February 2008 from http:// www.languagelab.com/index/
Linden Research, Inc. (2008) Second Life. Retrieved on 2 January 2006 from http:// secondlife.com/
Livingstone, D. and Kemp, J. (2006) Proceedings of the First Second Life Education Workshop. 2006 Second Life Community Convention, 18–20 August, Fort Mason Centre, San Francisco, US. UK: University of Paisley. Retrieved on 1 December 2006 from http:// www.simteach.com/SLCC06/
Martin, J. R. (1992) English Text: System and Structure. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Martin, J. R. (2000) Beyond exchange: Appraisal systems in English. In S. Hunston and G. Thompson (eds) Evaluation in Text 142–176. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Martin, J. R. and White, P. R. R. (2005) The Language of Evaluation: Appraisal in English. London and New York: Palgrave.
Marttunen, M. (1998) Electronic mail as a forum for argumentative interaction in higher education studies. Journal of Educational Computing Research 18 (4): 387–405. doi: 10.2190/AAJK-01XK-WDMV-8M0P
Matthiessen, C. M. I. M. (1995) Lexicogrammatical Cartography: English Systems. Tokyo: International Language Sciences Publishers.
Mazur, J. M. (2004) Conversation Analysis for educational technologists: Theoretical and methodological issues for researching the structures, processes and meaning of online talk. In D. H. Jonassen (ed.) Handbook of Research on Educational Communications and Technology 1073–1098. Mahwah, NJ.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Ministry of Education (MOE), University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES). (2005) General Paper 8005 GCE ‘AO’ Level (2005) examination syllabus. Retrieved on 14 March 2005 from http://www.seab.gov.sg/GCE%20A/GCE%20A.htm
Morgan, W. and Beaumont, G. (2003) A dialogic approach to argumentation: Using a chat room to develop early adolescent students’ argumentative writing. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 47 (2): 146–158.
Morton, H. and Jack, M. A. (2005) Scenario-based spoken interaction with virtual agents. Computer-Assisted Language Learning 18 (3): 171–191. doi:10.1080/09588220500173344
Resnick, M. (1998) Technologies for lifelong kindergarten. Educational Technology Research & Development 46 (4): 43–55. Retrieved on 12 January 2008 from http://llk.media.mit. edu/
Salzman, M. C., Dede, C. and Loftin, B. (1996) ScienceSpace: Virtual realities for learning complex and abstract scientific concepts. In Proceedings of IEEE Virtual Reality Annual International Symposium 246–253. New York: IEEE Press.
Singhal, S. and Zyda, M. (1999) Networked Virtual Environments: Design and Implementation. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley.
SLanguages (2009) Conference for Language Education in Virtual Worlds, 8–9 May, EduNation II. Retrieved on 12 May 2009 from http://www.slanguages.net/home.php
Thompson, G. and Hunston, S. (2000) Evaluation: An introduction. In S. Hunston and G. Thompson (eds) Evaluation in Text: Authorial Stance and the Construction of Discourse 1–27. New York: Oxford University Press.
Webster, R. and Sudweeks, F. (2006) Enabling effective collaborative learning in networked virtual environments. In A. Méndez-Vilas (ed.) Current Developments in Technologyassisted Education 1437–1440. Badajoz, Spain: Formatex.
White, P. R. R. (2001) ‘Standing with, against and over- Solidarity and power in mass media discourse’, Seminar handout. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
White, P. R. R. (2003) Beyond modality and hedging: A dialogic view of the language of intersubjective. Text 23 (2): 259–284. doi:10.1515/text.2003.011
Wu, A. and Allison, D. (2005) Evaluative expressions in analytical arguments: Aspects of appraisal in assigned English language essays. Journal of Applied Linguistics 2 (1): 105– 127.
Published
2015-09-14
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Articles
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Equinox Publishing Ltd.
How to Cite
Ho, C. M., & Ong, A. M. (2015). Towards evaluative meaning-making through enactive role play: The case of pre-tertiary students in Second Life. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice, 4(2), 171-194. https://doi.org/10.1558/japl.v4i2.171
