The Discourse of Relationship Building in an Intercultural

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The Discourse of Relationship Building in an Intercultural THE DISCOURSE OF RELATIONSHIP BUILDING IN AN INTERCULTURAL VIRTUAL LEARNING COMMUNITY A dissertation presented to the faculty of the College of Education of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy Dawn M. Bikowski March 2008 2 This dissertation titled THE DISCOURSE OF RELATIONSHIP BUILDING IN AN INTERCULTURAL VIRTUAL LEARNING COMMUNITY by DAWN M. BIKOWSKI has been approved for the Department of Educational Studies and the College of Education by Teresa J. Franklin Associate Professor of Educational Studies Renée A. Middleton Dean, College of Education 3 ABSTRACT BIKOWSKI, DAWN, Ph.D., March 2008, Curriculum and Instruction: Instructional Technology THE DISCOURSE OF RELATIONSHIP BUILDING IN AN INTERCULTURAL VIRTUAL LEARNING COMMUNITY (338 pp.) Director of Dissertation: Teresa J. Franklin The purpose of this study was to understand the nature of the discourse students used in their relationships in an intercultural virtual learning community. The students were undergraduates from the Global Leadership Center at Ohio University in the United States and from an English Department in a university in Thailand. The study described the discourse the students used in their relationships in their course computer-mediated communication and examined how their discourse was similar or different according to their cultural backgrounds and other factors. The study also explored how the students used technology in their relationships. Students from the course were chosen for this study based on their feeling a sense of community in the course, their continued communication with each other past course completion, and observation data. Three teams were studied in-depth, with a total of seven American and six Thai students. Questions for this study included: 1. What was the nature of the discourse used in relationships between students in an intercultural virtual learning community? 2. Did the nature of the discourse used in relationships between students in an intercultural virtual learning community differ between students from 4 different cultures? and if so, how? What other factors in addition to culture might have influenced the students’ discourse? 3. What strategies did the students engage in to use technology to form and maintain relationships? Discourse analysis was the primary research methodology used for this study and was supplemented with interview and observation data. Following the guidelines outlined by Herring (2004), concepts of intercultural virtual relationships and language characterizing those concepts were identified in the literature. These concepts and language characteristics provided a preliminary basis for the analysis of the students’ computer-mediated communication, using qualitative software for coding. A final coding scheme emerged. Analysis indicated that all students and teams demonstrated consideration in their communication. The three main areas of consideration found were interest in teammate and culture, support for teammates, and communicating with the teammates’ language in mind. Different teams and different students conveyed consideration in a variety of ways. The Thai and American students exhibited more similarities in their discourse than differences. Culture may have played a role in the differences, but many other potential influences were found. Strategies not previously discussed in the literature for forming relationships through technology are discussed, and teaching implications are given. Approved: _____________________________________________________________ Teresa J. Franklin Associate Professor of Educational Studies 5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I want to thank my advisor, Dr. Teresa Franklin. I could not have completed this degree without her approachable manner, timely responses, encouragement, and useful advice. I also would like to thank my committee member Dr. Greg Kessler for all of the time and thought that he has put into this study. Dr. George Johanson has been very encouraging as well and has provided very useful recommendations. And Dr. David Bell has given me great insight into language and how it works. I have had a wonderful committee and am very appreciative of all their time. I also could never have completed this study without all the support I have received from my husband, mother, and children. They have given me the time I needed and encouraged me through many years of study. I also appreciate the kindness and openheartedness of the Thai students and faculty who I have worked with over the years, both in the U.S. and in Thailand. I have enjoyed myself greatly and learned so much from working together. Finally, I am very appreciative of the support I have received from the Global Leadership Center at Ohio University. The faculty, staff, and students of this program have inspired me and deserve my very special thanks. I thank them for welcoming me into their community and allowing me to share it with others. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT .........................................................................................................................3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. 5 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................... 13 Background of Study .................................................................................................... 13 Need for Research ......................................................................................................... 15 Purpose of the Study ..................................................................................................... 16 Research Questions ....................................................................................................... 16 Significance of the Study .............................................................................................. 17 Scope of the Study ........................................................................................................ 17 Limitations of the Study................................................................................................ 18 Definition of Terms....................................................................................................... 18 Organization of the Study ............................................................................................. 21 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................... 22 History of Social Learning in Education ...................................................................... 22 Social Learning and Vygotsky .................................................................................. 22 Constructivism .......................................................................................................... 23 Distance Education and Learner-Centered Education .............................................. 25 Relationships and Community in Distance Education.................................................. 28 Interactivity ............................................................................................................... 28 Social Presence Theory ............................................................................................. 30 Transactional Presence and Distance Theories ......................................................... 31 7 Virtual Learning Communities ................................................................................. 32 Relationships ............................................................................................................. 37 Intercultural Relationships .................................................................................... 40 Researching intercultural relationships. ....................................................... 41 Intercultural relationships and Thais. ........................................................... 44 Virtual Relationships ............................................................................................ 48 Computer-Mediated Communication ........................................................................... 50 Definition and Research Interest ............................................................................... 50 Computer-Mediated Communication and Relationships .......................................... 53 Building Presence using Computer-Mediated Communication ........................... 54 Computer-Mediated Communication and Language ................................................ 57 Research on Intercultural Computer-Mediated Communication .............................. 62 Discourse Analysis........................................................................................................ 66 Definitions................................................................................................................. 66 Theoretical Assumptions .......................................................................................... 69 Methodologies........................................................................................................... 71 Computer-Mediated Discourse Analysis .................................................................. 72 Computer-Mediated Discourse Analysis of Virtual Communities ........................... 76 Review of the Literature using Discourse Analysis .....................................................
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