Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) SIG

Why have a SIG in Computer Mediated Communication?

The field of computer-mediated communication (CMC) has become a key area of research and development in CALL and it has established itself as one of the main themes of EUROCALL conferences over the past number of years. Colleagues working in CMC have focussed on a wide variety of themes which examine the application of on- line communication tools such as blogs, wikis, email, online forums, video- and audio- conferencing and virtual worlds to foreign language learning contexts. Important sub-themes include telecollaboration, the application of interactionist, constructivist and sociocultural interpretations of language acquisition in online environments, issues in task design for online interaction and the role of teachers in online learning.

What are the SIG’s activities?

This aim of the CMC SIG is to provide EUROCALL members working in this area with a specialised forum for networking and collaboration with other colleagues as well as for professional development. Some ways in which the SIG does this is by:

sharing information with other members on recent developments in CMC related applications, research and pedagogy through our listserv (http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/CMCSIG). We hope to have a 'presentation' website up and running soon.
organising pre-conference workshops at EUROCALL conferences. Organising regional workshops in members' home institutions which will enable members to make others aware of EUROCALL's work.
collaborating together on the development of international project proposals.
establishing links with other organisations' special interest groups working in related areas such as the CMC SIG of the American association Calico.

Since it’s founding at the EUROCALL 2007 conference in Coleraine, Ireland, the SIG has organised pre-conference workshops and/or CMC symposia at each annual EUROCALL conference in order to share ideas not only with one another but to publicise CMC research and practice to conference participants who may not yet be involved in CMC. In addition to this, the SIG has organised two successful workshops (Padova, Italy in 2008 and Leòn, Spain in 2009) which are characteristically small and allow for intense learning and sharing of experience and knowledge. In 2011, the CMC SIG joined together with the Teacher Education SIG in order to exploit the overlap of topics in the two fields and share experiences across these two areas. The first joint SIG workshop was thus held in Barcelona, Spain. This was believed to be particularly important given cuts in funding for professional development across Europe as a consequence of the financial crisis. Given the success of the 2011 conference, the two SIGs are currently organising a workshop for 2012 in Bologna, Italy.

Anyone interested in joining the SIG and taking an active part in its activities can subscribe to our listserv (http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/CMCSIG)

Meetings

2012

Minutes from our meeting at the annual 2012 EUROCALL conference in Gothenberg, Sweden have been posted to the listserv and can be downloaded from the link below:

CMC Meeting 2012: minutes (PDF, 123kb)

2011

Minutes from our meeting at the annual 2011 EUROCALL conference in Nottingham, UK have been posted to the listserv and can be downloaded from the link below:

CMC meeting 2011 minutes (PDF, 75kb)

People

Chair

Sarah Guth, Università degli studi di Padova, Italy
email: sarah.guth@unipd.it

Secretary

Antje Neuhoff, University of Dresden, Germany
email: antje.neuhoff@tu-dresden.de

Past Events

29-30 March, 2012. Centro Interfacoltà di Linguistica Teorica ed Applicata (CILTA), University of Bologna, Italy

EUROCALL CMC & Teacher Education SIGs Annual Workshop 2011: Learning Through Open Resources, Open Practices, Open Communication

14-15 April 2011, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain

EUROCALL CMC & Teacher Education SIGs Annual Workshop 2011: "Getting
the Bigger Picture: Language Teacher Competences in CMC Settings”

23-25 April 2009, University of León, Spain

CMC SIG workshop: "Researching Computer Mediated Communication in Foreign
Language Education: Issues and Methods"

17-19 April 2008, University of Padova, Italy

CMC SIG Workshop: "Computer Mediated Communication and Learning:
Research and Practice"