For another of my classes this semester, I researched and presented on an online community of a popular anime series. It was an interesting project from many different standpoints. First, there was the participation of several different people that might not have otherwise be connected. All that tied them together was their common enjoyment of the show. There were people from all walks of life, all regions of the world. Then, there was the collaboration of several people to make meaning of an established phenomenon. For instance, there were occasions where a topic was introduced, and some of the posters had limited knowledge of what was going on. Other users would then post more information on the topic, allowing for full participation from all members fo the forum board.
I studied the forums from the standpoint of an ESL isntructor, and looked at the way non-native speakers (or writer, as it were) speakers of English managed to compose cohesive messages int he forums. I chose several writers, ranging from ages 14 to 20, and from places like China and Mexico. I found several interesting results, like the emergence of patterns of participation, and how sometimes a writer could influence the subsequent posts, which would emulate the diction, spelling conventions and even the use of emoticons of the original posting. Another interesting subject I found was the appropriation and use of conversational cues in a written media. For example, some people used frequent emoticons to punctuate their words, typing up happy faces, frown faces, winking eyes, faces sticking their tongues out, etc. adding nuance to their posts.
One of the conclusions I drew was that students used scaffolding to fill those gaps in information they might have. They also followed examples; if someone posted with incorrect grammar, spelling, capitalization or heavy use of emoticons, subsequent posters would as well.
Another conclusion I drew was the importance of belonging to a community, of establishing a connection through a common thread, it being hte anime series. And I was pleasantly surprised to find that often, it was the non-native speakers of English that were setting the bar of understandability. I mean, I understand it’s the internet, but does that mean that, because it is a relaxed and casual environment, you’re going to make your writing obscure and difficult to understand because you don’t want to use any punctuation, capitalization, or decide to use abbreviations we don’t get the meaning to? That just makes the writing confusing and annoying to read.
Still, it was an interesting enough project to merit my wanting to research it further. One of the possible branchings of this research could be finding a forum with Puerto Ricans posting. As I explained in the project, the geographic proximity would allow me to gain a more personalized view of the participant as it relates to the real personality of the participant as opposed to the personalities they exhibit online.
This is just one more manner in which we could view the environment English language learners develop in and the impact it has on their growth as learners and as writers.
