Week 2: Reflections on Chapelle 2004

Chapelle (2004) explores the role, use, and interpretation of technologically-based second language acquisition research. One of the problems noted by Chapelle is the difficulty posed by capturing and understanding computer-mediated interaction. As cited by Chapelle, there is a general tendency to analyze that and only that which appears on the computer screen. Despite the fact that much of this 'off-screen' behavior on the part of the L2 user is not perceived by the other participant, this behavior still provides details on the nature of computer-mediated interaction. This growing awareness of the need to capture the full range of interaction, both vocalized and non-vocalized, parallels that which is found within the field of linguistics. It is more and more apparent that the gestures, gazes, and other 'supralinguistic' behavior made by native speakers is an important part of their discourse competence and therefore needs to be documented and described. For example, when speakers use demonstratives, the gestures that are made, whether they be with the hands, lips, eyes, eyebrows, chin, or other body parts, differ between cultures and languages. In order to capture this information, documentation by means of audio and video is becoming increasingly more frequent. The collection of this type of interactional data, whether it be for native speakers, second language speakers, or both groups, informs both the teaching and the acquisition of these features of discourse competency.