Mind and Matter - Challenges and Opportunities in Cognitive Semiotics and Aesthetics, 2022
This chapter shows how educationalists might (re)conceptualise digital tool use within teaching a... more This chapter shows how educationalists might (re)conceptualise digital tool use within teaching and learning scenarios as a social practice. This is achieved by focusing on the development of a theoretical and analytical framework for identifying signs-as-agents that was shown to be applicable to other educational tools and scenarios. The chapter illustrates how a Semiotic Technologies approach, that forms the main pillar of the framework, can unite a number of well-established perspectives, from research in Human-Computer Interaction, Social Cognition Theory, Critical digital literacy, Distributed Cognition Theory and be applied to different educational scenarios. This is in order to support a more holistic and critical understanding of agency and agents – both ‘human’ and ‘digital’ – which is relevant for education researchers and practitioners working with STEAM and STEM. Three examples, from various educational, digital scenarios are used to illustrate how the theoretical and an...
English) The present study aims to explore the relationship between learner agency, screen-based ... more English) The present study aims to explore the relationship between learner agency, screen-based resources (such as navigational buttons, textual task instructions) and meaning making in synchronous computer mediated communication (SCMC) tasks developed to promote spoken interaction. Using a case-study approach, three tasks designed for language learning (opinionsharing, role-play and information gap) across two data sets (12 cases) are analysed. Tasks are carried out in an online university in Barcelona with spoken interaction facilitated through an audioconferencing tool. Data was collected over the course of one semester (2015) and analysed, alongside data from a prior study (2012). The objectives were threefold: to understand how learners’ choices and intentional actions pertaining to screen-based resources shape oral turns; to understand how meaning making can be understood from a multimodal perspective, beyond the lingual. The study also aims to contribute to theory on agency ...
Research on mode in computer-mediated communication and language learning has primarily focused o... more Research on mode in computer-mediated communication and language learning has primarily focused on mode-as-channel of communication such as audio- or videoconferencing. However, increasingly sophis...
Research into the multimodal aspects of language is increasingly important as communication throu... more Research into the multimodal aspects of language is increasingly important as communication through a screen plays a greater role in modern society than ever before (Liou, 2011). Multimodality has been explored from a number of angles relating to computer-mediated communication (CMC), such as its affordances and impact on language learners, highlighting its relevance and importance in the field of second language acquisition (SLA). Because CMC scenarios require attending to both peers and the screen, learners can be seen as positioned as “semiotic initiators and responders” (Coffin & Donohue, 2014). Increasingly, researchers are highlighting a need for a methodological “turn” to analyse this scenario from a “language” focus to a more holistic understanding of the interactions (Flewitt, 2008; Hampel & Hauck, 2006; Kress & van Leeuwen, 2001; Lamy, 2006). Along these lines, this case study explores how the action of task completion is mediated between six dyads (and individuals within ...
Learner agency, the capability of individual human beings to make choices and act on these choice... more Learner agency, the capability of individual human beings to make choices and act on these choices in a way that makes a difference in their lives (Martin, 2004), is instrumental in second language learning because attainment is only arrived at by learner choice (Pavlenko & Lantolf, 2000). If attainment is understood as learner engagement in synchronous, collaborative, spoken interaction which is thought to lead to gains in second language acquisition (SLA), then design considerations that harness learners’ agency towards that end is important. This study explores the relationship between learner agency and two different task types, namely an information-gap task and an opinion-sharing task in two peer-to-peer synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) spoken interaction events. Students’ choices and how students act on these choices during tasks are analysed using a discourse analysis approach. Audio recordings of four dyads as cases were examined using three analytical dim...
Fostering learner agency is a primary goal of Integrative Computer Assisted Language Learning, a ... more Fostering learner agency is a primary goal of Integrative Computer Assisted Language Learning, a type of CALL (Warschauer, 1996) that encompasses networked learning and multimedia, including hypermedia. Although navigation has been a focus of attention in some more established CALL scenarios such as Intelligent Computer Assisted Language learning (ICALL) systems in second language acquisition (SLA) research, much less focus has been on more emerging CALL scenarios such as augmented reality, amongst others. Therefore, if learner agency is to be fostered, identifying how it manifests is important. This study focuses on ‘directional agency’ (Knight, Barberà and Appel, 2017) which is agency exercised in relation to navigational acts during language learning tasks. Using our own case study data as a starting point (where learners carry out navigation as part of the tasks), the paper draws attention to the somatic acts of navigation while using spoken language as part of the multimodal ex...
Mind and Matter - Challenges and Opportunities in Cognitive Semiotics and Aesthetics, 2022
This chapter shows how educationalists might (re)conceptualise digital tool use within teaching a... more This chapter shows how educationalists might (re)conceptualise digital tool use within teaching and learning scenarios as a social practice. This is achieved by focusing on the development of a theoretical and analytical framework for identifying signs-as-agents that was shown to be applicable to other educational tools and scenarios. The chapter illustrates how a Semiotic Technologies approach, that forms the main pillar of the framework, can unite a number of well-established perspectives, from research in Human-Computer Interaction, Social Cognition Theory, Critical digital literacy, Distributed Cognition Theory and be applied to different educational scenarios. This is in order to support a more holistic and critical understanding of agency and agents – both ‘human’ and ‘digital’ – which is relevant for education researchers and practitioners working with STEAM and STEM. Three examples, from various educational, digital scenarios are used to illustrate how the theoretical and an...
English) The present study aims to explore the relationship between learner agency, screen-based ... more English) The present study aims to explore the relationship between learner agency, screen-based resources (such as navigational buttons, textual task instructions) and meaning making in synchronous computer mediated communication (SCMC) tasks developed to promote spoken interaction. Using a case-study approach, three tasks designed for language learning (opinionsharing, role-play and information gap) across two data sets (12 cases) are analysed. Tasks are carried out in an online university in Barcelona with spoken interaction facilitated through an audioconferencing tool. Data was collected over the course of one semester (2015) and analysed, alongside data from a prior study (2012). The objectives were threefold: to understand how learners’ choices and intentional actions pertaining to screen-based resources shape oral turns; to understand how meaning making can be understood from a multimodal perspective, beyond the lingual. The study also aims to contribute to theory on agency ...
Research on mode in computer-mediated communication and language learning has primarily focused o... more Research on mode in computer-mediated communication and language learning has primarily focused on mode-as-channel of communication such as audio- or videoconferencing. However, increasingly sophis...
Research into the multimodal aspects of language is increasingly important as communication throu... more Research into the multimodal aspects of language is increasingly important as communication through a screen plays a greater role in modern society than ever before (Liou, 2011). Multimodality has been explored from a number of angles relating to computer-mediated communication (CMC), such as its affordances and impact on language learners, highlighting its relevance and importance in the field of second language acquisition (SLA). Because CMC scenarios require attending to both peers and the screen, learners can be seen as positioned as “semiotic initiators and responders” (Coffin & Donohue, 2014). Increasingly, researchers are highlighting a need for a methodological “turn” to analyse this scenario from a “language” focus to a more holistic understanding of the interactions (Flewitt, 2008; Hampel & Hauck, 2006; Kress & van Leeuwen, 2001; Lamy, 2006). Along these lines, this case study explores how the action of task completion is mediated between six dyads (and individuals within ...
Learner agency, the capability of individual human beings to make choices and act on these choice... more Learner agency, the capability of individual human beings to make choices and act on these choices in a way that makes a difference in their lives (Martin, 2004), is instrumental in second language learning because attainment is only arrived at by learner choice (Pavlenko & Lantolf, 2000). If attainment is understood as learner engagement in synchronous, collaborative, spoken interaction which is thought to lead to gains in second language acquisition (SLA), then design considerations that harness learners’ agency towards that end is important. This study explores the relationship between learner agency and two different task types, namely an information-gap task and an opinion-sharing task in two peer-to-peer synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) spoken interaction events. Students’ choices and how students act on these choices during tasks are analysed using a discourse analysis approach. Audio recordings of four dyads as cases were examined using three analytical dim...
Fostering learner agency is a primary goal of Integrative Computer Assisted Language Learning, a ... more Fostering learner agency is a primary goal of Integrative Computer Assisted Language Learning, a type of CALL (Warschauer, 1996) that encompasses networked learning and multimedia, including hypermedia. Although navigation has been a focus of attention in some more established CALL scenarios such as Intelligent Computer Assisted Language learning (ICALL) systems in second language acquisition (SLA) research, much less focus has been on more emerging CALL scenarios such as augmented reality, amongst others. Therefore, if learner agency is to be fostered, identifying how it manifests is important. This study focuses on ‘directional agency’ (Knight, Barberà and Appel, 2017) which is agency exercised in relation to navigational acts during language learning tasks. Using our own case study data as a starting point (where learners carry out navigation as part of the tasks), the paper draws attention to the somatic acts of navigation while using spoken language as part of the multimodal ex...
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Papers by Janine Knight