Please help me to correct the grammar errors

Posted by ginny on 2007/4/26 9:30:01

Applying Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teaching classroom has become a trend. CMC contains synchronous CMC, Instant Messenger (IM) and teleconference for example, and asynchronous CMC like e-mail and bulletin board. Different kinds of communication tools have been adopted in second or foreign language education. CMC has altered the environment of language learning (Ei-Tigi & Branch, 1997). The research by Kearsley (2000) has revealed that use of computer assists in language learning makes the classroom autonomous, interactive, social, collaborative, cooperative, communicative and student-centered. Furthermore, the use of a computer provides the opportunity for students to learn with reduced face-to-face contact, thus reducing anxiety. It also provides an improvement in writing skills and allows target language to develop naturally for communicative purposes (Li, 2000).
Crucial for writing is a way of thinking that allows students to manifest their own thoughts. Traditionally, in Taiwanese English writing classes, only one-draft is required. Teachers always play an important role as instructors and evaluators. According to Huang (2003), the requirement of quality writing was that students knew how to work effective writing processes with guidance when they composed their first drafts. Following the change in teaching and learning styles, students become more independent in their writing process. Lehr (1995) mentioned that revision becomes the core of the writing process and it is the final part in the writing process. Revision is “a process of making changes throughout the writing of a draft, changes that work to make the draft congruent with a writer’s changing intentions” (Lehr, 1995, p2). Students would be stimulated with new ideas and ways of thinking. Teachers would help students to do the evaluation.
Peer-evaluation becomes more and more popular because it encourages student-to-student interaction via discussion. Teacher-to-student interaction and discussion are not used as frequently in writing class today. Traditionally, peer-evaluation was that teachers give students a checklist which contains questions to check grammar or sentence structure. Then, the students would read their peers’ writings and follow the questions for the evaluation. Finally, students would follow up with individual revision.
With the development of technology such as the Internet, the procedure and application of peer-evaluation is not limited in the classroom. In Huang’s (2003) study, writing classes conducted via networked teaching according to the researcher’s design of an online writing homepage. Students composed their writings, browsed the guided information, browsed the sample writing, and did online peer-evaluation. Online peer-evaluation, which enables students to help each other improve their writing (Mangelsdorf & Schlumberger, 1992), also promotes students’ self-confidence (Hafemik, 1983), and enhances students’ ability to reconceptualize their ideas after considering the feedback from their peers (Cazden, 1988). This is commonly used in EFL composition classes.



Using different communication models in peer-evaluation, such as one-to-one and many-to-many enhances students’ learning ability and motivation (Chen, 2004; Huang, 2003; Tso, 2001). In order to reduce peer’s pressure, students apply e-mail and IM to be the communication tools when doing discussion at their leisure after school (Tsai, 2004; Lu, 2003). This study is to investigate the roles of CMC and communication model on EFL students’ online peer-evaluation at two universities in Taiwan. Probing the influences of communication tools and models in peer-evaluation is to know which communication tools and models are better for evaluation. The aim of network-based learning is to apply appropriate communication models and communication tools and thus let learners have better learning efficiency.