Ph.D. Student Researches Teacher Education, Second Language Acquisition, and Foreign Language Pedagogy

Second Year Ph.D. Student Yen-Lin Chou's paper: "Facebook: Semiotics and Identity among Generation 1.5 Chinese Immigrants" has been accepted for publication by The Future of Writing. Ms. Chou's paper originally was presented during the Future of Writing Conference held in November 2008 at UC Irvine.

The November conference brought together scholars from both across the UC system and other universities and a cadre of nationally recognized experts to explore how the new communications technologies, particularly the Internet, are challenging previous conceptions of what “writing” is. Through a range of panels, demonstrations, and an art exhibit, participants considered the following: How are new communications technologies changing the way people "compose," "write," and "author?" How do collaborative writing spaces and social networking challenge the concepts of “text” and “author?" And how are emerging emphases on visual literacies shifting what we think of as writing?

The conference was co-sponsored by the UCI Office of the Campus Writing Coordinator and HumaniTech®, with support from the Humanities Center and the International Center for Writing and Translation.

Abstract

Recent years have seen increased attention given to the ways computer-mediated communication (CMC) affects language learners’ trajectories of language practices in social contexts and cultural identity developments. However, research that concentrates on relationship between collegiate Chinese immigrant students’ semiotic forms in CMC and their social, cultural, and ethnic identifications is scant. The purpose of this research study is to better understand how the multimodal functions (e.g. text, visual, audio, and image compositions) of online communication are used in and/or influence collegiate Chinese immigrant students’ communication, socialization, and self-representation on Facebook. This study will help identify how the use of Facebook enables Chinese immigrant students to develop their semiotic performance and facilitate their assimilation to the US society.