A Social and Cultural Analysis of Computer-mediated Communication Dialog in Asian Contexts

Abstract

The present study analyzes how social and cultural contexts influence the CMC interactions in a cross-cultural English collaborative learning project for university participants from Taiwan, Japan, and Korea. The main purpose of the study is to understand how social and cultural differences, manipulated by one’s social and cultural context and interest toward international affair, influence the CMC dialogues among students of Asia, and how attitudes differ from one cultural group to another. The web platform communication tool used in this study was an online classroom established by Nicenet organization (www.nicenet.org). The project employed a qualitative research methodology using NVivo 9 digital software to analyze social and cultural aspects of the CMC dialogues. The results show that intergroup climate does play an important role in cross-cultural asynchronous CMC projects. Unfamiliarity among participants can present a constant influence on the flow of interaction, and feedback giving, which decreases motivation for participants from different cultural groups.