On Developing Communicative Competence Of College English Learners By Way Of Online Conversation

Online conversation in this paper contains two implications, which is not only a unique form of comprehensible output but also an interactive process in a broad sense which involves the reception of input and the production of output. Online conversation is categorized into spoken language though expressed in written form. Moreover, it combines all three essential elements (input, interaction and output) that now most linguists believe, play the vital roles in the development of second language acquisition. Therefore, online conversation is of high value in the study of L2 development and the revolution of F/SL instruction.This paper is developed around my experimental research on online conversation—a pioneer CAI method, with an aim to provide L2 learners with real person-to-person communication online as a supplement to formal college classroom instruction. The study is implemented based on two hypotheses that online conversationa. can help improve the linguistic competence of the EFL learners;b. can help improve the pragmatic competence of the EFL learners, through the analysis of online conversational discourse collected from two online speech groups set up on QQ for first-year undergraduates I teach at Jilin University so as to examine how Chinese college English learners'communicative competence develops through interpersonal interactions during online conversation. The data is evaluated from the following two perspectives: Linguistic Competence: Data analysis illustrates that learners'acquisition in lexicon develops through meaning negotiations during online conversation when non-comprehension arises, while negotiations of grammatical forms rarely occur because certain grammatical errors seldom lead to misunderstanding in learners'output. As long as interlocutors'attention focuses on content and natural flow of conversation, learners'grammatical competence does not advance as so much as lexical competence does during interpersonal interactions. Therefore, directed classroom instruction at grammatical errors observed from online communication seems more effective than overt corrections through form negotiations.Pragmatic Competence: My research verifies that online conversation plays a vital role in the cultivation of L2 pragmatic competence; however, certain pragmatic errors generated due to the differences in ways of thinking and language traditions cannot be easily modified through several negotiations. Fortunately, adequate comprehensible input from native and non-native speakers during online conversation and sufficient opportunities for comprehensible output of the target language will gradually move learners'pragmatic achievements to a higher stage.The research results convince that online conversation, if effectively integrated with formal classroom teaching, will not only improve but also accelerate the development of learners'L2 communicative competence in consideration of both linguistic and pragmatic competence.