OMDE601 Discussion thread

13.7:-? Cynthia to Thomas' intro
13.7.1 :-) Beverly


13.7.8 :-? Jennifer

Beverly,

I think you make a valid point in your previous statement,

"One positive aspect of online conferencing is that individuals who may not be fluent in the language spoken but fluent in the written form of the language can dialogue with each other. This aspect of online conferencing facilitates individuals from different countries communicating with each other...and now, with translation tools being developed...it will make it even more advantagous to have online conferencing for individuals of different languages."

But your statement about instructors, "encouraging students to write freely without concern for spelling or grammer..."does not support your previous thought. How is a nonnative language speaker to benefit from this type of situation. This puts an extra burden on them to decipher what is being said. Incorrect grammar and spelling can give an entirelydifferent meaning to a word or phrase or make it incomprehensible for someone who is not a native speaker of thelanguage.

Jennifer