The development of science and technology has made it not only possible but very convenient for people living in different parts of the world to communicate with each other, thus bringing forth a new form of communication: computer-mediated communication (CMC). Text-based CMC is one of the most popular forms of CMC in which people send instant messages to others in different settings. Since this mode of interaction combines features of both the written and spoken language (Greenfield & Subrahmanyam, 2003), it's of great interest whether it follows the same sequential rule as the telephone conversation. However, compared to telephone conversations, computer-mediated communication has received much less attention, let alone text-based CMC. The existing body of literature mostly focuses on content analysis and linguistic features but neglects the sequential organization of such interaction (Paolillo, 1999; Greenfield and Subrahmanyam, 2003; Herring, 1999). In light of this, this paper examines the opening moves of instant message exchanges among Chinese adults in an attempt to find out the unique features characterizing the way they open an online chat. The framework that was chosen for data analysis was the sequential model proposed by Schegloff for American telephone openings.
Teacher training for primary and secondary schools in the underdeveloped areas in China was rather inadequate in terms of teaching skills.It's imperative to direct more attention to the English teachers in these areas and provide opportunities for them to receive in-service training so that they can update their subject matter knowledge and pedagogic knowledge to facilitate their teaching.In light of this demand,this paper presents a one-year-long program that is tailored to the needs of the secondary school teachers of English in the inland areas,by giving a detailed description of the knowledge base they need together with the rationale underlying such a design.
