Applying Transactional Theory in Teaching And Learning Writing On-line
Fields of Transaction
As we have seen, transaction is built into much of the classroom-based teaching that we engage in and read about. But that teaching usually happens face-to-face, where instant response can signal that the phases of mental transactions have actually occurred. What evidence do we have that transactional writing pedagogy can exist on-line for students at a distance?
Strong support for such a supposition can be found in records of real-time conversations--or synchronous computer-mediated conferencing (CMC). Live interactions among students and instructors (such as that referred to by Angie and Ron) embody the part of the learning process that is valued and valuable because of its dialogic nature--its ability to recreate human interaction (as Angie again suggests), with the opportunities for trial-and-error learning and constructive correction. This dimension of education is soonest sacrificed in most distance learning contexts--and indeed, is underdeveloped in many traditional classrooms as well. Transactional writing instruction on-line should recreate an environment where live interactions can happen effectively to develop writing skill (Dan, for example, affirms the effects of on-line discussion in his experience). As these students' own words indicate, these learning transactions can and do happen.
In order to demonstrate transactions on-line, I have divided them into two main "fields" that background students' learning in writing situations; this division between writer and community is suggested by Rosenblatt's model, which identifies these different but interrelated contexts for language transactions. Each of these main categories in turn has descriptors of the nature of the transactions taking place, and examples of its type taken from actual real-time conferences occurring in our ENG 103 composition course in Spring 97.