Abstract

The case study reported in this paper investigates the relationships of teacher roles and learner autonomy in the cyber teaching of two EFL adult writers. The discourse of the teacher and learners was constructed in the written e-mail text because e-mail was their only means of communication. A total of 362 e-mails were generated in the twenty-month period of the cyber writing course. The teacher as investigator used NVivo 1.1-3, a qualitative data analysis software to conduct a content analysis that identified his own discourse in terms of teaching and counseling roles in a sample of 90 teacher e-mails, spread equally among the beginning, middle and end phases of the instructional period. Linked to the content analysis, a follow-up discourse analysis further examined the ensuing learner-teacher interactions to see how the two learners reacted to the teaching and counseling roles of the teacher. The results suggested that teaching roles did not provide opportunities for promoting learner autonomy whereas counseling roles created a supportive learning environment for the development of autonomy in language learning. The results of the data analysis provided additional evidence in support of the connection between computer-mediated communication and autonomy in language learning. Implications were drawn to call into question the universality of established categories of teacher roles in autonomous language learning, suggesting that cultural context and experience need to be taken into consideration.

Keywords: teacher roles, learner autonomy, computer-mediated communication, e- mail pal exchanges, EFL adult writers

CALL programs in the 1960s and 1970s were basically designed to provide immediate feedback on grammatical accuracy of learner response (Kern & Warschauer, 2000). Initiated at the University of Illinois, the PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations) was a well-known project that offered language materials for repetitious drill and mechanical exercise (Beatty, 2003; Levy, 1997). This emphasis on drill-and-practice is consistent with structural approaches to language teaching that stress the importance of repetition to language learning (Kern & Warschauer, 2000). Influenced by behavioral psychologists such as John Watson and B. F. Skinner, language learning based on structural approaches was perceived as habit formation, a process in which pattern drills helped condition the learner to produce correct response. 

CALL software applications from the 1980s tended to shift the locus of control from the computer to the learner (Kern & Warschauer, 2000). This generation of CALL saw the computer as a tool controlled by the learner rather than an expert that controlled the learner in the earlier generation. Situated within simulated environments, learners made use of computers to create their microworlds (Papert, 1980) in which learners were enabled to solve problems, test hypotheses and construct new concepts on the basis of their existing knowledge. This phase of CALL is in line with cognitive approaches to language learning which reject behaviorism’s analogy of mind as a blank slate but instead assume that learners enter the classroom with “a rich set of ideas and experiences (Kern & Warschauer, 2000, p. 93). 

The applications of electronic networks from the 1990s to the present stem from two important technological innovations: computer-mediated communication (CMC) and the World Wide Web (Kern & Warschauer, 2000). CMC provides language learners access to interaction with others via either asynchronous networks such as electronic mail or synchronous networks like Internet Relay Chat. The World Wide Web is a revolutionary medium for an abundance of language learning resources. The uses of electronic learning networks since the 1990s seemed to accord with the principles of sociocognitive approaches to language learning which stressed meaningful social interaction in authentic discourse communities (Kern & Warschauer, 2000). With the advent of computer networks, the dynamic of CALL was shifted from “learners’ interaction with computers” in structural and cognitive approaches to “interaction with other humans via the computer” in sociocognitive approaches (ibid, p. 11). 

Technology has been associated with learner autonomy especially when technology is taken in the broadest sense and autonomy as a super-ordinate term (Motteram, 1997). In Benson’s (2001) technology-based approaches to the development of autonomy, he includes a good number of projects that incorporate e-mail language advising (Makin, 1994), student-produced video (Gardener, 1994), e-mail tandem learning (Lewis, Woodin & St. John, 1996), informational CD-ROMs (Guillot, 1996), and electronic writing environments (Milton, 1997), etc. According to Benson, some of these projects provide the technology that facilitates interactions difficult or impossible in the classroom. For others, it is the interaction with technology that benefits the development of learner autonomy.

In addition, Benson (2002) sees the development of autonomy as closely tied to that of a communicative orientation towards language learning. At the University of Hong Kong, Benson and Nunan (2003) interview thirty-one freshmen on their English experiences from the earliest to the most recent learning stage (cited in Benson, 2002). They conclude that the intention of these students to take control of their language learning almost always arises out of their experiences of communication although expressing intention of taking control is not equivalent to gaining autonomy in language learning. 
For Gardner and Miller (1999), the introduction of autonomy in language learning requires changes in the roles of both teachers and learners. Because the idea to incorporate autonomy in language learning typically comes from the teacher, the promotion of autonomy depends to a great extent on the teacher’s redefinition of his or her own roles (Hill, 1994). Crabbe (1999) similarly suggests that a re-examination of teacher roles is essential if the learning mode of the students is to become more autonomous.

Barnes (1992) represents the potential roles of the teacher on a continuum from transmission at one end to interpretation at the other. A transmission teacher is one who transmits knowledge to learners. This kind of teacher is always ready to evaluate and correct the performance of learners to make sure the knowledge is successfully transmitted. On the contrary, interpretation teachers consider it important to help learners interpret knowledge by themselves. Their roles are to set up dialogues with learners and to help them re-organize the knowledge.

Adapting Barnes’ distinction, Voller (1997) argues that teacher roles for the promotion of learner autonomy should always fall within the interpretation end of the continuum. He suggests the teacher roles in interpretation teaching to include helper (Tough, 1971), facilitator (Knowles, 1975), knower (Curran, 1976), resource (Breen & Candlin, 1980), consultant (Gremmo & Abe, 1985), counselor (Knowles, 1986), coordinator (Hammond & Collins, 1991), and adviser (Sturtridge, 1992). Following a thorough review, he classifies the teacher roles above into three categories: teacher as facilitator, teacher as counselor and teacher as resource.

According to Voller (1997), teacher as facilitator is a term widely used in the literature of autonomous language learning, self-access language learning, self-instruction language learning, and communicative language learning. A facilitator of learning is generally represented as a helper who makes it easier for learning to occur. In his attempt to characterize the role of a facilitator, Voller uses Holec’s (1985) two complementary roles, a provider of technical support and a provider of psycho-social support.  The technical support provided by a facilitator includes 1) helping learners to plan and carry out their independent language learning by means of needs analysis, organizing interactions, etc., 2) helping learners evaluate themselves, and 3) helping learners to acquire the skills and knowledge needed to implement the above. The psycho-social support includes 1) being caring, supportive, patient, empathic, open and non-judgemental, 2) motivating learners and being prepared to enter into a dialogue with learners, and 3) raising learners’ awareness of independent learning.

Teacher as counselor is another common role of interpretation teachers discussed in autonomous language learning although “little research has been done to determine exactly how counselors counsel” (Voller, 1997, p. 104). A counselor is a person who provides advice to those who need it. Teachers as counselors often refer to those who work in more individualized learning contexts such as the staff in self-access language learning centers. However, the term counselor has also been used in other contexts such as communicative language learning (Richards & Rodgers, 1986) and community language learning (Curran, 1976).

Regent (1993) compares the discourse of a traditional teacher in a French conversation class with that of a counselor in a self-directed learning center. She uses one extract from the teacher and two extracts from the counselor to investigate how discourse influences the development of learner autonomy. After a survey of teacher and counselor discourse, Regent comes to a conclusion by making a list of role categories that distinguish teaching from counseling. In the list, there are 19 categories in teaching and 20 categories in counseling, and as a result some of the categories do not pair up well (see Table 2.2).

Table 2.2 - Teaching Vs. Counseling (Regent, 1993, pp. 37-8)

Borrowing Regent’s (1993) categorization, Riley (1997) further analyzes the speech acts and functions that realize the roles in teaching and counseling. He re-organizes Regent’s list into 15 sets of role categories and presents the roles as pairs through combining and deleting some of the categories in Regent’s (see Table 2.3).
    
Table 2.3 - Roles in Teaching and Counseling (Riley, 1997, p. 122)

Compared to those of facilitator and counselor, the role of teacher as resource is much less explored in the literature. Voller (1997) sees this role as comparable to that of teacher as knower, with a similar emphasis on the expertise of the teacher. Whereas teacher as knower often refers to classroom settings, teacher as resource is generally used in self-access learning contexts. However, he argues that defining a teacher role in terms of expertise in knowledge can imply an unequal power relationship between teachers and learners.

Research Questions  
Inasmuch as there was almost no institutional constraint from the EFI website, the teacher as investigator had the autonomy to make choices in conducting the cyber course of grammar and writing. In this pedagogical context, the only means of communication was e-mail, and therefore, the teacher roles as well as their influences on the learners could only be identified in the discourse of e-mail. To examine the relationships of teacher roles and learner autonomy in the cyber context, the study was guided by the following three research questions:

1. What teacher roles are constructed in the cyber course of grammar and writing?
2. How are the teacher roles constructed in the discourse of the written e-mail text?
3. How do the roles of the teacher influence the development of learner autonomy in the cyber pedagogical context?

3. Method
3.1. Context
English for Internet (EFI), a free English school on the Internet, is a language learning website initiated and overseen by David Winet. Winet also teaches in the English Language Program at the University of California at Berkeley (extension). His concept is to recruit volunteer teachers to provide courses on EFI and then offer them free to English learners from all over the world by matching them up with available online teachers (Stevens, 2003). During the year of 2000, EFI provided cyber courses in listening, speaking, reading, grammar and writing, as well as specialized instruction in ESP, TOEFL preparation, voice message board and online chat.

After a few e-mail exchanges with EFI coordinators, the investigator became a volunteer teacher for a cyber course of grammar and writing from February 12, 2001 to September 27, 2002. His contact with course participants was made possible by the coordinators who sent him the names and e-mail addresses of English learners from the basic to intermediate level. Since the EFI coordinators did not establish any requirements on how the course should be structured, the investigator was free to manage his own class. The contents of the assignments in this cyber course started with weekly grammar lessons and multiple-draft compositions. The grammar lessons were usually provided according to the frequent types of errors found in the learners’ compositions. An e-mail pal activity was included beginning in the third month of the course when the two students in this study were paired up to exchange e-mails with each other.

In this case study, the investigator first retrospectively examined his own roles as the teacher in the cyber pedagogical context to see whether they were similar to or different from those that had been established in the literature of autonomous language learning. Two experienced English teachers were recruited to be the co-coders of the teacher roles in order to enhance the validity and inter-rater reliability of the study. Second, he examined the reactions of the two EFL adult learners in response to the teacher roles as well as the ensuing learner-teacher interaction. His main interest was to look at the locus of control between the teacher and the learners to see how teacher roles were associated with the development of learner autonomy in the cyber pedagogical context. 

3.2. Participants
The teacher as investigator or George (nickname) was a M.A. student at a state university in the United States. George majored in TESL and therefore became interested to have a teaching experience to apply what he learned from school. When he saw David Winet’s announcement of online teaching positions, George immediately e-mailed professor Winet and volunteered to teach the cyber course of grammar and writing on EFI. Because of his full-time student status, George was only able to take two students from EFI at a time.

The students, Mick and Jing (pseudonyms) were the only two EFL adult learners who participated regularly and continuously in George’s class of grammar and writing. Mick was a Hungarian working as a production manager at a Hungarian-German joint venture company. He was the first student in this course. His participation began on February 12, 2001 and continued to June 20, 2002. Jing was a Thai homemaker raising two preschool children. She participated in the cyber course from March 6, 2001 to September 27, 2002. According to their proficiency in a grammar-focused writing test given by the EFI website, Mick was at the basic level, and Jing, the intermediate level.

3.3. Data Collection
The teacher as investigator routinely kept personal e-mail messages and sorted them into different folders. Therefore, his Outlook Express stored all the e-mail correspondence and written assignments generated during the 20-month period of the instructional period. The complete data in this study included course schedules, grammar lessons, multiple-draft written assignments, online grammar assessment, online needs assessment, online course evaluation and 362 e-mail messages from the teacher and the two course participants. This study focused on the e-mail entries collected from the beginning to the end of the cyber class. The sample of 90 teacher e-mails used for NVivo content analyses spread equally between the early (Phase 1), middle (Phase 2) and end phase (Phase 3) of the 362 e-mail entries.

3.4. Methods of Data Analysis
The data analysis of this study was divided into two parts: content analysis and discourse analysis. In the content analysis, a qualitative data analysis software known as NVivo 1.1-3 was applied to search for patterns of teacher discourse in terms of roles in teaching and counseling. In this pedagogical context, Nvivo allowed the investigator to manually assign units of text to categories of teacher roles in teaching and counseling. Based on the findings of the content analysis, a follow-up discourse analysis further investigated the reactions of the two learners associated with the frequent teacher roles identified in the content analysis.

Three steps were taken for the content analysis. First, the investigator did a preliminary analysis in which a set of coding schemes was built to generalize teacher discourse in a sample of 90 teacher e-mails. In coding the data, he found Riley’s (1997) contrast of teacher roles in teaching and counseling to be helpful in building a coding scheme. Therefore, the coding scheme for the preliminary analysis was both derived from the data and connected to the conceptual ideas of teaching and counseling roles in the literature.

In step 2, two experienced English teachers were recruited to be co-coders for the study. The co-coders included an Egyptian male, a Fulbright visiting scholar at the Pennsylvania State University, who had been a teacher trainer in English Education and teacher in Linguistics for more than twelve years, and a Taiwanese female, a second-year M.A. – PhD student at the Pennsylvania State University with six years’ experiences teaching English as a foreign language. The two co-coders were trained individually to use NVivo 1.1-3 and code five e-mails outside the sample of 90 teacher e-mails. They both were asked to provide feedback to the coding scheme from the preliminary analysis. After the training sessions, the coding scheme underwent minor refinement based on the feedback of the two co-coders (see Table 3.1).
Finally, the three coders (including the investigator) started to use the final coding scheme to code the sample of 90 teacher e-mail messages. The results of their analyses were compared. Codings that matched for two or all three coders were recorded as the outcome of the inter-coder treatment. In other words, recorded data reflect a consensus of i) coders 1 and 2, ii) coders 1 and 3 (iii) coders 2 and 3, and (iv) coders 1, 2 and 3. 

Table 3.1 - The Final Coding Scheme

3.5. Limitations of the Study
This study involved a small population of learners in a cyber pedagogical context which allowed one-on-one instructions. The results of this study might not be generalized to the teaching contexts with larger population of students. For the sampling technique in the content analysis, the e-mail data were not sorted randomly but by time periods. The advantage of selecting samples by time is to preserve the rich context of the CMC data. On the other hand, the inter-coder treatment was taken as an alternative approach to establishing the inter-rater reliability in the content analysis. Two advantages account for the adoption of the alternative approach. First, the approach considers the perspectives of teachers or coders from different cultural backgrounds to ensure the qualitative nature of the analysis. Second, the inter-coder treatment realizes the purpose of guarding against subjective biases of individual coders and helps to enhance the inter-rater reliability in the content analysis.

4. Results & Discussion
4.1. Content Analysis
Table 4.1 reports the identification of teacher roles in teaching for each of the three phases in the 20-month instructional period. In a calculation of the total codings for each category of teaching roles in the three phases, the following three categories were coded more frequently than other categories of teaching roles: 1) deciding on learning tasks and allocating homework (21 total codings), 2) presenting grammar and vocabulary (3 codings), and 3) deciding on time, place and pace (2 codings). 

Table 4.1 - Number of Coding in Teaching Roles

Notes: The unit of coding is by sentence.
Phase 1 = Email 027 – 080; Phase 2 = Email 149 – 201; Phase 3 = Email 263 – 328        

In contrast with teaching roles, the roles in counseling were identified with more frequency and in a variety of categories (see Table 4.2). The six more frequent counseling roles were as follows: 1) giving positive or negative feedback (33 total codings), 2) supporting and being considerate (26 codings), 3) being willing to listen and respond (18 codings), 4) eliciting and fulfilling aims, needs and wishes (12 codings), 5) offering alternative procedures and choices (11 codings), and 6) suggesting learning tasks (9 codings).   

Table 4.2 - Number of Coding in Counseling Roles

Notes: The unit of coding is by sentence.

Phase 1 = Email 027 – 080; Phase 2 = Email 149 – 201; Phase 3 = Email 263 – 328      

 Figure 4.1 illustrates the total codings of roles in teaching and counseling for each phase of the instructional period. In teaching roles, the total codings decreased from 20 (Phase 1) to 7 (Phase 2) and 1 (Phase 3). With respect to counseling roles, the total number of codings also decreased, but to a much lesser degree. As was true for the roles in teaching, the counseling roles in Phase 1 significantly outnumbered the total codings for the other two phases (61, 31, 28). Nevertheless, the difference in the total codings in counseling roles between Phase 2 and Phase 3 was much less than that for teaching roles. In other words, the teacher’s teaching roles became less active as the course progressed whereas the counseling roles remained active throughout the instructional period. 

Figure 4.1: Total Codings in Teaching & Counseling Roles by Phase
     
Figure 4.2 shows the ratios of coding agreement reached by the three coders during the inter-coder treatment. A high percentage (46%) of coding was matched between coder 1 (male) and coder 2 (female) who both came from Taiwan. The coding matches between coder 2 (Taiwanese female) and coder 3 (Egyptian male) were 24%.  The least agreement was reached between coder 1 (Taiwanese male) and coder 3 (Egyptian male) at only 10%. This difference seemed to suggest that the descriptions of teacher acts and discourse were not universal, although this study involved such a small sample of coders that nothing significant can be assumed. The coding agreement reached by the three coders together comprised 20% of the total.

Figure 4.2 Coder Agreement
Coder 1 was a Taiwanese male PhD student.
Coder 2 was a Taiwanese female PhD student.
Coder 3 was an Egyptian male visiting scholar

4.2. Discourse Analysis
Linked to the content analysis, a follow-up discourse analysis was conducted to investigate how the two EFL adult learners responded to the teacher roles in the e-mail interactions. Therefore, the discourse analysis focused on the three frequent teaching roles identified in the content analysis: 1) deciding on learning tasks and allocating homework, 2) presenting grammar and vocabulary and 3) deciding on time, place and pace, and the following six frequent counseling roles: 1) giving positive or negative feedback, 2) supporting and being considerate, 3) being willing to listen and respond, 4) eliciting and fulfilling aims, needs and wishes, 5) offering alternative procedures and choices, and 6) suggesting learning tasks. These role categories were ordered in coding frequency and included examples from the beginning, middle and end phases of the instructional period.   

4.2.1. The Discourse of Teaching Roles
Teaching Role 1: Deciding on Learning Tasks and Allocating Homework
The five sentences highlighted in E-mail 37 were coded as the teaching role, deciding on learning tasks and allocating homework. These teacher instructions required the Thai learner, Jing to complete a grammar lesson and a narrative composition. She was asked to complete an exercise on the past tense and to use past tense in the composition whenever necessary. Several imperatives were found in these teacher instructions. By using imperatives, I directed the learner in exactly what to do and showed her the focus of each task. Therefore, an important linguistic characteristic in realizing this teaching role was through the use of imperatives.

E-mail 37
From: George
Date: 3/13/2001
To: Jing
Subject: lesson 1

“Dear Jing,
      Now we only have 2 weeks left for March.  Lesson 1 is for the following week and lesson 2 for the last week. 
Lesson1: Regular Vs Irregular Verb
Lesson2: To be (linking verb)
Please go to this link and read Lesson1. #1  There is an introduction of verbs. You can skip the exercise of irregular past verb tense if you are not interested. Let me know if you prefer a doc file. In that case, I'll send you doc file next time.
http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/c/y/cyc109/lesson1.htm
1. Send me your answers if you do the exercise on past tense verb.
2. Write a story about yourself. It can be a trip, your family, or even English learning experience. Focus on one thing and be sure to use past tense when it is appropriate. No limit with words. Be informal.  Let me know if the lesson is too hard or too easy for you.
George”

Notes: #1 was coded as a different teaching role, selecting materials by coder 3.

In her return mail, Jing followed all of my instructions coded as the teaching role of deciding on learning tasks and allocating homework. She submitted her answers for the grammar exercise on the past tense. Choosing one of the topics I provided, she wrote a composition about the trip to Chiang Mai with her husband. Throughout her composition, past-tense verbs were used wherever appropriate (see highlighted verbs in E-mail 44). The content of Jing’s e-mail was simply on the task, and it made her e-mail look like an answer sheet for a written examination. There was nothing related to free-topic conversation or dialogue. Her response seemed to reflect the role of teacher as authority figure who exerted control to learners.  
E-mail 44
From: Jing
Date: 3/20/2001
To: George
Subject: Re. Lesson1

“Dear teacher George,
   (….)
  Here are the exercises of  lesson 1 below:
1. Suddenly, Bill's horse (see) saw a shadow. It (spring) sprang sideways and (rise) rose on its hind legs, raking at its invisible foe with its hooves. Bill, (catch) caught unprepared, was (fling) flang flung to the rocky ground with a sickening thud.
    At that moment lightening (split) split  the heavens, and an image of Bill as he (lie) lay crumpled and bleeding was (freeze) froze in the ice-blue light.
    I (leap) leap leapt down from my saddle but as I (bend) bent close to Bill, I (can) could see that for him life's long journey (is) was all over.

Sorry, there are two mistakes and I've corrected it into black letters at once.

2. I'll never forget the day we, only my husband and I, went to Chiang Mai, the second largest city in Thailand. It's 18th Nov 1993, not long after I came to Thailand. It's also one of the most important Thai national festivals, called Loy Krathong.
      We started at afternoon on Nov 17, prepared a lot of snack, drinking water and record tapes for the long trip. We drove through the city of Bangkok, busy traffic made me have a chance to enjoy its old and modern streets, buildings, temples, etc. After driving out of the city, the view changed, wide rice field, green woods and blooming flowers came into our sights. How beautiful! I asked my husband about the festival--Loy krathong, he told me Thai people laid floating floral tributes lit by candles on the water--pond, river, lake or sea, and they believed it could take the past year's bad things away and bring their luck for future. We talked and talked, when it became dark, we found we were missing. We should drove to north, but turned east unconsciously. We had to stay at a hotel in a very small city--Sinburi. The next day, we went back to the right way and drove up straightly, arrived in Chiang Mai late afternoon finally.”

(….)

Teaching Role 2: Presenting Grammar and Vocabulary
E-mail 281 provides an example of presenting grammar and vocabulary, a teaching role assigned by coders 2 and 3. I consulted my co-worker in the inter-library loan office at the Pennsylvania State University to clear up a misunderstanding originated from a form feedback I provided to Jing’s description of her job (as a nurse) in a multiple-draft essay. After receiving comments from my friend, I confirmed with Jing who proposed that it did not seem to be grammatically accurate to describe her job as “mix the medicine or mix the pills” in a previous e-mail.
E-mail 281
From: George
Date: 11/2/2001
To: Jing
Subject: prescribe the pills

“Hi Jing,
    I have asked my library colleague and he cannot think of a good term for collect the medicine. However, he suggested to say "mutleplize the pills" or "give the pills" or make multiple pills and so on. He said it's right to say, "compound the medicine but he seldom puts it this way. But it's wrong to say, "mix the medicine or mix the pills." #2 Also you may say prescribe the pills. I think they have different kinds of saying because in America, they have pharmacists who are responsible to prescribe pills for the patients. According to my understanding, a good way to describe, "compound the medicine" in America is "prescribe the pills." Let me know if anything sounds confusing to you.
George”

Notes: #2 was coded as a counseling role, giving positive or negative feedback by coder 1.

In E-mail 283, Jing replied to me that she had looked over again for a right phrase to explain her job in the hospital, but without success. She finally looked it up in the dictionary and found the same expression “make up the prescription” that she used to describe her job originally in a previous draft. However, Jing was not completely confident herself but asked me for confirmation on the usage. Jing’s response to the form feedback seemed to reflect a role of teacher as provider of correct answers which was very typical in Taiwan where the control of form was always on the side of the teacher (Wang, 2000).  
E-mail 283
From: Jing
Date: 11/4/2001
To: George
Subject: Re. prescribe the pills
 “Dear teacher George,
  I've just sent my job 3 to you. I tried to search the answer about the question, but I failed. However, I found it in my dictionary, and it's "make up the prescription". Do you think it's right?
Yours, Jing”

Teaching Role 3: Deciding on Time, Place, and Pace
E-mail 53 has a coding on the teaching role of deciding on time, place, and pace.  I decided a due date for Mick to submit his essay 3. The time control was pretty loose because I did not set up an exact time. “The week after next week” in fact could range from two weeks to three weeks. Writing a multiple-draft essay was a very time-consuming process, and that was why I decided to control the pace of the assignment.
E-mail 53
From: George
Date: 3/30/2001
To: Mick
Subject: Re. feedback3 to essay2

“Dear Mick,
     (…) As for your third essay, "fishing" is fine but I would suggest you some direction to write about it. Think about how this hobby means to you.  Do you consider it a good hobby or bad hobby? How often do you go fishing? With whom?  Maybe you can also tell some stories that happened at the time when you were doing this hobby. And you can say more! Same requirement: no limits with words. Due date: the week after next week. By the way, I include lesson 6 in the attachment and the answers for the exercise are listed in the end.
George”

Mick sent his essay 3 two weeks later than the due date (see E-mail 103). He apologized for the delay because he had been very busy at that time. Mick’s delay was unusual because he often turned in his written assignments sooner than I expected. However, if I had had institutional power to enforce the due date, “being busy” would not have become a justifiable reason for Mick to miss it. 
E-mail 103
From: Mick
Date: 5/2/2001
To: George
Subject: essay3
Attachment: fishing2.doc

“Hi George,
  I apologize for my delay, as you know I was very busy recently.
I finished my third essay and I am sending it to you.
(…)
Best regards
Mick”

4.2.2. The Discourse of Counseling Roles
Counseling Role 1: Giving Positive or Negative Feedback
The texts highlighted in E-mail 40 were all coded in the category of the counseling role, giving positive or negative feedback. They established the teacher’s feedback in the brief e-mail response to the Hungarian learner, Mick, who had submitted essay 2 earlier on during that same day. The comments were all positive feedback which served as a general evaluation of the essay. In trying to convince him of the good quality of the essay, I attempted to give Mick confidence in his own writing ability. The linguistic realization of the counseling role in this e-mail suggested that I tended to provide only positive feedback to help the learner. This supported Regent’s (1993) inclusion of “being positive” as one category of counseling roles. 

E-mail 40
From: George
Date: 3/14/2001
To: Mick
Subject: Re. Essay2

“Mick,
   This essay is really nice! The description of your job is very clear and the information is very thoughtful. I love reading this.#3 
(…)
George”

Notes: #3 was coded as a different counseling role, supportive and being considerate by coder 1.
    
Mick expressed his appreciation for the praise in his response (see E-mail 41). He was motivated to re-read the essay and make more revisions. Yet that same day, March 14th, he sent a revised draft of essay 2 to me, thanks to the technology of e-mail, a tool for free and efficient delivery. Mick’s immediate response suggested that he was encouraged by the praise to take the initiative and do more to improve the quality of his essay.
E-mail 41
From: Mick
Date: 3/14/2001
To: George
Subject: Re. Essay2
Attachment: aboutmyjob.doc

“Hi George,
Thank you very much for your praise about my second essay. I read it again and I found some small mistakes what I repaired. I am sending you it and please read this version when you will check it.
(…)
Best regards
Mick”

Counseling Role 2: Supporting and Being Considerate
The sentence highlighted in E-mail 149 was coded both as supporting and being considerate, and giving positive or negative feedback. I told Mick that he did a great job on the essay of Hungarian food. Without much knowledge of Hungarian cuisine, I had a question for the last paragraph of the essay. I was not able to understand the recipe for a particular dish and wondered whether the food was some kind of paste. My provision of this counseling role seemed to create a supportive or non-threatening working climate for Mick so that he would not feel too bad when I expressed difficulty in comprehending his writing. The counseling role therefore accords with the psycho-social support of a facilitator who motivates learners by being empathic and supportive (Voller, 1997).
  
E-mail 149
From: George
Date: 6/23/2001
To: Mick
Subject: feedback to essay4
Attachment: feedback1toessay4.doc

“Dear Mick,
   You did a great job on the essay about Hungarian food.#4 I do not know Hungarian cuisine is so famous in European countries. As you say, French food is famous as well, but I don't like it so much. Maybe it's because the Fresh bread. I did see two children fight each other with French bread on the street. Their bread is so hard and flavorless when compared to English cake. I do not quite understand the last paragraph of this essay since I am very unfamiliar with Hungarian food. Is the food some kind of paste?  Please read it over before doing any revision. Thanks!
George”

Notes: #4 was coded in this role category by coders 1 & 3 but it was also coded as another counseling role, giving positive or negative feedback by coders 1 & 2.

In two days, Mick sent a revised draft of the essay to me and hoped the new draft would be more comprehensible. Mick clarified that the food was not any kind of paste. Because of cultural differences, he could not find a good term to translate it into English.
E-mail 153
From: Mick
Date: 6/25/2001
To: George
Subject: Re. Feedback to essay4
Attachment: feedback1hungarianfood.doc

“Hi George,
 (…)
I did over my essay. I think it became more comprehensible. I agree with your opinion that writing about food is difficult. The Hungarian cuisine is really famous in Europe. It is an attraction for many European tourists.
The mentioned food in the last paragraph is not a kind of paste. I didn't find a correct word in dictionaries to translate it exactly. Perhaps I would name it potato-squash or potato-mush. It is a folk dish from West Country of Hungary. I think it is true that must go to Hungary if someone wants to eat a pure Hungarian food. I had bad experience when I ate Hungarian food in Poland. It was terrible.
I am sending improved version of my essay.
 Best regards, Mick”

Counseling Role 3: Being Willing to Listen and Respond
The sentence highlighted in E-mail 158 were assigned to the counseling role of being willing to listen and respond. I introduced Jing to the procedure of an e-mail writing project after gaining her feedback on the project. I planned to let her develop her multiple-draft essays from her previous e-mail pal exchanges. In other words, the topics of her new multiple-draft essays would be selected from the e-mail pal exchanges, which served as preliminary drafts. In this project, I would provide feedback through attachment like what I did in the multiple-draft written assignments. 
E-mail 158
From: George
Date: 6/29/2001
To: Jing
Subject: email project

“Dear Jing,
     I have read the feedback for email project and also have more ideas with the project.  I am thinking to use one of the emails in the emails you sent each other weekly to give my feedback through doc. file.  In this way, the piece can replace our essay assignment and ease the workload.  (…) You can either agree or tell the reasons for disagreement. 
(…)
 George”
        
Jing liked my ideas for the e-mail writing project; however, she was a little confused about the procedure of the new activity. She was not sure how the feedback would be provided and whether she should continue the email pal exchanges (See E-mail 167). Through the provision of this counseling role, I was able to hear what Jing thought about the new activity and make sure whether the procedure was clear for her to understand. However, the counseling role did not engage Jing in decision-making of the e-mail writing project and did not provide evidence for transference of control to the learner. 
E-mail 167
From: Jing
Date: 7/5/2001
To: George
Subject: Re. Email project

“Dear teacher George,
     I like your idea, and your feedback must be useful and helpful to both of us. Thank you very much! Only one question, you said we would go on to next email when one was satisfactory, does it mean that we'll begin to write next email or you'll begin to give next feedback when one is satisfactory?
Best Wishes,
Jing”

Counseling Role 4: Eliciting and Fulfilling Learner Aims, Needs and Wishes
One sentence was coded under the counseling role, eliciting and fulfilling learner aims, needs, and wishes in E-mail 29, where Jing was requested to give a self-introduction. I asked Jing why and what she wanted to learn in this cyber course offered on EFI. The use of WH question suggested my willingness to hear Jing’s voice and have dialogue with her.  By asking why, I was able to investigate her learner needs, interests and wishes. The WH question thus served as an important medium of technical support (Voller, 1997) for the teacher to transfer the locus of control, letting the learner have her say in the course. 
E-mail 29
From: George
Date: 3/6/2001
To: Jing
Subject: self-introduction

“Hi Jing
    (…)  Before we start our lessons, I would like you to give a brief introduction about yourself. Something related to your country, family, favorite stuffs, and your school. I'm also interested to know why and what you want to learn English in EFI. #5  There is no limit with words for the self-introduction.  Please be informal! I look forward to hearing from you.  
George”

Notes: #5 was coded as a teaching role, setting objectives by coder 3.

The WH question allowed Jing to express her reasons for participating in the cyber writing course. Three of the reasons she gave had to do with her needs to use English for communication (see E-mail 33). For example, she had a close friend who was married to an English gentleman; however, Jing could hardly talk with him when they visited her on holidays. Therefore, she applied to this class immediately upon learning the address of EFI from a book about the Internet. As we can see, this counseling role not only empowered Jing to recognize her communicative needs but also helped me to interpret what she wished to gain from this class. The counseling role of eliciting and fulfilling learner aims, needs, and wishes seemed to serve as a prior step for the teacher to hand over the locus of control to the learner.
E-mail 33
From: George
Date: 3/11/2001
To: Jing
Subject: Re. Self-introduction

“Dear teacher George,
 (...)
  About the reason of learning English in EFI, there are so many. At first, I think learning will not be end or over for a man, and his heart will never be old if he studies new knowledge constantly. I have been learning English myself after graduated, and do my best to keep what I've learned though there are not many chances for me to practice. I'm not good at it, particularly at speaking and listening. The second, I want to look for a job when my kids get older, a good level in English will be more helpful. The third, English is used and learned by people all over the world, it 's a very useful language, especially on line. Some friends of mine always write to me in English, and I have to write back in English too since they can't read my message in Chinese or Thai in their computer. The more reason is one best friend of mine, her husband is a very lovely and kind English gentleman, they often come and spend holidays here, but I nearly can't talk with him. When I got the address of EFI from a book about Internet, I made an application at once. 
(…)
Best Regards,
Jing”

Counseling Role 5: Offering Alternative Procedures and Choices
The text highlighted in E-mail 49 offers an example of the counseling role, offering alternative procedures and choices. Instead of giving Mick a final topic for essay 3, I allowed him to have a topic of his own choice. By offering this alternative procedure for the topic selection, I was able to share with Mick the decision as to the topic for essay 3.
E-mail 49
From: George
Date: 3/26/2001
To: Mick
Subject: Re. Book review

“Dear Mick
     (…)  I think you are doing very well with this class and as for essay 3, I haven't decided a final topic.  Maybe you can suggest something you are interested to write about such as your favorite sports, foods, holidays or anything else.  (…)
George”
  
In E-mail 50, Mick conveyed his decision to write about his hobby for essay 3.  However, he wanted to make sure that he could begin his writing.  Although Mick was given the locus of control as to the topic for essay 3, there was still some concern on his part for the need to seek permission from the teacher.
E-mail 50
From: George
Date: 3/28/2001
To: Mick
Subject: Re. Lesson5 and feedback2;
Attachment: feedback2toessay2repaired

“Hello George,
(…)
Can I start to write my third essay about my hobby?
I am waiting for your reply.
Best regards
Mick”

In E-mail 51, I asked Mick what kind of hobby he was going to write about for essay 3. By asking this WH question, I was able to help Mick narrow the topic. In other words, even after the learner had chosen to write about his hobby, I still had a role to play in negotiating a more specific topic.
E-mail 51
From: George
Date: 3/29/2001
To: Mick
Subject: feedback3 to essay2;
Attachment: feedback3toessay2.doc

“Hi Mick
    (…)  As for essay3, can you tell me what kind of hobby you'd like to write about?  Let me know more about what you want to write about this topic because it must be interesting for me to read.  I'll send you Lesson 6 right after we together design the topic for next essay.  Thanks!
George”

In E-mail 52, Mick finally decided on the more specific topic of (line) fishing, a topic I would have never thought about because of my vegetarian diet. Nevertheless, as in E-mail 50, the learner expressed concern for my opinion. He told me to suggest other topics if his own choice did not prompt my interest. Here again we see that Mick still considered the choice of essay topic to be subject to the teacher’s control even though he had made the final decision to write about his favorite hobby, fishing.
E-mail 52
From: Mick
Date: 3/29/2001
To: George
Subject: Re. Feedback3 to essay2

“Hi George,
(…) I think I'll write about line fishing, it is my hobby. If it isn't interesting for you, please suggest me other topic. I'm sending you version 3 of essay 2 on Monday.
Have a nice weekend.
Mick”

Role 6: Suggesting Learning Tasks
In E-mail 57, a sentence was coded under the counseling role, suggesting learning tasks. Here I proposed an e-mail pal activity to the students in the cyber course. This activity was aimed at developing the learners’ communicative ability in writing. Participants in this activity needed to send an e-mail message to each other on a weekly base, including a copy for me because I agreed to read every copied message in the e-mail exchanges. 
E-mail 57
From: George
Date: 4/2/2001
To: Jing; Arturo; Mick
Subject: grammar & writing learning group

“Hi folks,
    I'm designing an interactive class to develop my EFI students' communicative ability in writing. The class is more like an email learning group and very informal. The only thing to participate in this class is to send or respond at least an email each week to two other students of you three. Of course, you can send more when you get excited. You should also send a duplicate to me whenever you send an email to other students. I'll read every message from your interaction.  (…)
George”

Both Mick and Jing considered it a good idea to participate in the e-mail pal activity.  They appeared to be happy and motivated in their responses (see E-mails 61 & 64). Mick, in particular, was curious about the English level of his e-mail pal and hoped that together with his partner they could find common topics. In other words, Mick felt that the locus of control as to topic decision was between him and his partner in the communication-based activity of e-mail exchanges. This was an example of the connection between computer-mediated communication and the intention of taking control in language learning. It supports Benson and Nunun (2003) who assert that the intention of learners to take control of their language learning almost always arises out of their experiences of communication. Through the e-mail pal activity, the two EFL adult learners were able to be in charge of their learning while the teacher became a reader or a secondary participant. 
E-mail 61
From: Mick
Date: 4/3/2001
To: George
Subject: Re. Grammar & writing learning group

“Hi George,
I think, it is a good idea. I like it and I gladly participate in this group. I don't know the others, but I hope we will find common topics. Which level do they speak English? What are their opinions about this group?
I am curious to see the