Computer-mediated communication and the linking of students, text, and author on an ESL writing course listserv

This paper addresses an issue of interest to many first- (L1) and second-language (L2) writing theorists and teachers: the role(s) that computer-mediated communication (CMC) can play in making writing instruction more effective and more meaningful, particularly in the highly technological early years of the twenty-first century. This paper explores the use of CMC in the form of a writing course listserv on which L2 students and the author of an assigned novel interacted in an effort to strengthen students’ reading of and writing about the novel. Examples of the interaction between the novel's author and the students are presented and analyzed relative to the ways in which this interaction was intended to help students asynchronously construct understanding that could then inform their writing about the literary text.