Interactional Dynamics Perspective on Academic E-mail Correspondence

Abstract

The article examines academic e-mail correspondence as a special type of writing in the electronic environment that has dynamic, interactive, dialogical, and distributed character. The focus is made on the dynamics of interaction between the correspondents such as contact setting, orientation and co-functions; and the text of an e-letter is regarded as indices of the write’s state or affordances in terms of ecological linguistics. The establishment of consensual domain of interaction brings about a new stage of cognition emergence which may lead to distributed learning. Co-writing is like a dance that unfolds in the world and with others. Recognition that writing via the Internet is distributed process across time, space and minds may help in understanding the theory of cognition and learning.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n6s1p113