The following logs were generated by students aspiring to attain college-level English skills. The fifteen to eighteen students in these classes represent up to eleven different native languages. The topics for the discussions arise from the students' observations of American culture as they visit pumpkin patches, shopping centers, apple orchards, churches, and other icons of American culture. 2000-2001 Beginners engage in a discussion of a cultural field trip to stores decidedly out of the mainstream .
Students stay on the topic fairly well, though their utterances are short and disjointed.
One wonders if they're actually reading remarks that are not directed at them. The unfocused conversation is different from multithreaded discussion typical of experienced users. The jail, the courthouse, the antique store and the pawn shop . A lot of topics for one session. Students seem very interested in the jail.