Heterotopias, Panopticons, and Internet Discourse

Abstract

As the use of computer-mediated communication becomes more common in the language classroom, more attention is needed to the types of discourse which are engendered on the Internet. Many teachers contend that use of the Internet provides their students with more opportunities for free and autonomous communication, while others claim that patterns of teacher control will reproduce themselves in on-line educational activities. This paper examines the discourse on a group of international e-mail discussion lists for ESL and EFL teachers and students to examine how the diecourse community is shaped and what relations are constructed among participants in the process. Two Foucauldian concepts, that of panopticism and that of heterotopia, are used to illustrate the contradictory features which tend to make Internet discourse highly socialized but also highly pluralistic.