Conclusion
The multifaceted insight that Mercer brings to the explanation of how we use language makes for a fascinating read. For an introduction into CMC, a topic I am a complete novice in, this has certainly piqued my curiosity. I think partly because this book helps explain a little of why we are the way we are, from the development of language by our ancestors as a darwinistic survival tool of small communities to its state of passing the knowledge of the human race as collective consciousness. A lot of what I read in this book now seems elementary as though I should have known it all along, but I didn't ever think about it. With a better understanding of how the language I use everyday works I think it may have made me better at using those communication tools that so many people simply take for granted. Understanding how we assimilate the world around us and how to better share that information is incredibly useful as both a teacher and a student.
That's how I feel about my work in this area, too, it seems obvious once you think about it, but until you do it's all tacit knowledge. Hope you had a chance to read the Herring CMC article since we'll be working with that in class to night.
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