Complexity in Asynchronous CMC Agreement and Disagreement

Recent research suggests that there are many aspects of online discussion that may make it better for language learning than face-to-face discussion. In this quasi-experimental study, equality of participation and individual output in face-to-face discussion were measured after treatment. Treatment consisted of ten female university students non-randomly placed into two groups of five students each. The first group participated in an online discussion board for seven weeks. The second group discussed the same issues face-to-face for seven weeks. Pre-study and post-study measures of variables were taken and analyzed. Results showed; a) an increase in subsequent oral production of the target language by the face-to-face group but a decrease in production of target language by the ACMC group; b) an increase of TOEIC scores in both groups, and c) an increase in the use of the L1 (Japanese) in subsequent oral discussion by the ACMC group. Based on the results of this study, ACMC discussion appears to have an overall negative effect on oral production of the L2. Cite as: Claro, J. (2008). Effects of Asynchronous CMC and Face-to-Face Discussion on Oral Production. (Unpublished master's thesis). Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto.

2007

This study goes beyond student perceptions of online learning experiences, satisfaction, and attitudes, to examine the actual participation and dynamics that occur in online discussions and their relationship to student learning outcomes. A content analysis approach was used to investigate students' socio-cognitive processes in an online graduate-level English grammar class.

Open Journal of Modern Linguistics, 2012

Tertiary institutions are increasingly using online virtual environments such as Blackboard to upload course content for students. However, there is still limited usage of the online blogging and discussion tools. This study describes the language used by tertiary students involved in blogging and discussions online. It also demonstrates learning processes observed through the interactions of participants over time. Findings suggest that this unique discourse mode is a potentially powerful tool for language learning.

The present study addresses the perceptions of international teaching assistants regarding the role of language learning tasks using Wimba Voice (WV) in aiding the improvement of their second language (L2) oral skills. It specifically examines how this asynchronous computermediated communication (CMC) technology can foster the development of these learners' L2 selves. According to , the more clearly learners can envision their future L2 selves, the more motivated they will be to achieve their L2 goals. With increased planning of oral production, access to instructor and peer feedback, and additional opportunities for selfreflection, asynchronous CMC technologies have been found to enable L2 learners to express their thoughts at their own pace and feel more relaxed and confident than in more threatening face-to-face situations . The findings suggest that learners have a variety of opinions regarding the role of asynchronous WV tasks in motivating them to develop their L2 oral proficiency. Also, many may prefer oral CMC environments that facilitate interaction and meaning negotiation. Results were inconclusive concerning the effect of WV-based tasks on students' perceptions of their future L2 selves; however, this may have been due to the short time frame in which these activities were employed.

2000

This article reports a study examining university student pairs carrying out an electronic discussion task in a synchronous computer mediated communication (CMC) system (NetMeeting). The purpose of the assignment was to raise students' awareness concerning conceptions that characterise effective pedagogical interactions, by collaboratively comparing and discussing their analyses of a dialogue between a tutor and a student.

Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 2003

Recent research in content analysis has shown the difficulties of achieving acceptable levels of inter-rater reliability with CMC transcripts. This has lead to the development of semi-structured computer conferencing systems, in which participants choose the type of contribution that they are making from a limited set of alternatives. This article extends previous work with respect to semi-structured approaches to online discourse, suggesting coding categories relevant for problem based learning. The SQUAD approach to online discourse offers definitions for quality with respect to participation, interaction and cognition, when using the message as the unit of CMC transcript analysis, analysing for what the author has termed as 'online learning levels of engagement'. It is argued that the theoretical basis underpinning the SQUAD approach is beneficial for the development of teamwork and cognitive reasoning when learning in small groups, and that it is a relatively straightforward exercise to apply this approach in a different mode of study or subject area.

Journal of Educational Computing Research, 2012

Sixty-seven undergraduates taking either a Blended Business Course (BBC) or an Online Education Course (OEC) were surveyed about factors influencing their "listening" behaviors in asynchronous online course discussions. These are the ways they attend to the posts made by others: which posts they open, how they engage with open posts, and which posts they choose to respond to. Goal-orientations were also assessed. Results indicate that student decisions about which posts to open relied strongly on discussion reply-structure and message timing; authorship was important only to BBC students. Once open, OEC students often scanned posts to decide whether to read in-depth. In the BBC, similar triage strategies were used by work-avoidant students, while mastery students read posts thoroughly. In deciding which posts to reply to, BBC students favored posts that agreed with them while OEC students favored those that disagreed. Course and student characteristics that may account for these differences are discussed and implications for research and practice are presented.

2015

Interaction involves people communicating and reacting to each other. This process is key to the study of discourse, but it is not easy to study systematically how interaction takes place in a specific communicative event, or how it is typically performed over a series of repeated communicative events. However, with a written record of the interaction, it becomes possible to study the process in some detail. This thesis investigates interaction through asynchronous written discussion forums in a computer-mediated learning environment. In particular, this study investigates pragmatic aspects of the communicative event which the asynchronous online discussions comprise. The first case study examines response patterns to messages by looking at the content of initial messages and responses, in order to determine the extent to which characteristics of the messages themselves or other situational factors affect the interaction. The second study examines in what ways participants use a range of discourse devices, including formulaic politeness, humour and supportive feedback as community building strategies in the interaction. The third study investigates the role of the subject line of messages in the interaction, for example by examining how participants choose different types of subject lines for different types of messages. The fourth study examines to what extent features serving a deictic function are drawn on in the interaction and then compares the findings to both oral conversation and formal academic discourse. The overall findings show a complex communicative situation shaped by the medium itself, type of activity, the academic discipline and topic of discussion and by the social and cultural aspects of tertiary education in an online learning environment. In addition, the findings may also provide evidence of learning.

Variations in group co-construction of knowledge and the extent to which participants engaged in negotiating meaning were directly related to instruction. The authors examined social interaction resulting from controlled variation in instruction using a counterbalanced design in two professional development courses for teachers. Both courses were held at the same time, included the same content with the same instructor, and were held in an asynchronous online format. Twenty-four subjects were randomly assigned to the two courses. Using socio-historical constructivist theory to guide instruction interventions , instruction frequency and questioning were intentionally manipulated during one-half of each course. The variations in instruction were hypothesized to promote negotiation of meaning and co-construction of knowledge within both groups. Transcript analysis using a dependent measure of social interaction was applied to the 782 utterances of the participants. Multiple comparisons revealed significant differences in the dependent measure in portions of the course where modified instructional strategies were implemented. The results show that relatively simple alterations in instructional practice (e.g., increasing instructional statements from once to twice per week and engaging participants in dialogue through open-ended questioning) yields a substantially enhanced learning outcome within this environment. Strong evidence suggests that online learning groups depend heavily on instruction to facilitate negotiation of meaning and co-construction of knowledge. This research raises concerns about whether or not instructors employ instructional strategies that influence social knowledge construction and subsequent learning outcomes from asynchronous online courses. In addition, the study demonstrates the utility of a previously published measure for social interaction in CMC.

THEN PEN, 2022

Scholarly essay written for THE PEN, Division J of AERA