Online vs. Offline Interactions During Writing Tutorials: Focusing on Korean Learners of English

Abstract

This study aims to explore differences found both at the surface level and at the interactional level between online and offline writing tutorials at a university located in Seoul, Korea. To date, tutors’ online interactions with tutees have not been examined as much as the offline ones, despite the surge of online teaching since the global outbreak of COVID-19. In order to examine how online and offline conditions affect tutor-tutee interactions, this study audio-recorded a total of 16 online and offline writing tutorials conducted by four different Korean writing tutors. Each tutor met two tutees twice— meeting one online and the other offline at first, and then the other way around for the second. Additionally, the tutees’ writings, including their first and revised drafts, were collected to better understand the tutor-tutee interactions. The surface-level comparison reveals that backchannels and overlaps hinder the communication in online tutorials and that tutees have limited access to the shared text because of technical limitations inherent to online communication. The interactional-level comparison shows that more collaborations occur during the offline tutorials than during the online counterpart. Based on these findings, this study argues for further technical development in the area of online courses, and suggests that both tutors and tutees need training and experience in order to efficiently communicate online.