The role of ambiguity tolerance in participation in online EFL courses

Abstract

Online courses for teaching and learning English as a foreign language (EFL) are widely accepted in educational settings and have been investigated from various perspectives in order to improve their effectiveness. Yang (2011) established that students’ participation in online learning activities is a key element in successful language learning through CMC. Lee (2005) emphasized that knowledge of students’ personality characteristics can assist teachers and administrators in predicting the students’ performance and hence can facilitate the restructuring of the classroom situation in order to encourage more student participation. One of these significant personality traits/characteristics or individual differences is ambiguity tolerance (AT) and its importance has been highlighted by a number of studies. However, its effect on online EFL participation has not been widely discussed in the literature. The current study, therefore, was intended to investigate the effect of AT on the participation of 120 students in online EFL courses. The analysis revealed that tolerant students were more interested in participating in online EFL courses. In comparison, intolerant students were less likely to take part in these courses.