Online Class Discussion Research Articles

Conversational Analysis on Politeness in Online Class Discussions: Exploring Turn-Taking and Relational Work Strategies Between Lecturer and Students

In the teaching-learning process, the lecturers usually play the role of dominant turn-takers. Meanwhile, students mostly perform as small turn-takers. In EFL classrooms, different turn-taking patterns are essential to analyze to identify the students' language politeness during the turn-taking process. The present study analyzed the turn-taking and relational work concerning politeness in online class discussions. For this study, a conversational analysis was performed on online class(es) discussions between students and lectures. A video recording of a classroom conversation between ELT and TEFL was employed. The study found that 16 out of 40 quotations displayed a turn-taking of the Appealing Strategy (AS). The relational work strategy of Being Cooperative (BC) was cited in 22 of 40 quotes. In relational work strategies, BC indicated that the students' responses related to what the lecturer mentioned. Turn-taking and relational work strategies could be one of the tools to determine the students' politeness by combining the characteristics as politeness indicators that focus on students' answers when speaking with the lecturer. Further investigations on gender disparities that use turn-taking and relational work to maintain politeness in online lecturer-student dialogues may prove insightful.

Student‐generated memes as a way to facilitate online discussion for adult learners

AbstractThis qualitative study examines how a student‐generated meme activity influences adult learners' interaction in online class discussions. A multiple‐case design is applied to understand how this class discussion activity facilitates online threaded interactions. This study recruited 28 adult learners from a two‐section graduate‐level asynchronous online class. Findings show that entertaining and easy to relate to meme activity generated by students engages adult learners in discussion activities for active learning. It helps learners quickly open up to each other to share and learn from each other. This discussion activity offers an alternative to releasing their emotions and feelings individually and collectively benefits adult learners when approaching new learning. It also shows the advantages of using a discussion activity connecting diverse adult learners and building a sense of community for social support while supporting each other for new learning. Findings indicate a significant role also played by the instructor in facilitating interactions. Our study provides insights into integrating internet tools (memes) with discussion activity for active learning in a fully asynchronous online discussion board.

What Does It Mean To Take Online Classes As An International Student During COVID-19?

Using the Theory of Social Support and the Community of Inquiry as theoretical frameworks, this qualitative study explored international students’ experiences, challenges, and perceptions of online learning environments during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. By conducting three virtual focus group interviews with 18 international students, we identified four key themes that encapsulate participants’ challenges and experiences of online learning: social isolation in online learning spaces, difficulties with engaging in online class discussions and activities, limited opportunities for improving English proficiency in the online setting and limited academic support from faculty and advisors. Implications for research and practice to support international students are discussed.

Teacher and Student Perceptions of CALL Feedback: Synchronous and Asynchronous Teacher Electronic Feedback in EFL-Writing at King Saud University

In the realm of education, feedback from peers and teachers is of critical importance. The rapid growth of electronic feedback (EF) has led to various innovations in feedback, particularly for teachers’ EF (TEF) in the context of English as a foreign language (EFL). This study contributes to the literature on feedback by examining how teachers and students in EFL writing classes were influenced by TEF offered synchronously via online class discussion, and TEF offered asynchronously via Blackboard. This study focuses on both teachers’ perceptions (elicited from interviews) and students’ perceptions (elicited from surveys) regarding their respective experiences of TEF. The study uncovered three main findings; most of the TEF addressed the content, organization, and language structure of the students’ EFL writing, and the teachers adjusted their TEF according to students’ needs and course objectives; teachers and students considered TEF to be effective and accessible.

Designing Interactive Academia-Industry Framework in Digital Language Classroom

: Language pedagogy has recently shifted its focus to digital pedagogy, hence classroom tasks being modified has become an essential practice around the world. One challenging element of teaching in a digital classroom is keeping students interested and ensuring that they have genuine learning experiences. It was also discovered that digital language classrooms give students minimal exposure to real-world settings, especially in English for Professional Interaction digital classrooms as it lacks the tools that connect academics and industry players. This study’s main objective is to conceptualise a framework that uses an educational research and development model that includes industry players as part of the classroom tasks and lesson plans for students’ engagement in the digital language classroom. The study's research design is a 10-stage research and development methodology that includes both quantitative and qualitative data analysis. The study was conducted over the course of four semesters from June 2020 until January 2022 in English for Professional Interaction classrooms. Professional speakers from various industries were invited for online class discussions and feedback was collected after each session. This interactive academia-industry framework in the digital language classroom serves as a methodological design that has the potential to affect students through authentic usage of content for realistic learning experiences.

TEACHER-MADE VIDEO LESSON: AN INTERVENTION FOR ONLINE DELIVERY MODALITY IN MATHEMATICS 8

The study aimed to determine the level of perception of learners on the Teacher-Made Video Lesson in terms of its characteristics, level of math performance of learners with and without the use of the material, effectiveness of the Teacher-Made Video Lesson through their math performance and relationship of learner?s perception on the material and math performance upon using the teacher-made video lesson of selected Grade 8 Students from the selected three schools in Cluster 3 of the Division of Laguna for School Year 2021-2022. Descriptive and experimental methods of research was employed to this study to define the characteristics of the variable under research and answers the questions related to it and to test hypothesis using experimental groups and control variables, respectively. The learner?s perception on the Teacher-Made Video Lesson material was given a remark of very high in all of its characteristics. It was also followed that the controlled group showed approaching proficient level in their math performance without the use of teacher-made video lesson while the experimental group showed advanced level in their math performance as shown by the computed mean. Furthermore, the result of the mathematics performance of learners with and without the use of teacher-made video was significant since the computed t-value was higher than the critical value. Lastly, the relationship of the learner?s perception on the teacher-made video lesson and their mathematics performance upon using the material was not significant since the p-value is higher than the significance alpha. The null hypothesis HO1 was rejected. This showed that the teacher-made video lessons was effective as intervention material in teaching Mathematics 8 specifically on the topics in the Third Quarter of the Most Essential Learning Competencies. However, the null hypothesis HO2 was accepted. This showed that there is no significant relationship between the perception of learners of the teacher-made video lesson and their math performance. As a result, teachers should consider the use of the Teacher-Made Video Lesson as an intervention material for them to cope up with students with problem during the online class discussion. Moreover, similar studies about the use of the Teacher-Made Video Lesson learning material as intervention not just only in Mathematics but also in other subject areas should be conducted and use other variables aside from those considered in the study.

Improving Online Discussion Boards

Asynchronous online discussion boards are a primary tool for instructors to cultivate social and cognitive presence in an online classroom. This article investigates the undergraduate student experience with remote learning during COVID-19 with the intent to examine the purpose and structure of online discussion boards. Researchers used semi-structured student interviews and student course evaluations to analyze learner perceptions of online class discussions. Though the goals of discussion boards are to provide a space for learner to learner interaction and to enhance critical thinking skills, discussion boards often fall short of these intended outcomes due to discussions feeling repetitive and artificial. Findings indicate that long-held traditional practices can be improved with different strategies; students value opportunities to ask questions and have choice. Reimagining the structure of online discussion boards can increase engagement and deepen learning.

Online Class Discussion and Social Presence to Boost Academic Performance of English Subject Amid COVID-19 Outbreak

ABSTRACT : Online learning is the indispensable option amidts COVID-19 ( Corona V irus D isease -2019 ) pandemi c , which infects people around the world. Like or dislike the advanced of technology or the use of interactive communication technology in teaching learning process is at staked, for the sake of education. All schools around the world have implemented this online learning activity and intends for the success in teaching learning. Some learning strategies have been implementing to arouse students learning interaction which effect to their academic performance. In this inquiry , I investigate that online class discussion is the learning strategy recommended and implemented and the social presence interaction in this inquiry of English subject at STMIK (College of Informatics and Computer Management) Pontianak class in West Kalimantan, Indonesia . Qualitative and quantitative methods are used in this study. Questionaire then simple regression SPSS ( Statistical Package for the Social Sciences ) statistical program is applied to figure out the significant academic performance obtained. Definitely, online class discussion and social presence are valuable learning strategies which boost learners’s academic attainment. The continous and longer allocated time of online class discussion in learning English is recommended for the significant learning outcomes. Having online class discussion may drive social presence of interactions between the participants. Further studies concerning online discussion and social presence is recommended also to be learned for the good of learning . KEY WORDS: Online L earning; I nteractive C ommunication T echnology; L earning S trategy; O nline C lass D iscussion; S ocial P resence . About the Author: Susanti, M.Pd. is a Lecturer of Information System Program at the STMIK ( Sekolah Tinggi Management Informatika dan Komputer or College of Informatics and Computer Management) Pontianak, Jalan Merdeka Barat No.372 Pontianak, West Kalimantan, Indonesia. E-mail address: santy.mayfoura@gmail.com Suggested Citation: Susanti. (2021). “Online Class Discussion and Social Presence to Boost Academic Performance of English Subject Amid COVID-19 Outbreak” in EDUCARE: International Journal for Educational Studies , Volume 14(1), August, pp.35-48. Bandung, Indonesia: Minda Masagi Press owned by ASPENSI with ISSN 1979-7877 (print) and ISSN 2621-587X (online). Article Timeline: Accepted (June 28, 2021); Revised (July 27, 2021); and Published (August 30, 2021).

The perception of the medical faculty and undergraduate students regarding online teaching in the era of COVID-19

Introduction: In this COVID-19 epidemic, most of the countries are facing issues regarding health care from the points of management, academic, and treatment. Online medical education as an alternate source has been utilized, but it entails certain solutions to the problems encountered in this new methodology of medical education. The study was conducted to enhance the knowledge about the barriers and the concurrent solutions and help improve online medical education in COVID era. Materials and Methods: A prospective, cross-sectional study was conducted on 336 undergraduate medical students 61 medical faculty members of ABVMS, Jammu. The two online intake forms in the form of a voluntary, self-administered questionnaires were used to collect the data; whose link was made active from May 15, 2020, to May 30, 2020. The questionnaire was designed with 10 questions for faculty and 7 for students. The questions encompassed different subjects related to their preferences and perception of online learning. The data were entered in MS Excel and analyzed using the SPSS software version 20.0. P <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The medical faculty perceived online class discussions and assessments of the students as difficult barriers (27.87% and 40.99%, respectively) and access to books/images for teaching and lectures making and delivering as easy (50.82% and 52.46%, respectively). The students felt that the ease of theoretical learning was best with downloadable AV lectures (54.46%). A total of 48.15% students and 31.15% faculty members supported the use of online education in future (P < 0.0001). Conclusion: The coronavirus pandemic appears to be an inflection point that is forcing disruption in how we teach medicine. While in the midst of this COVID-19 crisis, the medical faculty and the students are willing for a favorable change from offline to online medical education in view of an online instructional support/training, and infrastructural change. The following core competencies are addressed in this article: Interpersonal and communication skills, Practice-based learning and improvement.

EFL Students' Willingness to Communicate in Online Learning at Higher Educationin Indonesia

This study aims to investigate the students’ willingness to communicate (WTC) in online learning amid Covid-19 pandemic at higher education in Indonesia. The participants of the study were students of FKIP Tadulako University, Palu, Indonesia. There were 71 participants of the current study. The instrument of the study was questionnaire which aims to explore the students’ willingness to communicate, measured by the 16-item Likert-scale Students’ Willingness to Communicate in Online Learning at higher education. This current study concludes that group discussion is the activity most students like in online English classes. Other evidences from the study are: 1) Students do not feel nervous about expressing their feelings, opinions, thoughts, and ideas in online classes, 2) The students prefer listening rather than speaking in online class discussions, 3) Class discussions in online learning are the best way to practice speaking English, 4) Students do not feel nervous in online class discussions, 5) Students prefer online class discussions rather than offline class discussions, 6) Students are always encouraged to speak in online class discussions, 7) Students are always eager to speak in online classrooms, and (9) Students should not feel ashamed if they give wrong answers in online class discussions. © 2021, Caddo Gap Press. All rights reserved.

Distance learning and undergraduate Saudi students’ agency during the Covid-19 pandemic

"To investigate college students’ agency during the Covid-19 pandemic, a sample of translation students and instructors was surveyed. It was found that 55% of the participants were dissatisfied with distance learning (DL), online communication and had difficulty understanding online lectures. Findings also showed absence of goals, low selfefficacy, low student engagement and motivation, and a negative role. The most common concern was exams and passing courses with high grades. Instructors reported that many students were not interested in online learning, in doing assignments, refused to give oral presentations, did not participate in online class discussions, preferred lecture recordings, cheated on exams, overslept and started exams late. Recommendations for increasing translation students’ agency in DL are given."

Language teachers’ narratives of professional experience in online class discussions

AbstractLanguage teachers’ narratives of professional and personal experience have been shown to support sense-making, problem-solving, and the forging of personal connections, as well as to aid in developing their identities as language teachers. As language teacher education increasingly moves online, examining how teacher-learners engage in the sharing of professional experiences through narratives in these spaces is of paramount importance. This paper traces narratives of professional experience across 1,089 discussion posts shared by 10 Master’s students throughout one graduate-level online course, analyzing participants’ forum discussions to understand the functions of these narratives for the teacher-learners engaged in the course. Findings demonstrate how narratives of professional experience served to warrant individuals’ claims about topics related to multilingual writing pedagogy and teaching multilingual learners in general, positioning them as competent experts, often by presenting narrative events as something experienced time and again. Finally, this study considers how narratives of professional experience produce and reproduce a particular view of teachers’ role in educating language learners, collaboratively building on one another to preclude alternative stances, even when making potentially controversial claims.

Distance Learning and Undergraduate Saudi Students’ Agency during the COVID-19 Pandemic

To investigate college students’ agency during the COVID-19 pandemic, a sample of translation students and instructors was surveyed. It was found that 55% of the participants were dissatisfied with distance learning (DL), online communication and had difficulty understanding online lectures. Findings also showed absence of goals, low self-efficacy, low student engagement and motivation, and a negative role. The most common concern was exams and passing courses with high grades. Instructors reported that many students were not interested in online learning, in doing assignments, refused to give oral presentations, did not participate in online class discussions, preferred lecture recordings, cheated on exams, overslept and started exams late. Recommendations for increasing translation students’ agency in DL are given.

Exploring the potential of natural language processing to support microgenetic analysis of collaborative learning discussions

AbstractIn this study, we explore the potential of a natural language processing (NLP) approach to support discourse analysis of in‐situ, small group learning conversations. The theoretical basis of this work derives from Bakhtin’s notion of speech genres as bounded by educational robotics activity. Our goal is to leverage computational linguistics methods to advance and improve educational research methods. We used a parts‐of‐speech (POS) tagging program to automatically parse a transcript of spoken dialogue collected from a small group of middle school students involved in solving a robotics challenge. We grammatically parsed the dialogue at the level of the trigram. Then, through a deliberative process, we mapped the POS trigrams to our theoretically derived problem solving in computational environments coding system. Next, we developed a stacked histogram visualization to identify rich interactional segments in the data. Seven segments of the transcript were thus identified for closer analysis. Our NLP‐based approach partially replicated prior findings. Here, we present the theoretical basis for the work, our analytical approach in exploring this NLP‐based method, and our research findings. Practitioner NotesWhat is already known about this topic Over the last 10 years, several educational research papers indicate that natural language processing (NLP) techniques can be used to help interpret well‐structured, written dialogue, eg, conversations in online class discussions. Two recent papers indicate that NLP techniques can also be used to help interpret well‐structured, spoken dialogue, eg, replies to interview questions and/or comments made during think aloud protocols. Multimodal learning analytic techniques are being used to investigate collaborative learning. These studies use non‐verbal features of data (gaze, gesture, physical actions), prosodic features of verbal data (pitch and tone) and/or turn‐taking and duration of talk per speaker data, as means of predicting group success. None of the MMLA studies attempt semantic analysis of student talk in collaborative settings. What this paper adds A theoretical framework for why and how an automated NLP approach can support discourse analysis research on co‐located, computer‐based, collaborative problem solving interactions. This framework, entitled the Problem Solving in Computational Environment Speech Genre, links children’s physical interactions with computational devices to their verbal exchanges and presents a theoretical rationale for the use of NLP methods in educational research. Description of an interdisciplinary method that combines NLP techniques with qualitative coding approaches to support analysis of student collaborative learning with educational robotics. Identification of student learning outcomes derived from the semantic, PSCE Speech Genre and NLP approach. Implications for practice and/or policy Educational researchers will be able to expand upon our findings towards the goal of using computation and automation to support microgenetic analysis of large datasets. Robust microgenetic learning findings will provide curriculum developers, educational technology developers and teachers with guidance on how to construct and or create learning materials and environments. From an interdisciplinary perspective, this research can support more interdisciplinary exploration of conversational dialogues that are ill‐structured, indexical and referential. This research will support the further development of machine learning techniques and neural network models by computational linguists.

The social functions of teachers’ beliefs in an online class

This study presents an investigation of teachers’ beliefs about working with English learners, as constructed in online class discussions. Using conversation and discourse analysis from a discursive psychology (DP) perspective, analysis focuses on the discursive production of beliefs and the social actions achieved by this production in interaction. By orienting to teachers’ beliefs as interactionally emergent phenomena, findings highlight the ways that teachers account for their belief claims and the ways that teachers’ statements of belief work to perform certain social functions within the forum itself, including affiliation and disagreement. Implications for teacher education and for the potential of DP to contribute to research on teachers’ beliefs are discussed.

Investigating Students’ Perceptions of Motivating Factors of Online Class Discussions

<p class="3">One of the goals of teacher education is to prepare our citizens to communicate in a variety of ways. In our present society, communication using digital media has become essential. Although online discussions are a common component of many online courses, engaging students in online discussions has been a challenge. This study queried 86 educators in a math/science teacher education graduate program to examine their perceptions on the factors that motivate them to participate in online discussions.</p><p class="3">The results revealed a pragmatic outlook on online education. In terms of intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation, the participants’ main motivation to participate in online class discussions was extrinsic (85.88%), specifically so that they could earn an acceptable participation grade. With regards to discussion grouping formats, they preferred small group discussions (81%) which could facilitate their ability to develop rapport with a small group of fellow classmates over whole class discussion (38.83%). With respect to discussion facilitation, they focused on the practical need to have the instructor to answer their questions about course assignments (67.06%) over online open discussion without a given topic (35.72%). Next, when asked about discussion question types based on Bloom’s taxonomy, their strongest preference reflected a desire for application (89.54%) questions which would facilitate their ability to use theories discussed in class in their daily work as educators. Through collaboration with twenty-first-century learners, online education can use data-driven decision making to help transform online discussion from being the least desirable component of online courses to a more relevant, instructional medium. </p>

Experiencing Misgendered Pronouns: A Classroom Activity to Encourage Empathy

How can teachers help students understand the importance of gender pronouns for transgender and gender-nonconforming people? This article presents a gender pronoun reversal activity that simulates the experience of being verbally misgendered. Students followed up on the activity by posting reflections on an online class discussion board. The activity promoted empathy among cisgender students for transgender people and reflexivity regarding the social boundaries of gender identity. Empathy and reflexivity were common responses among students enrolled in Sociology of Diversity and Sociology of Gender at a large research university in the northeast. We present the activity, including preparation and follow-up along with an analysis of student responses.

An Investigation of the Efficacy of Asynchronous Discussion on Students' Performance in an Online Research Method Course.

Online instruction has become increasingly a commonplace in higher education, broadly and within the field of behavior analysis. Given the increased availability of online instruction, it is important to establish how learning outcomes are influenced by various teaching methods, in order to effectively train the next generation of behavior analysts. This study used a between-group design to evaluate the use of asynchronous online class discussion. Results indicate greater group mean performance on quizzes for students who were required to participate in asynchronous discussion as a component of instruction.Demonstration of the effectiveness of a typical component of online instructionProcedures can be used to evaluate instructional methods in behavior analytic courseworkAsynchronous online discussion is a promising component of online courseworkActive learning pedagogy is more effective when compared with passive learning pedagogy.

The effects of instructor participation and class size on student participation in an online class discussion forum

AbstractStudent participation in online discussion forums is associated with positive outcomes for student achievement and satisfaction, but research findings on the impact of class size and instructors’ participation on student participation have been mixed. The present study analyzed the frequency of instructor and student posts in asynchronous discussion forums in 500 online courses to examine factors contributing to student participation. Results showed significant effects of both class size and amount of instructor participation, with a significant interaction between the two. In medium class sizes (with 15–30 students), amount of instructor participation did not predict the number of posts per student, but in smaller classes, significant differences in student participation were found depending on amount of instructor participation. Implications for fostering student participation in online discussion forums and interpreting research in this area are discussed.

Process Drama in the Japanese University Classroom: Phase Three, The Homelessness Project

The purpose of this paper is to describe the third phase of a process drama project, which focused thematically on the social issue of homelessness. Two classes of the elective English Communication course took part in this project twice weekly for ten weeks, in which the students examined homelessness from the perspectives of Japanese-Americans incarcerated in internment camps during World War II. The goal of the project was for students to develop an understanding of homelessness, while simultaneously losing awareness of English as a dreaded examination subject, and using the target language as a viable communicative tool instead. The techniques used in this project were manifold: tableau, family role-play, class role-play, writing-in-role, reaction-writing, research online in both Japanese and English to examine the nature of propaganda, online class discussions, as well as a guest lecturer session with a refugee speaker1. The trajectory of this discussion moves along a traditional Japanese Noh theater three-part narrative arc, called Jo-Ha-Kyu , “Enticement・Crux・Consolidation”.