Effective moderation in asynchronous discussion forums in online language classrooms

Abstract

This study investigates the effectiveness of different online language teaching practices by comparing participation of four groups of learners and teachers in two tasks in asynchronous discussion forums. The tasks are carried out in the context of an online English as a Foreign Language (EFL) B2 course at a Catalan university. Teacher posts to the forums are analysed qualitatively with the aim of identifying different types of teacher posts; we then run inferential statistics to compare student participation data in classrooms with different course completion rates and in two types of task. Findings indicate that when teachers participate in forum discussions as peers and ask questions that generate discussion, they are more likely to encourage learners to participate, a pattern that seems to emerge more clearly in classrooms with higher course completion rates.

Keywords

• Online language learning
• Discussion forums
• Participation
• Task type
• Completion rate