ELTWeekly Vol. 4 Issue#14 | April 2, 2012 | ISSN 0975-3036
This paper is submitted by Amlanjyoti Sengupta, Assistant Professor, Department of English, Assam University: Diphu Campus, Diphu, Assam.
Abstract
The influence of computer technology has permeated into all facets of our lives, including academic settings. In the field of language education, a great deal of emphasis has been paid on online learning. There are of course, sufficient compelling causes for incorporating the online platform for language study. The traditional English classroom provides a forum to the learners where English study is time-bound and where there is hardly any room for classroom discussion and collaborative activity. Online forums have made it possible for language learners to integrate independent language learning experiences with provisions for interaction and collaboration. The paper highlights the pedagogical importance of online forums which can be effectively used to maximize ESL learners’ language performance through academic discussions and collaboration.
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Introduction
The face-to-face classroom discussion may appear very intimidating for many language learners especially learners who are very shy, hesitant and passive in nature. Online forums offer these learners a platform where they can actively participate in any academic discussion without the feeling of apprehension. According to Redmom and Burger the online environment is advantageous to learners as it is less intimidating, less prone to be dominated by a single participant and less bounded by convention (Redmon and Burger, 2004). Moreover, large-enrollment classes often suffer from the lack of student participation in any classroom discussion. Online forums can remove such impediments by providing a space which can equally be used by each learner.
Why Discussion and Collaboration?
In the pedagogical practices it has already been realized that learner’s active participation in the learning process is the utmost requirement for getting the best result. Language learning is skill learning and therefore, simply the knowledge of theories and aspects of language can not enable a learner to perform the language. For performance, they need to involve themselves in a shared environment for discussing and working together. Both Vygotsky and Piaget highlighted the roles of social interactions and cooperation in cognitive development. Discussions demands critical thinking, reflection, analysis and articulation and collaboration includes group learning, identity creation, self management, decision making, interdependence, and mutual respect and all these can lead to a healthy language learning environment.
Why Online Forums for Discussion and Collaboration?
- Online forums have the potentials for enough academic discussions and collaborations.
- Online forums are free from the constraints of time and space. They allow language learners to participate in any classroom discussion beyond the four walls of the classroom and specified time. Iindividual teacher/learner can personally create an online forum for such discussion.
- Online forum promotes collaboration in the ESL writing context as most of the discussions take place in the written mode.
- Online discussion fosters learner’s writing skill and promotes high order thinking.
- Students who are shy and hesitative about participating in an onsite classroom discussion, and who are uncertain about their opinions or ideas verbally, the online forum can provide a safe entry point for them to express themselves in a more organized written form. The collaborative spirit of online discussions is also having an ice-breaking effect. Once dialogues begin, even students who are initially reluctant become eager to participate.
- Online forums makes learner active and self accountable in the learning process as learners need to search appropriate information to answer the given questions posted by the language teacher/forum member in the forum. In answering to the question, learners need to read, scan, select, classify, compare and contrast, analyze, synthesize, reconstruct the information before sharing their writings with the forum members. Through online forums language learners can achieve greater cognitive and exploratory learning.
- In an online forum there is no loss of data as the learners’ written messages are stored in the virtual space, and can be retrieved and reviewed in future.
- Online forums provide a new environment where ESL learners can discuss and collaborate with both the non-native and native speakers of the target language.
- Unlike face-to-face discussions, online discussions allow each learner to access the floor equally. Moreover, all learners have a balanced opportunity to contribute to the discussions.
- Online forums enable language learner to be up to date with latest news and trends.
- Online discussions can be used as the substitute of homework which can relieve the language instructor from the traditional job of collecting, assessing and returning the written papers.
Strategies for Fostering Online Discussion/Collaboration…
Online discussions, like onsite discussions, work best if they are involved by each learner equally and moreover, they need to be focused, structured and monitored. The following strategies need to be addressed to attain the desired outcome:
- Familiarity: Many learners may remain unfamiliar with online forums and making them familiar with online forums should be done first by the language instructor.
- Onsite discussions: Interesting onsite discussions can lead learners to online forums.
- Group work/pair work: Classroom practice should include group/pair activity which can lead learners to do online collaboration.
- Discussion guidelines: Clear guidelines including the netiquettes should be given to learners to reach a satisfactory quality and quantity of participation in the online forums.
- Open-ended Questions: It is better to keep the discussion questions open-ended.
- Feedback: Learner’s online discussions should be monitored. Constructive feedback must be provided to learners.
How to access an online forum?
Here are a few steps that will enable a language learner to get into an online forum:
- Registration: At the very outset one will have to become a member by registering or signing up and for this he/she will need to provide a username, password and an email address.
- Rules & Agreement: One must go through the terms and conditions of the forum and then agree to them. One must familiarize and maintain the rules and netiquette required by the forum.
- Validation: Next the learner will need to validate his/her email by following the validation link emailed to him/her by the site.
- Threads and Posts: A forum has predefined topics (called threads). Members may submit messages or comments (called posts) within these topics. The message will be enclosed in a box with the username, time and date notified either on the left hand side or appearing at the top of the post. Usually members are allowed to edit or delete their own posts. Often online forums limit posts to a certain number of characters.
- Moderating: Moderators monitor and enforce the message board rules.
Concluding Note
Language learners need to engage themselves in their own learning by constructing their own knowledge in authentic contexts and wherever possible, in social contexts in collaboration with other learners. They need to get absorbed in the learning process. D.H. Lawrence rightly stated in his poem entitled “Work”:
“There is no point in work unless it absorbs you like an absorbing game
If it does not absorb you if it’s never any fun, don’t do it.”
Discussion and collaboration have the potentials to absorb learners in the language learning process and they [discussion & collaboration] find their most compelling realizations in the online forums.
Works Cited:
Redmon, R., & Burger, M. (2004). Web CT discussion forums: Asynchronous group reflection of the student teaching experience’. Curriculum and Teaching Dialogue, 6(2), 157–166.
Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in Society, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University.
A Few Useful Websites for Online Forums:
Biographical note
Mr. Amlanjyoti Sengupta is presently serving as an assistant professor at the Department of English, Assam University (Diphu Campus), Assam, India. He has presented papers on different ELT topics in many international conferences. His area of interest includes English Language Teaching (ELT), Second Language Acquisition and Discourse Studies.
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