Abstract
Classroom dialogue has been widely recognised for its intricate relationship with learners’ cognitive development. Given the proliferation of technological advancements, studying the interactions among students and teachers learning ESL in a fully asynchronous online environment is deemed significant in extending teaching and learning beyond the confounds of the physical classroom. This qualitative study investigated how ESL learners in Hong Kong (HK) engage and think together in asynchronous online discussions using Padlet, a micro-blogging tool. A total of twenty-five students from a secondary school in HK shared their responses and reflections on news articles and conducted open-floor discussions on their opinions. Subsequently, they were invited to write self-evaluations to reflect on their discussion process. Five students were then invited to participate in semi-structured interviews, which aimed to gauge their thinking processes and responses during the asynchronous online discussions. The Scheme for Educational Dialogue Analysis was employed to code the online discussions, while thematic coding was used to code the interview transcripts. The findings indicated that online discussions enabled students to cogitate multiple viewpoints and explore other learning opportunities, enhancing the depth and breadth of their thinking. Participants were also able to internalise their co-constructed ideas and apply them in their own subsequent written responses. An increased self-awareness in evaluating their own understanding of the instructed content was also observed. The data thus shed light on the affordances of ESL instruction through asynchronous online discussions, as well as the potential of self-evaluation in developing and supporting students’ thinking.
Presenters
Zenia ChanStudent, PhD in Education, University of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
DIALOGUE, ASYNCHRONOUS ONLINE DISCUSSION, ESL, COGNITION
