Group items tagged

It was hypothesised that, in comparison to synchronous conversations, more accurate output would be generated in semi-synchronous dialogues, as this would allow students with a little more time to organise their output while waiting for their partner’s responses. Furthermore, we hoped that semi-synchronous interaction would function as scaffolding for synchronous conversation, as most of the participants had not yet achieved an advanced level of speaking proficiency in their target languages.

facilitated the development of their speaking proficiency.

more feedback and more accurate output emerged,

check their WeChat messages at least once a day and reply as soon as possible; • learn to be a helpful tutor and provide as much feedback as possible; • ask their language partner to repeat and/or explain anything they did not understand; • ask their language partner to express the same thing in different words, if failing to understand; • not be afraid of making mistakes; • correct each other’s mistakes; and • speak clearly at a normal speed.

suggested that tasks “start from specific questions to more open-ended discussion” as students became more familiar with each other and with the learning environment.

the majority of students preferred the recorded speech and the writing task in comparison to the semi-synchronous conversation

they valued the opportunities provided by the two CMC-embedded webquests to interact with their respective group members in asynchronous and synchronous modes of communication.

synchronous online discussions evoke a higher `sense of community' and `groups', `sense of purpose' for online learners

higher frequencies of `Praise/ Encouragement,' `Task Regulation,' and `Challenge,' in asynchronous `e-turns' demonstrates that distance learners are able to produce more cohesive and detailed responses in asynchronous online discussions

culture, an often neglected aspect of FL instruction