Social conversation and effective discussion in online group learning

Abstract

This paper studies the social talk of high school students in online discussion forums. On-task talk has generally been assessed as valuable discussion because it contributes directly to productive learning. Off-task conversation, on the other hand, is often regarded as useless and a waste of time. Should this social talk indeed be regarded as an off-task activity? Is social talk such as greeting, excusing, comforting and sharing personal feelings irrelevant to learning? This study analyzes threads and argues that social talk is interwoven with on-task talk. It is interesting to note that a substantial quantity of off-task messages served the latent function of guiding group discussion toward making progress in solving collaborative problems in a subtle and indirect manner. The power of ''soft talk'' embedded in off-task social conversation is explored and fully discussed.

Managing CMC-based Task through Text-based Dialogue: An Exploratory Study in a Chinese EFL Context

“…The transference between off-task talk and on-task talk indicate their interactions are both cognitively and socially oriented. This is in line with Chen and Wang's (2009) argument that "on-task and off-task talk not only co-occur, but also interweave to accomplish effective discussion and negotiation" (p. 608).…”

“…While much of the research has argued for the negative impact of off-task talk on effective online discussion (e.g., Walther, 1996), recent studies have confirmed its positive aspect of off-task talk. For example, Chen and Wang (2009) investigated the social talk of high school students in the virtual discussion forums. Findings show that social talk is closely correlated with on-task talk and contributes to group learning.…”

Should Instructors Require Discussion in Online Courses? Effects of Online Discussion on Community of Inquiry, Learner Time, Satisfaction, and Achievement

“…Perhaps one of the reasons may be the time needed to read all of them. The messages were a mixture of both cognitive and social content (Chen & Wang, 2009). Some students may not feel the necessity to participate in discussion because of social messages unrelated to the tasks at hand.…”

Satisfaction and success in online learning as a function of the needs for affiliation, autonomy, and mastery

“…Instructors are sometimes wary about using discussion boards to boost interaction, because the topics may drift away from course content and toward social (non-academic) topics. However, Chen and Wang (2009) found that high school students who were assigned to work in online groups of 5-7 students displayed greater group cohesion and content learning when they engaged in more off-topic social talk. Similarly, Jung et al (2002) showed that students in a South Korean online course experienced an increase in positive attitudes toward online learning after participating in a course that included interaction of any sort-whether it was strictly focused on academic topics, was in the form of collaboration on a project with classmates, or was social interaction that was facilitated by the instructor.…”

“…Several researchers have focused on collaborative learning and group cohesion, examining whether students learn more or are more satisfied when they feel like they are interacting actively with other students (e.g., Chen & Wang, 2009;Jung et al, 2002;Nummenmaa & Nummenmaa, 2008). Instructors are sometimes wary about using discussion boards to boost interaction, because the topics may drift away from course content and toward social (non-academic) topics.…”