The issues of appraising “meaningful” participation and quality control in threaded discussion board
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2010
Abstract
One of the most widely used interactive channels today is the electronic discussion board. This new medium is used as part of feedback-seeking channels. There are two unique characteristics, it does not require the physical presence of anyone and it does not require the simultaneous presence of anyone for feedback-seeking activities to occur. Educational practitioners have also begun to capitalize on these characteristics in their scheme of course assessment. In this study, the threaded electronic discussion board has been incorporated into part of the assessment activities for postgraduate courses. The study aims to investigate how this medium is utilized by the participants in achieving their learning goals as well as fulfilling the assessment requirement, via deciphering the content posted by participants in the threaded discussion board. The findings from the study reveal the need to realign assessment criteria related to aspects of “meaningful” participation and quality control.
Keywords
Computer-assisted language learning, computer-mediated communication, second language acquisition, language proficiency, education and policy, ethnicity, language politics, discourse, interactional input, negotiation of meaning, second language acquisition, vocabulary retention, vocabulary acquisition. Qualitative study, computer assisted qualitative data analysis, critical thinking skills, threaded discussion board, use of videos in language teaching.
Divisions
FLL
Publication Title
Global Conference on Learning and Technology
Volume
2010
Issue
1
Publisher
Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE)
Additional Information
Dr. Ng Lee Luan obtained her PhD in Applied Linguistic from University of Otago, New Zealand. She teaches postgraduate courses related to research methodology and second language acquisition at the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics. Her current research interest includes computer assisted language learning, online learning, the use of computer assisted qualitative data analysis system in deciphering data in qualitative research. She is also a certified trainer for the software, NVivo.