Analytic frameworks for assessing dialogic argumentation in online learning environments

Over the last decade, researchers have developed sophisticated online learning environments to support students engaging in argumentation. This review first considers the range of functionalities incorporated within these online environments. The review then presents five categories of analytic frameworks focusing on (1) formal argumentation structure, (2) normative quality, (3) nature and function of contributions within the dialog, (4) epistemic nature of reasoning, and (5) patterns and trajectories of participant interaction. Example analytic frameworks from each category are presented in detail rich enough to illustrate their nature and structure. This rich detail is intended to facilitate researchers’ identification of possible frameworks to draw upon in developing or adopting analytic methods for their own work. Each framework is applied to a shared segment of student dialog to facilitate this illustration and comparison process. Synthetic discussions of each category consider the frameworks in light of the underlying theoretical perspectives on argumentation, pedagogical goals, and online environmental structures. Ultimately the review underscores the diversity of perspectives represented in this research, the importance of clearly specifying theoretical and environmental commitments throughout the process of developing or adopting an analytic framework, and the role of analytic frameworks in the future development of online learning environments for argumentation

The implementation of dialogue-based pedagogy to improve written argumentation amongst secondary school students in Malaysia

The purpose of this study is to find solutions on how to improve secondary school students’ persuasive argumentative English essay writing. The participants of this study are groups of ESL students aged 13 and 17 who live and study in a sub-urban area in Malaysia. All students and teachers converse amongst themselves using the Malay language on a daily basis while English language is merely used during classroom interaction time. Not only do they have very little opportunity to communicate using English language in their daily lives and for academic purposes, they also have limited opportunity to learn how to argue persuasively in their English classroom. Thus, they have difficulties in writing two-sided argumentative essays in English. The teaching-to-the-test culture has taken its toll on students’ writing performance when writing argumentative essays. In order to help students to score well in examination, teachers often overlook the need to teach critical thinking skills for the English subject. They focus solely on writing narrative essays as these essays require less critical thinking skill from the students. The Design-Based Research is employed to solve this problem of writing persuasive argumentative essays. Based on the pre-intervention essays written by the participants, it is believed that their difficulties are because of two major factors; insufficient English language skills and no exposure to persuasive argumentation skills. The initial design framework asserts that students should improve their persuasive argumentative essay writing if they are initially exposed to face-to-face group argumentation. However, the findings from the exploratory study revealed that face-to-face group argumentation is unmanageable in the context studied. Hence, an online learning intervention was considered to support secondary school students to improve their written argument. It was developed underpinned by design principles based on Exploratory Talk to achieve persuasive argumentation. The prototype online intervention was tested and developed through a series of iterations. Findings from Iteration 1 show that only a small number of students manage to write two-sided essays because most of them have an extreme attitude when writing about an issue and display a lack of positive transfer from group to individual argumentation. Prior to Iteration 2, the prototype intervention was adapted to tackle the extreme attitude and negative transfer issues by highlighting five elements: face-to-face classroom practice, focus more on three main ground rules, argument game, role of teachers during group argumentation and the use of argument map during the post-intervention essay writing. The findings demonstrate that all students in the second iteration wrote argumentative essays which are more persuasive. The final design framework developed in this study suggests a design framework that could be used by future researchers and ESL teachers at secondary school level who are interested in improving students’ persuasive argumentative essays

Introduction to the Special Issue “Boundaries between dialogic pedagogy and argumentation theory”

Dialogue and argumentation are two processes that complement and mutually influence each other. However, this essential relationship is not sufficiently acknowledged by current educational research. This neglected relation is also mirrored by the lack of sufficient dialogue between two fields that are defined by the dialogical approach to education and argumentation, namely dialogic pedagogy and educational argumentation. In this Special Issue, we argue that dialogue pedagogies and argumentation theory and practice should communicate more, bridging their somehow different perspectives for the common goal of engaging learners in productive and constructive discussions

Social Networking in Second Language Learning

Aquesta tesi se centra en l'aprenentatge informal d'una segona llengua en comunitats en línia com Livemocha i Busuu. Els objectius són: (1) analitzar el potencial de les comunitats en línia per a aconseguir resultats d'aprenentatge a llarg termini; (2) examinar les accions dels estudiants mentre construeixen oportunitats d'ús de la segona llengua en aquests entorns, i (3) explorar les potencialitats i les limitacions de les eines de les comunitats en línia. Amb la finalitat d'assolir aquests objectius, l'estudi, que s'inscriu en el marc teòric de la perspectiva sociocultural i de la teoria de l'activitat, ha utilitzat una metodologia de recerca principalment qualitativa i centrada en el mètode etnogràfic. La recerca conclou amb una reflexió crítica sobre la importància de l'autonomia de l'estudiant. S'ha destacat que l'autonomia de l'estudiant és un requisit important perquè l'experiència d'aprenentatge informal en aquests entorns sigui eficaç. A més, aquest estudi tradueix els resultats obtinguts en un conjunt de recomanacions pedagògiques dirigides a experts d'entorns d'aprenentatge, a estudiants i a professors d'idiomes, per tal de fomentar una experiència d'aprenentatge en les comunitats en línia més positiva tenint en compte, també, la seva possible aplicació en un context d'aprenentatge formal.Esta tesis está centrada en el aprendizaje informal de una segunda lengua en comunidades en línea como Livemocha y Busuu. Los objetivos son: (1) analizar el potencial de las comunidades en línea para lograr resultados de aprendizaje a largo plazo; (2) examinar las acciones de los estudiantes mientras construyen oportunidades de uso de la segunda lengua en estos entornos, y (3) explorar las potencialidades y las limitaciones de las herramientas de las comunidades en línea. Con la finalidad de alcanzar estos objetivos, el estudio, que se inscribe en el marco teórico de la perspectiva sociocultural y de la teoría de la actividad, ha utilizado una metodología de investigación principalmente cualitativa y centrada en el método etnográfico. La investigación concluye con una reflexión crítica sobre la importancia de la autonomía del estudiante. Se ha destacado que la autonomía del estudiante es un requisito importante para que la experiencia de aprendizaje informal en estos entornos sea eficaz. Además, este estudio traduce los resultados obtenidos en una serie de recomendaciones pedagógicas dirigidas a expertos de entornos de aprendizaje, a estudiantes y a profesores de idiomas, con el fin de fomentar una mejor experiencia de aprendizaje en las comunidades en línea tomando en consideración también su posible aplicación en un contexto de aprendizaje formal.This thesis deals with informal second language learning in online communities such as Livemocha and Busuu. The thesis' objectives are: (1) analyse the potential effectiveness of these communities for long-term learning outcomes; (2) examine learners' construction of opportunities for L2 use in these environments; (3) explore affordances and constraints of online communities. To this end, a longitudinal multiple ethnographic case study approach was used under the theoretical framework of Socio-Cultural Theory and Activity Theory (AT). The research concludes with a critical reflection on the role of learner autonomy as a prerequisite for the creation of effective learning experiences in these environments, as this study clearly demonstrates. Moreover, the study translates its findings into a set of pedagogical recommendations for platform developers, learners and teachers to maximize the advantages of L2 learning in online communities as well as establish possible applications in formal learning settings

Student agency in collaborative writing: A sociocognitive perspective

There is a vast amount of literature on collaborative writing in second language teaching and learning, much of it inspired by Storch (2002 - 2015). Although the topic of collaborative writing has been researched extensively, few studies have addressed the individual learners from an agentic perspective (Bitchener & Storch, 2016; Li & Zhu, 2017a; Yu & Lee, 2016). None to the best of my knowledge investigated learners’ student agency using Bandura’s (1989, 2001, 2006) four human agentic characteristics. Moreover, while some researchers (Blin & Appel, 2011; Yu & Lee, 2015) have attempted to explain the complexity of collaborative writing using Engeström’s (1987, 1999) activity theory framework, few examined the role learners’ human agency plays in their group activity of collaborative writing. Therefore, the present study attempts to investigate adult English language learners’ practices and perceptions of collaborative writing from an agentic perspective. Finally, while much collaborative writing research has been informed by sociocultural theory, the present study has adopted a sociocognitive approach (Atkinson, 2002, 2010, 2014) taking a learner’s mind, body and world as an inseparable, but adaptive unit. Research has shown that collaborative writing can offer a number of benefits that are not found in other approaches to teaching writing. These benefits are made possible because interactions with other learners during the process of writing can provide additional learning opportunities through peer discussions, peer feedforward and peer feedback. In this way, learners are mutually able to scaffold one another’s learning and writing development. Past studies have also revealed the interactions of learners in a group can play a crucial role in the effectiveness of peer scaffolding. While the majority of studies have investigated the issue by applying Storch’s (2002) dyadic interaction model based on the concepts of equality and mutuality, few have examined triadic interactions in such depth. The present study aims to better understand how learners interact in triads when completing collaborative writing tasks. Moreover, learners have generally been analysed as a collective unit for the understanding of patterns of interactions. While this may help with identifying why certain pairs/groups are more successful than others, it does not explain why learners behave differently. Therefore, this study attempts to contribute to this area by explaining collaborative writing from an agentic perspective and how the individual learners can be an active change agent in their own learning activity. Collaborative writing tasks are often implemented either in a conventional classroom or on an online platform, each of which has advantages and disadvantages. However, the two platforms are rarely blended in the same study where learners are required to interact on both platforms to jointly complete one or more pieces of writing. The design of the present study has adopted a blended learning platform for the implementation of its collaborative writing tasks. Finally, as a teacher, researching this topic in my own classroom has not only helped me to achieve a better understanding my own beliefs and practices regarding the teaching of writing to adult English language learners, but it has also helped me to generate a personal theory of learning which may be applied in wider contexts. The present study was an action research project conducted from May to October 2016 in the context of a university language centre in New Zealand. It adopted an interpretive approach, believing each individual learner will develop a unique experience, perception and interpretation of learning through a blended collaborative approach to writing. The study examined 21 adult English language learners in their 20s from five different countries. Data were collected through a combination of pre- and post-course essays, pre- and post-course narrative frames, written drafts of group assignments, audio recordings of class discussions, text-based online communication and focus group sessions. All data were subjected to a process of grounded analysis. This multi-method approach has provided a detailed picture of both the participants’ perceptions and practices. Firstly, this was achieved by assessing participants’ pre- and post-course essays for the effectiveness of the blended collaborative approach. Secondly, participants’ interactions within their triads were transcribed and analysed for evidence of language learning and their developing relationships with their group members. Thirdly, participants’ reported perceptions and experiences of triadic collaborative writing were analysed and triangulated with their observable practices. In brief, findings revealed that the effectiveness of the triadic collaborative approach to writing in a blended learning environment appeared to be largely associated with a triad’s patterns of interactions. In addition, differences in learners’ collaborative behaviour which contributed to their patterns of interactions in triads were connected with the extent to which the learners practised their agentic potential by adapting and aligning their actions in and on reflections with their intentionality and forethought, which are the four human agentic characteristics examined in the present study. Finally, action research was a powerful tool for the teacher-researcher’s own professional development at both a pedagogical and theoretical level.

Internet linguistics: a conversational analysis of online synchronous chat and face-to-face conversations of EFL undergraduate students in Jordan

This study aimed to shed light on Online Synchronous chat (OSC) on Facebook chatroom compared with Face-To-Face (FTF) conversations. The corpus was cumulated from the interaction of four groups consisted of (68) third-year English language and literature major students at Ajloun University College (AUC). The participants were selected purposively and distributed randomly into two OSCGs and two FTF groups. The interactions for FTF groups were video-recorded and the transcriptions were embedded line by line in each conversation. While the interaction on the two Facebook chatrooms were downloaded through a Facebook option called "download your information". Two instruments were used: a Speech Act Rubric Scale based on Grice's maxims, linguistics performance rubric checklist, and an open-end question had been just presented to the chatters. This study investigated whether interlocutors apply the four Gricean CPs and three linguistic aspects over seventeen turn-taking and repair acts. Thus, the comparison was a try to investigate the social and linguistic performance of OSC interlocutors. Results revealed the importance to improve chatrooms features regarding to speech acts theory and Grice's maxim. The analysis concluded that interaction on OSC still needs more investigation. More precisely, Facebook chatrooms neglects to some extent the two theories.Este estudio tuvo como objetivo arrojar luz sobre el Chatear Sincrónico en Línea (CSL) en el chat de Facebook en comparación con las conversaciones cara a cara (CAC). El corpus se recopiló a partir de la interacción de cuatro grupos, de 68 estudiantes de tercer curso del Grado de Lengua y Literatura inglesa en el Colegio Universitario de Ajloun (CUA). Los participantes fueron seleccionados deliberadamente y distribuidos aleatoriamente en dos grupos de chat sincrónico en línea y dos grupos cara a cara. Las interacciones de los grupos CAC se grabaron un video y sus transcripciones se incrustaron línea por línea en cada conversación. Mientras que la interacción en los dos chats de Facebook se descargó a través de una opción de Facebook llamada "descargar su información". Se utilizaron dos instrumentos: una lista de verificación de la rúbrica del acto de habla basada en las máximas de Grice, la lista de verificación de la rúbrica del rendimiento lingüístico y una pregunta abierta presentada a los interlocutores. Este estudio investigó si los interlocutores aplican los cuatro principios cooperativos de Grice y tres aspectos lingüísticos en diecisiete actos de reparación y toma de turnos. Por lo tanto, la comparación fue un intento de investigar el desempeño social y lingüístico de los interlocutores de CSL. Los resultados revelaron la importancia de mejorar las características de los chats según a la teoría de los actos de habla y la máxima de Grice. El análisis concluyó que la interacción en CSL aún necesita más investigación. Más precisamente, los chats de Facebook descuidan en cierta medida las dos teorías.Programa de Doctorado en Humanidades por la Universidad Carlos III de MadridPresidente: María Paloma Díaz Pérez.- Secretario: Linda Johanna Castañeda Quintero.- Vocal: Fernando Trujillo Sáe

Maximizing the Benefits of Collaborative Learning in the College Classroom

abstract: This study tested the effects of two kinds of cognitive, domain-based preparation tasks on learning outcomes after engaging in a collaborative activity with a partner. The collaborative learning method of interest was termed "preparing-to-interact," and is supported in theory by the Preparation for Future Learning (PFL) paradigm and the Interactive-Constructive-Active-Passive (ICAP) framework. The current work combined these two cognitive-based approaches to design collaborative learning activities that can serve as alternatives to existing methods, which carry limitations and challenges. The "preparing-to-interact" method avoids the need for training students in specific collaboration skills or guiding/scripting their dialogic behaviors, while providing the opportunity for students to acquire the necessary prior knowledge for maximizing their discussions towards learning. The study used a 2x2 experimental design, investigating the factors of Preparation (No Prep and Prep) and Type of Activity (Active and Constructive) on deep and shallow learning. The sample was community college students in introductory psychology classes; the domain tested was "memory," in particular, concepts related to the process of remembering/forgetting information. Results showed that Preparation was a significant factor affecting deep learning, while shallow learning was not affected differently by the interventions. Essentially, equalizing time-on-task and content across all conditions, time spent individually preparing by working on the task alone and then discussing the content with a partner produced deeper learning than engaging in the task jointly for the duration of the learning period. Type of Task was not a significant factor in learning outcomes, however, exploratory analyses showed evidence of Constructive-type behaviors leading to deeper learning of the content. Additionally, a novel method of multilevel analysis (MLA) was used to examine the data to account for the dependency between partners within dyads. This work showed that "preparing-to-interact" is a way to maximize the benefits of collaborative learning. When students are first cognitively prepared, they seem to make the most efficient use of discussion towards learning, engage more deeply in the content during learning, leading to deeper knowledge of the content. Additionally, in using MLA to account for subject nonindependency, this work introduces new questions about the validity of statistical analyses for dyadic data.Dissertation/ThesisPh.D. Educational Psychology 201

Effects of computer-supported collaboration script and incomplete concept maps on web design skills in an online design-based learning environment

Web design skills are an important component of media literacy. The aim of our study was to promote university students’ web design skills through online design-based learning (DBL). Combined in a 2x2-factorial design, two types of scaffolding were implemented in an online DBL environment to support the students through their effort to design, build, modify, and publish web sites on processes and outcomes measures, namely collaboration scripts and incomplete concept maps. The results showed that both treatments had positive effects on collaborative (content-related discourse quality, collaboration skills, and quality of published web sites) and individual (domain-specific knowledge and skills related to the design and building of websites) learning outcomes. There was synergism between the two scaffolds in that the combination of the collaboration script and incomplete concept maps produced the most positive results. To be effective, online DBL thus needs to be enhanced by appropriate scaffolds, and both collaboration scripts and incomplete concept maps are effective examples

Synchronous eTandem communication between English and Korean learners : learning through international partnership and intercultural communication

This dissertation is a report of an investigation of intercultural communication and learning in online tandem exchanges between two groups of foreign language learners: college students learning English as a foreign language at a Korean university and college students learning Korean as a heritage language at an American university. The focus was on (a) how native frames of reference were related to diverse experiences and differing functioning across dyadic partnerships; (b) how differing dyadic functioning were related to linguistic and cultural exchanges in synchronous text-based computer-mediated communication; and (c) how differing dyadic functioning were related to peer feedback exchanges on each partner’s foreign language essay and to feedback incorporation in the subsequent revision. A semiotic-ecological perspective to foreign language learning informed the research focus, design, and analysis of the study. I adopted a qualitative, embedded multiple-case study design. Data sources were transcripts from synchronous computer-mediated discourse; learner reflections produced during the telecollaborative project, from a post-project questionnaire, and from interviews; and first and revised versions of essays written in foreign languages. As analytical methods, I employed a modified grounded theory, the constant-comparative method, and techniques of discourse analysis. The findings showed that students in the two classes reported different perceptions about their experiences, and this seemed partly explained by culturally and institutionally different expectations about academic tasks and communication and by differing levels of foreign language proficiency and typing skills. Depending on how individual students configured the learning context, including the partner abroad, differing degrees of dyadic functioning emerged. Differing degrees of dyadic functioning seemed related to the degree that partnering students’ perceptions of their experiences and of each other were aligned between the two students. Differing degrees of dyadic functioning were also related to language functions, stance taking, and engagement with cultural knowledge, as exhibited in the computer-mediated discourse. In addition, differing degrees of dyadic functioning were associated with the discourse moves and content of peer feedback exchanges and ultimately with how much peer feedback was incorporated into the revision.Curriculum and Instructio

HUMAN-AI COLLABORATION IN EVERYDAY WORK-LIFE PRACTICES: A COREGULATION PERSPECTIVE

Driven by the growing integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into daily work, this study investigates the Human-Intelligent Personal Assistants (IPAs) coregulation of work-life practices. Guided by an interpretive case study of Microsoft Viva Insights (MVI), we focus on the participation and influence of IPAs in daily work-life practices. Our findings reveal three coregulatory roles adopted by IPAs— rationalist, normalist, and moralist—that influence personal productivity, social bonding and relationship management, self-care, and work-life boundary management practices. By diving deeper into the human-AI relationship from a coregulation perspective, we contribute to the emerging IS literature on the nature and role of AI in transforming how people work. Our research provides valuable insights for practitioners, developers, and scholars aiming to enhance AI design and management, and investigate AI\u27s broader impact on human behaviours at work