Page 62 - Apuntes de Investigación en la Enseñanza de Idiomas

46 Apuntes de Investigación en la Enseñanza de Idiomas

Language instruction and the CoI framework in online contexts

Regarding the existing research on language instruction in technology-mediated, non-face to face
environments, we can mention the work of Tekiner (2010), which revealed that synchronous commu-
nication in online courses had a positive effect on pre-service teachers as they perceived the class
more real, fostering the teaching presence. Additionally, watching, listening and speaking amongst
the students and the instructor contributed to develop higher levels of cognitive presence. Similarly,
Olesova, Richardson, Weasenforth and Meloni (2011) explored the use of audio feedback, confirming
a higher level of cognitive presence since listening the instructor’s voice helped ESL students to retain
the information. In her study, Chen (2012) demonstrated that online discussions and reflection pro-
moted the cognitive presence; while collaboration, forum participation and interaction among TEFL/
TESL students encourage the social presence.

Regarding the teaching presence, adjustments in design and organization and direct instructions
were identified. Form a different perspective, Alavi and Taghizadeh (2013) discovered low levels of
cognitive presence, especially in the final stages: integration and resolution, resulting from a lack
of critical discourse among the instructor and EFL students. Finally, Asoodar, Atai, Vaezi y Marandi
(2014), in a study carried out in an EAP virtual course found out that the students with higher sense
of community obtained higher grades and better performance. As shown in this section, the CoI has
demonstrated to be a solid framework for online learning. However, a few studies focus on language
learning, and specifically on developing language skills by means of online courses, the area in which
this research seeks to make a contribution.

Methodology

This mixed methods phenomenological study was carried out in an online basic English course
during one semester. The participants were 10 undergraduate students from several majors who
regularly attended face to face courses, but the English one had been assigned online, and in a few
cases chosen by the students. The activities of this course consisted on grammar presentations,
interactive exercises and writing tasks, but, for this study, the course was enriched with speaking
activities and video tasks organized into 10 units to be developed in a week and a half each. For
most of the students, this was their first online learning experience. The quantitative perspective of
the study was based on the test and survey to collect and analyze the data statistically, while the
interview and observation techniques were used to collect and then analyze qualitative data from and
inductive and deductive angle.

Results

In the quantitative phrase, regarding the speaking skill, a statistical significant difference between
the means of the pretest= 9 and the posttest= 13, with a Standard deviation of 2.625 and a P-va-
lue=0.001, <0.5 using the Shapiro Wilk test, confirmed an improvement in this skill at the end of the
course as shown in Table 1, especially in ‘Fluency and coherence’ and ‘Lexical resources’.