Page 64 - Apuntes de Investigación en la Enseñanza de Idiomas

48 Apuntes de Investigación en la Enseñanza de Idiomas

presence: triggering event, exploration, integration and resolution, when developing individual tasks.
But, when working in forums, their participation was often limited to an initial contribution. Therefore,
the lack of further interaction and exchange of ideas did not allow the last two stages of the cognitive
presence to emerge.

Conclusions

This study confirmed the existence of the teaching, cognitive and social presence in the online Engli-
sh course learning experience in which the CoI was implemented. Teaching presence in ‘Design and
organization’ and ‘Direct instruction’ was strongly associated to the development of the speaking
skill in ‘Grammar and accuracy’ and ‘Fluency and coherence’ by means of feedback. In other words,
reading and listening to the personalized feedback provided by the instructor, allowed the students
to structure ideas in a logical way, to identify and correct deficiencies and eventually to improve their
performance when speaking. On the other hand, social presence did not reveal a strong connection
to the speaking skill as the interaction in forums was low. Yet, it can be said that speaking activities
helped students to develop their skills by listening to each other’s pronunciation and in some cases
to learn from the mistakes identified in others’ speech. Evidence was not enough to establish a clear
connection between the cognitive presence and the speaking skill, however, account of the steps
followed to carry out activities outlined its four stages.

It is worth noticing that the sample size and the population were limitations within this study, there-
fore results cannot lead to generalization. However, this study can be useful as a referent for further
distance language learning research as well as for the design of more complete and effective online
language courses.