English Proficiency and Participation in Online Discussion for Learning

Abstract

Does English proficiency affect participation in online discussion? This study polled 14 students from a postgraduate online course that require online discussion. The students are divided into groups according to their home language spoken and self-assessed English proficiency, and measure against their participation level in the required discussion forums. It is found that students who speak English at home posts more and longer, and students who rate themselves proficient in English post more and longer. However, literature suggests that factors affecting participation are multi-faceted. Although the current findings suggest a significant relationship between English proficiency and participation level, more work is required to understand the mechanism