191+Al-Jarf

Effects of Online Collaborative Activities on Second Language Acquisition || Reima Al-Jarf, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, reemasado@msn.com || Two groups of freshman students learning English as a foreign language participated in the study. Before instruction, pretest results showed no significant differences between both groups in their English proficiency level. Then both groups received the same traditional in-class instruction that depended on the textbook only. In addition, the experimental grouped used an online course with Nicenet from home as students have no internet access from college. Students in the experimental group were divided into small groups of 5 students and were assigned weekly topics (themes) to investigate such as types of natural disasters. Each group selected a sub-topic, searched and synthesized information about the sub-topic (such as tsunami in Indonesia, Hurricane Katrina, earthquake in Iran), posted a paragraph about the subtopic and questions that asked about the main idea of their paragraph, details, guessing meanings of difficult words from context, connecting pronouns with their referents and so on. The rest of the students were required to answer the questions of the other groups and write comments. Each group gave feedback and commented on their classmate’s answers. Study skills and self-improvement tips and websites were posted. Post-test results showed significant differences between the experimental and control groups. Experimental students made higher gains in reading skill development. A post-treatment questionnaire showed several factors that led to improvement in English: Student-centered activities, real-life concrete topics, topics of interest for the students, students encouraged to express themselves, active participation and practice, clear instructions, a secure environment for making mistakes, instructor and peer support. || General session Forum All ||
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