EFL students’ critical thinking in asynchronous online discussions: A perspective of peer facilitation

IF 3.7 2区 教育学 Q1 Social Sciences Thinking Skills and Creativity Pub Date : 2024-07-03 DOI:10.1016/j.tsc.2024.101581
Jun Xia , Cuiqin Xu
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Abstract

With the widespread application of technology in various learning communities, asynchronous online discussions (AODs) have been repeatedly reported as important for exchanging and constructing knowledge and fostering critical thinking (CT). Nevertheless, the specific conducive processes in AODs are yet to be further identified. This study explored the effects of peer facilitation on enhancing CT by tracking the peer facilitation strategies and the corresponding CT episodes in AODs. Forty-five Chinese college students in an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course participated in a three-phase online discussion task: Stating, Commenting, and Responding. Upon completion of the discussion, all interactive postings were retrieved verbatim and coded for peer facilitation instances and CT episodes in MAXQDA 2022. Seven peer facilitation strategies emerged from 105 peer facilitation instances at the Commenting phase and revealed a frequency-based three-tier peer facilitation pattern, with the bottom-tier, middle-tier and top-tier peer facilitation strategies correspondingly playing the bonding, engaging and monitoring functions in AODs. Such peer facilitation effectively triggered 78 CT episodes, with higher-level CT episodes aggregating on Analyze and Evaluate along an ascending CT level scale from Recognize, Understand, Analyze, Evaluate to Create. This study further identified stem and branch peer facilitation strategies that students employed in AODs, among which the single-strategy and double-strategy structures were more effective in triggering higher-level CT such as Analyze and Evaluate. In light of these findings, pedagogical implications are discussed for employing AODs as a learning community to foster CT in EFL classes.

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EFL 学生在异步在线讨论中的批判性思维:从同伴促进的角度看
随着技术在各种学习社区的广泛应用,异步在线讨论(AOD)被反复报道为交流和建构知识以及培养批判性思维(CT)的重要手段。然而,AODs 的具体促进过程还有待进一步确定。本研究通过追踪 AODs 中同伴促进策略和相应的批判性思维事件,探讨了同伴促进对增强批判性思维的影响。参加学术英语(EAP)课程的45名中国大学生参与了一个分为三个阶段的在线讨论任务:陈述、评论和回应。讨论结束后,我们对所有互动帖子进行了逐字检索,并在 MAXQDA 2022 中对同伴促进实例和 CT 情节进行了编码。在 "评论 "阶段的 105 个同伴促进实例中发现了七种同伴促进策略,并揭示了一种基于频率的三层同伴促进模式,底层、中层和高层同伴促进策略在 AOD 中相应地发挥着纽带、参与和监督功能。这种同伴促进策略有效地触发了 78 个 CT 情节,按照从认识、理解、分析、评价到创造的 CT 水平递增尺度,较高层次的 CT 情节聚集在分析和评价上。本研究进一步确定了学生在 AODs 中采用的干枝式同伴促进策略,其中单策略和双策略结构在触发更高层次的 CT(如分析和评价)方面更为有效。根据这些研究结果,我们讨论了在英语语言教学中使用AODs作为学习社区来促进CT的教学意义。
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来源期刊
Thinking Skills and Creativity
Thinking Skills and Creativity EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH-
CiteScore
6.40
自引率
16.20%
发文量
172
审稿时长
76 days
期刊介绍: Thinking Skills and Creativity is a new journal providing a peer-reviewed forum for communication and debate for the community of researchers interested in teaching for thinking and creativity. Papers may represent a variety of theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches and may relate to any age level in a diversity of settings: formal and informal, education and work-based.
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