The interest in on line education has attracted many researchers in many fields. This research was also interested in discovering the possibilities of online education among Saudi female university students. Synchronous computer-mediated communication is considered to increase participation, balance participation and provide an anxiety-free context for learners. This study was interested in examining the effects of synchronous computer-mediated communication in a Saudi context. The study's main aim was to investigate what happens when Saudi female students who are reluctant to use the English language for communication are asked to communicate with other students through written discussions in the context of CMC. The total number of participants in this study consisted of 58 students. The investigation included two groups of first year Medicine and Medical Sciences students; each group was further divided into 5 Medicine and 5 Medical Sciences groups. Students were involved in five synchronous computer-mediated communication activities. This research used a mixed methods approach which included both quantitative and qualitative data. The data included student written electronic discussion transcripts, written pre and post questionnaires, and interviews with the students. The findings in this study reveal that the synchronous computer-mediated communication context was one that fostered student participation. The results of this study were encouraging as they revealed that all the participants participated in the discussions. However, as everyone participated, the quantitative data showed that participation was unbalanced. Additional results showed that Saudi female language learners were able to sustain a forty minute electronic discussion mostly in English; although the language that they used was simple language based on the type-token ratio and students' accounts.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:558801 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Al-Nassar, Suha |
| Publisher | University of Leeds |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
Page generated in 0.0017 seconds