The JALT CALL Journal
Vol. 1, No. 1, April 2005, pp. 3-11
Choices in
Asynchronous
Communication
for
Postgraduate
Teaching Students
Patricia
Henry
Deakin University,
Australia
Xiaoyan Li
Yangzhou University, China
Abstract:
Most research concludes that asynchronous activities increase the amount of student participation and improve the student-centred learning atmosphere. This raised concerns when students didn’t access discussion sites as part of their postgraduate teaching of English language studies. This study focused on the perception of a group of on-campus and off-campus postgraduate TESOL students (both native and non-native speakers of English) towards two different kinds of asynchronous activities: email and online discussion. The result showed that students preferred the email to the discussion though a large majority of both NS and NNS supported the use of online discussion as a learning tool. The reasons given included time as well as privacy, which, unexpectedly, was an issue raised mostly by native speakers of English.