Building an Online ESL Community

Building an Online ESL Community

June 1, 2002

By Dian Post and Joyce Taylor Fields

Online ESL Course History

Many online ESL classes have been little more than "some kind of simple key pal (computer pen pal) exchanges"(Warschaurer) that take place between student and teacher with little or no "student to student" interaction. There are several free online courses that follow this format; one example is "Online English." A brief look will demonstrate that there is very little, if any, community building in this type of course delivery.

Barriers to - and Solutions for - Community Building

An ESL class raises barriers to community building. Students not only lack a common, comfortable language, but they also come from different cultural backgrounds. Both of these factors add to communication blocks.

To counteract this problem, ESL classes demand well-developed collaborative exercises and high interest discussion threads to foster the creation of community within the class environment. Community building can initially be approached in two ways. First, a biography section (English only with mandatory posting) can start the process of normalizing human interaction. It can include activities such as having students complete online inventories and then post their individual results, along with comments. This adds fun and interest while encouraging community building. Also, students should write not only about themselves but also about the cultures of their countries. The creation of understanding and empathy among classmates lays a foundation to build a strong community.

In addition, an informal thread for casual conversation among class members (non-language specific) helps in the transition process. Although posting to this second area should not be mandatory, it probably will receive a lot of traffic. Some thinkers speculate that this second area may be the stronger area for community building at the beginning of the course. (Palloff & Pratt, pg. 29) A bonus is that this area of discussion is completely student driven.

Assigning "pairs" and "groups" assists student interaction. If at all possible, the facilitator should pair and/or group students English-learners who do not share a common language. This practice forces students to communicate in their only common language - English. To view a syllabus for an online course that offers the use of "pairs" and/or "groups" click into "ESL 65 Advanced Grammar and Self-Editing for the Workplace."

Communication through threaded discussion (English only) not only provides an effective vehicle for the demonstration of students' abilities with sentence construction and general understanding of the English language but it also assists in building community within the class. Note that the instructor should participate in these discussions regularly, and to have several options for communicating with students individually. As Bauman writes, "It is important for students to have regular contact with the instructor and with each other even though there are no face-to-face meetings. Additionally, it is important for that contact to be comprised of more than just getting feedback from instructors (or others) on assignments." (Bauman, 1997).

Finally, it is necessary to provide online translation tools such as Babel Fish in the course introduction to help students find a degree of comfort as soon as they login to the course site. Also, the "Help Wanted" discussion thread must have a reference, explanation, and direction, and must contain a translator link to assist students in forming their requests for assistance. It is also necessary, for student reference, to provide tutorial links to assist them in correct English sentence construction. (see the Links to Support Students in English Language Construction below)

If the course design supports it, students will be so comfortable with their interactions with each other that learning will become the spontaneous result of their desire to communicate with each other.

Conclusion

Online ESL classes are plentiful on the Internet. However, the quality and the structure of the courses varies. We believe building community in online ESL classes adds greatly to the ESL students' enjoyment and learning. Offered a choice, students will determine which course delivery approach perseveres on the Internet by deciding in which to participate. The future of online ESL course construction is in their hands.