The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of online chatting in facilitating learner participation during online classes via Zoom. A total of 71 undergraduate English major students from two Zoom courses, Current Issues and English List...
The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of online chatting in facilitating learner participation during online classes via Zoom. A total of 71 undergraduate English major students from two Zoom courses, Current Issues and English Listening and Reading, participated in the study. The students were explicitly encouraged to post their questions, answers, and requests using Zoom chat. All transcripts of the chat messages were auto-saved and retrieved later for analysis. The data analysis was conducted using a mixed-methods approach. The chat messages were categorized into three interaction groups: IS (instructor-to-students) interaction, SI (students-to-instructor) interaction, and SS (students-to-students) interaction. The IS interaction involved students' answers to the instructor's questions about reading comprehension, vocabulary, listening, video materials, grammar, technical issues, and course logistics. The SI interaction included students' questions to the instructor regarding assignments, exams, technical issues, and course logistics. The SS interaction was questions and answers among students. The results showed that there was a significant positive relationship between online learner participation and academic performance. It was also found that vocabulary-related IS interaction was the single best predictor of student performance in online courses via Zoom. This study contributes to the existing body of research on online learner participation by confirming the effectiveness of active participation on student performance and highlighting the importance of teaching presence in synchronous online learning environments.