Language Development and Epistemic Engagement Among Upper Elementary Students in Synchronous Computer-Mediated Communication

Abstract

This study examined the synchronous computer-mediated communication of 48 fifth-grade students and their teachers in a public school for large numbers of English learners during a school year. We collected all participants’ discussion threads in the first 2 months and last 2 months of the year-long activity. Students’ language complexity was assessed through descriptive statistics and content analysis of student posts. In addition, an epistemic engagement framework using a combination of top-down and bottom-up coding schemes was developed to further examine students’ collaborative engagement in knowledge construction. The results suggest that well-designed online synchronous computer-mediated communication among linguistically diverse upper elementary students is related to increased complexity in language use and sophistication in interaction.