English Proficiency and Participation in Online Discussion for Learning

The CELDA conference is organized to address issues of learning process in digital ages. In the conference, educational researchers and practitioners presented their findings and experiences in different context. In the session regarding Technology, Learning and Expertise, I presented my work on the language barrier faced by non-native English speakers in online discussion. The presentation receive a couple of feedback, including one suggestion to look for relationship between perceived English proficiency and home language spoken. It will be investigated in the next round of the study.Does English proficiency affect participation in online discussion? This study polled 14 students from a postgraduate online course that require online discussion. The students are divided into groups according to their home language spoken and self-assessed English proficiency, and measure against their participation level in the required discussion forums. It is found that students who speak English at home posts more and longer, and students who rate themselves proficient in English post more and longer. However, literature suggests that factors affecting participation are multi-faceted. Although the current findings suggest a significant relationship between English proficiency and participation level, more work is required to understand the mechanis