The Motivational Power of Internet Chat

Internet chat was investigated as a potential motivating learning tool in the language classroom. The purpose of this research was to examine the interaction of small groups involved in face-to-face discussions and to compare these texts to interaction that occurred in online groups. Observation and data revealed that students were generally motivated to communicate in English using Internet chat. When the groups were compared, it was found that student participation in online chat groups was more equitable and students showed a preference for chat over face-to-face conversation. Based upon these findings, we conclude here that Internet chat can be used to deliver meaningful and appropriate language tasks in the ESL/EFL classroom.

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