Reflection Journal: A Taxonomy of Educational Chats for EFL/ESL

Synchronous communication, online chats have become an essential part of daily communication. Chats are used daily by people all around the world for various purposes: business, social interactions, language learning, etc. Synchronous modes of communication present numerous positive factors for language learners through which they are able to gain language, sociolinguistic and cultural competencies by interacting and communicating with people from various parts of the world. Though more traditional teachers may refrain from utilizing this technology, the beneficial factors of using this synchronous communication can no longer be underestimated.

The author, Dafine Gonzalez, through her research found that Chats enhanced discussions and collaborations among teachers and students. Chats enabled brainstorming of ideas, reflection on discussed materials, and further revision and reflection by using chatlogs. As it is pointed out in this study, I believe language learners would find conversations using chats compared to face-to-face (f2f) conversations easier as they are able to reread the written sentences before they respond. Computer mediated communication reduces the affective filter for language learners encouraging them to participate more actively with less burden of making errors and overall interactions. The advantages of chats are introduced through various hypothesis presented in past studies.

In order for the language learners to take a full advantage of this useful communication mode, the teachers need to train the students to manage some difficulties (keeping up with fast paced setting, common chat lingos, specific culture related issues) with solid lesson plans and preparations.

Chats will enable the learners to take on more learning autonomy whilst enjoying what and how they practice in the target language. Teachers will take on the role of moderators to encourage the students interact whilst making sure that carefully planned activities based on set framework of the course syllabus is available to the users.