What is CSCL Discourse

A co-operative learning task relies on the mutual interdependence of group members to achieve their task goal. Where the task involves conceptual learning, this also involves argumentation and the development of joint frames of understanding. The main aim of this research study was to understand how postgraduate students conveyed their meanings and how they managed their group interaction in asynchronous online conferencing. The chapter explains the development and use of an analytic framework, based on Conversational Analysis and neo-Gricean theories of conversational meaning, to examine, code and describe the discourse behaviours and discourse strategies of postgraduate students when engaged in co-operative learning tasks in an asynchronous and text-based, online conferencing environment. The analysis indicates systematic patterning in the ways participants compose their messages and in their use of specific discourse strategies to manage the interaction of the group process and of the discussion of the conceptual material.