What is Asynchronous Threads

This study reports on a culturally-transforming group activity using asynchronously-mediated forums on the “discussion board” of Blackboard Academic Suite. Seventeen English as a second language (ESL) learners enrolled in a university-level writing course used the discussion board to engage in asynchronous collaborative forums where they presented and shared their paper topics and personal experiences, offered suggestions to their peers, and raised critical questions that were meant to help their peers think more critically about the assigned writing genres and their selected paper topic. The data suggest that participation in asynchronous computer-mediated communication (ACMC) forums can help students develop a deeper understanding of the writing assignments and encourage them to implement describing and narrating strategies to provide feedback to their peers. Students can also gradually produce feedback that is more complex, constructive, and challenging to their peers and begin improving their writing skills by developing more formal, sophisticated and complex language.