"Let's keep it informal, guys": a study of the effects of teacher communicative strategies on student activity and collaborative learning in internet-based English courses

The paper explores the quantity and quality of communication produced by teachers in Internet courses of academic English, particularly during the initial stages of course activity. The courses are entirely conducted in virtual learning environments without physical meetings, and are part of the Bachelor programme (A–C level) of English at Mid Sweden University. The pedagogic design of the courses is based on collaborative learning, which presupposes a communicative environment with positive interdependence and interaction, where knowledge is shared by students questioning and challenging each other. Consequently, the teacher’s role in setting communicative norms which encourage an environment of high acceptance, where students feel that they can express their opinions freely, is of utmost importance. The results suggest that there are two important factors that affect student activity in the initial stages of an online course: how much the teacher communicates with the class and the manner in which he or she does so.