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A Study on the Factors Influencing the Participation of Face-to-Face Discussion and Online Synchronous Discussion in Class

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Abstract

Discussion is an effective way of improving teaching quality. Face-to-face discussion and online discussion have their own advantages and disadvantages respectively, but they both face the challenge that how to enhance students’ participation. There are many related studies on factors affecting students’ participation, most of which are around external factors, while studies on internal factors are fewer. Spiral of Silence (SOS) theory can be applied for explaining the factors affecting people engage in public discussion, and this study apply extended SOS framework for analyzing psychological factors that affect students’ participation willingness and outspoken willingness in face-to-face discussion and online synchronous discussion. The result shows that communication apprehension can significantly hinder participation, and fear of isolation can significantly reduce outspokenness willingness. Online discussion will cause less communication apprehension and more participation willingness and outspoken willingness. Contemporary, Chinese university students have the courage to face the competition and are not afraid of expressing minority opinions, but they may fear the authority of the government and their teachers.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Central University, Zhongli, Taoyuan, Taiwan

    Lixin Zhao, Wu-Yuin Hwang & Timothy K. Shih

  2. City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong

    Xiaoxia Shen

Authors
  1. Lixin Zhao
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  2. Xiaoxia Shen
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  3. Wu-Yuin Hwang
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  4. Timothy K. Shih
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Correspondence to Lixin Zhao .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Athabasca University, Athabasca, AB, Canada

    Vivekanandan Kumar

  2. University of West Attica, Egaleo, Greece

    Christos Troussas

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Zhao, L., Shen, X., Hwang, WY., Shih, T.K. (2020). A Study on the Factors Influencing the Participation of Face-to-Face Discussion and Online Synchronous Discussion in Class. In: Kumar, V., Troussas, C. (eds) Intelligent Tutoring Systems. ITS 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12149. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49663-0_22

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49663-0_22

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-49662-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-49663-0

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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