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ABSTRACT
Computer-mediated communication (CMC) has become increasingly necessary in tertiary education as it supports collaborative learning among students. Hence, interaction using social networks such as email, Facebook, Wiki and Skype, provides a way for students to collaborate and share knowledge about their studies outside the classroom. However, using CMC tools where English is used as the medium of communication in completing collaborative writing tasks can be a challenge to ESL students. Studies have explored the factors that affect students' participation and knowledge sharing in online collaborative learning such as social presence, trust, conflict, mutual influence, cohesion, and team leadership. Thus, this study aimed to find out which factors affect students' knowledge sharing in online collaboration, and to identify which CMC tools benefit or limit collaborative learning. Twenty five ESL undergraduate English Language major students participated in the study. The data was collected through a questionnaire distributed to students after they completed two project-based writing tasks asynchronously on Wiki and synchronously on Skype. The results of the study revealed that social presence and team leadership are significantly affecting knowledge sharing through online collaborative learning, and students' participation in online interaction is highly related to social presence and team leadership. Moreover, students indicated that Skype is more beneficial for collaborative learning, though they implied that Wiki can improve writing skills.
Keywords: online Interaction, collaborative learning, knowledge sharing, writing skills
Introduction
Computer-mediated communication (CMC) has become a necessity in tertiary education as it supports collaborative learning. This technology also benefits English language teaching and learning as it provides opportunities for ESL students to communicate and write using the language. Online collaborative learning involves sharing of knowledge among students, which is a crucial process in team work. Students need to share their knowledge at hand and construct new knowledge through reasoning, explanation, and reflecting from different angles. Knowledge sharing can be described as sharing common knowledge, individual beliefs and assumptions (Clark & Brennan, 1991), and it can effectively and efficiently aid working and interacting. Team members working in a group project need a shared understanding of each member, content, and process (Mulder, 1999). In order to work or learn together, team members also need to collaborate and share knowledge on what they are working on, how they...