Use of Instructional Dialogue by University Students in a Difficult Distance Education Physics Course

Abstract

This study investigated the kinds of dialogic behavior engaged in by students while studying a difficult physics course at the Open University, UK. Research objectives were twofold: (1) to document what dialogue types, mediated through which resources, were utilized by students to overcome conceptual difficulties that emerged while reading the course materials and while solving difficult Tutor Marked Assignments and (2) to correlate dialogic behaviors with several student attributes (age, gender, motivation to achieve a high grade, learning preference and a prior acquaintance with at least one other student in the course). Two main findings emerged: (1) initially, a large majority of students dealt with both kinds of difficulty individually, on their own; only when such efforts failed did they turn to interpersonal dialogue and (2) a very large majority of students turned to instructors for help, not to their peers. The first finding replicated those from previous studies while the second finding differed from previous ones wherein students turned overwhelmingly to peers, not to instructors.