L2 Journal: An electronic refereed journal for foreign and second language educators

According to sociocultural approaches to second language acquisition (SLA), participation in communicative practices in the target language is the goal of language learning and a fundamental part of the acquisition process. One role of language instruction is to provide scaffolding that enables language learners to participate in communicative practices while their competence is still developing. This paper focuses on a particular communicative practice, oral discussions of assigned readings in a second-semester Spanish class at the university level, and explores the use of online forums to scaffold student participation in this communicative practice. Using a combination of qualitative methods, I show how an instructor used forums to prepare her students for class discussions while also increasing and diversifying student participation during those discussions. This outcome problematizes the assumption that only synchronous (e.g., chat) as opposed asynchronous (e.g., forums) modes of text-based computer-mediated communication (CMC) can be beneficial for oral communication in foreign languages. Furthermore, it indicates that learning outcomes may depend more on the way in which CMC is integrated into instruction than on the specific characteristics of the technologies used.