SPEECH ACTS AND PHRASES OF KNOWLEDGE CONSTRUCTION IN ASYNCHORONOUS DISCOURSE
Keywords:
Asynchronous Online Communication, Online Information Sharing, Phases of Information SharingAbstract
This paper presents the findings of a study conducted in Malaysia pertaining to the speech
acts commonly used for information sharing in web-forums. Data was purposively selected
from online forums to answer the research questions. The messages in the data were
categorised based on Searle’s (1976) Speech Acts taxonomy to explore the interactive
language function of the messages. The study found that online forum members used more
speech acts that were categorised as assertive in their web-forum interaction. The study also
revealed different phases of knowledge construction were also present in the messages posted
in web-forums. The findings of this study hopes to aid educators and academicians in the
pedagogical aspect in using online discussion forums in the teaching and learning process.
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