The collaborative language learning attributes of cyber face-to-face interaction: the perspectives of the learner

This article examines the degrees of collaborative language learning that were supported in cyber face-to-face interaction. The concept of “cyber face-to-face” is used here to encapsulate the kind of environment in which a combination of real-time oral/aural, visual, and text-based interaction happens simultaneously via the various features in an advanced Synchronous Learning Management System (SLMS). The study discusses the results of an evaluation of the five features, namely, the interactive whiteboard, the text chat, the group cyber face-to-face classrooms, the audio, and the video, in an SLMS called 3C. Thirty-three students from an online Chinese/English interpreting course participated in this study. Survey data indicate that collaborative learning can be effectively facilitated in a cyber face-to-face environment, although the degrees of collaboration vary among the five features evaluated. Recommendations for maximizing the collaborative learning potentials of a cyber face-to-face environment are also put forward.