The effect of language complexity and group size on knowledge construction: Implications for online learning

This  study  investigated  the  effect  of  language  complexity  and  group  size  on  knowledge construction in two online debates. Knowledge construction was assessed using Gunawardena et al.’s Interaction Analysis Model (1997). Language complexity was determined by dividing the  number  of  unique  words  by  total  words.  It  refers  to  the  lexical  variation.  The  results showed  that  knowledge  construction  and  group  size  are  significantly  and  negatively correlated. Also, the study revealed that knowledge construction and language complexity are significantly  and  positively  correlated.  Furthermore,  the  study  demonstrated  that  language complexity  is  a  significant  predictor  of  knowledge  construction  in  online  debates.  Some actions  should  be  undertaken  to  increase  language  complexity  in  order  to  foster  knowledge construction in online debates.