Investigation of Chinese undergraduate EFL learners’ online communication strategies

With the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, online learning has gained popularity throughout the world in recent years. How EFL learners communicate with their teachers and classmates online has sparked great interest with a view to enhancing their performance in online learning. This study aimed to explore the online communication strategies of Chinese undergraduate EFL learners and how they vary according to gender and English proficiency. The quantitative method was adopted in this study. The participants were 120 undergraduate EFL learners from a public university in China. The questionnaire on online communication strategies, consisting of 30 items, was developed. Cronbach alpha and factor analysis were conducted to evaluate the reliability and validity of the questionnaire. The descriptive statistics and independent T-tests were used for data analysis. The study reached the conclusion that the most commonly used online communication strategies are Reduction strategies, followed by Focus on Form, Social-cultural, Paralinguistic, Compensatory, and Interactional strategies. Male and female learners differed significantly in the use of reduction strategies, focus on form strategies, social-cultural strategies, and paralinguistic strategies. Furthermore, there is a significant difference in the use of all types of online communication strategies between good learners and poor learners, with good learners applying more online communication strategies than poor learners. The study indicates that teachers should raise students' awareness of online communication strategies that are conducive to online communication and learning. Training on online communication strategies should be provided with a view to enhancing students' communication competence as well as English proficiency.