Exploring the Relationship between Linguistic Synchrony Using CRQA Approach and Learners’ Cognitive Presence

The cognitive presence of learners is closely related to the quality of collaboration and is influenced by linguistic features. Investigating the relationship between cognitive presence and linguistic features can help improve the quality of collaboration. This study aims to explore the relationship between learners' levels of cognitive presence and their linguistic synchrony in collaborative discussions. First, cognitive presence coding was conducted on learners' discussion texts. Next, learners were clustered into groups with different levels of cognitive presence based on group characteristics. Finally, differences in linguistic synchrony across groups with different cognitive presence levels were examined. The results showed that learners with high cognitive presence levels exhibited more consistent linguistic structures and tended to express themselves originally, while learners with low cognitive presence levels relied more on simple repetition. Learners with medium cognitive presence levels demonstrated more active but less in-depth exploratory discussions. This study provides new empirical evidence for understanding the dynamic relationship between cognitive presence and linguistic synchrony in collaborative learning. Additionally, it offers practical insights for improving the design of linguistic interactions in online collaborative discussions.