Can Dialogic Narratives and Discourse Engage Online Learners?

This research gathered data from eight online courses to assess if dialogic narratives improved student interactions and retention in those courses. The framework was based on Bakhtin’s theory of dialogism grounded in the semiotic concepts of dialogic narratives (Bakhtin, 1931, 1985, 1986). Dialogic narratives were encouraged in all eight of the online courses to encourage and enlist discussions and nurture students individually and as communities of learners. The research question posed was: Can dialogic narratives be included in course discussion links of online courses, and if so, could they promote deeper engagement of online learners? The study reviewed eight undergraduate online classes of 113 students at a large university that implemented dialogic narratives over course of two years, through spring of 2019, to see if students could engage, actively participate, and complete these courses. The theoretical context or the study utilized a semiotic theoretical framework to demonstrate if and how dialogic narratives conveyed contextual information, elements of semiotic online course design, and focused on socio-cultural practices, to study how these factors could affect student learning. Using a Bakhtinian analysis, the semiotic enhancements of dialogic narratives were reviewed in each of the eight online courses and learner interactions observed and documented. The results were surprising: in all eight courses the semiotic enhancements were found to be interactive and effective. Dialogic narratives helped students to participate more actively in their online courses than simply responding to assigned discussions. The findings also revealed high completion rates for students enrolled in those online courses.