Conclusion
The online forum is an ideal place to put a learning community and its learning objects on the same page (Harman and Koohang 2005). In order to offer a successful discussion forum, teachers need to be fully skilled in practical use of the sites and committed to engaging with them, believing in their relevance and benefit for students and willing to spend dedicated time every week on the discussion forum with students. As Salmon (2004) advises, teachers need to take time to induct students to the online discussion tools and focus on familiarization and socialization into the online forum from the outset.
Anderson et al. (2001) stated that active involvement of a teacher is critical in maintaining the interest and motivation of students in online discussions. Russo and Benson (2005) reported that student perceptions of teacher’s presence were significantly correlated with student learning satisfaction.
In sum, online forums may provide a way for teachers to improve the quality of their students’ language learning skills. Thus, language teachers in Malaysia should consider integrating online forums into their language teaching to develop students’ writing and communication skills.