Cognitive Processing Language in Communities of Inquiry: An Examination of Cognitive Presence, Instruction Modality, and Academic Performance of Online Learners

Abstract

Within the Community of Inquiry framework, the cognitive presence of learners represents a critical feature of the knowledge construction process in online settings. In this study, we analyzed 1852 thematic units of college students’ online discussion posts using both manual coding of cognitive presence and automated linguistic analysis of cognitive processing language. Following these preliminary analyses, we developed a series of regression models to examine relations between cognitive presence, instruction modality, academic performance, and cognitive processing language. We compared four multilevel models using phases of cognitive presence and instruction modality as predictors of cognitive processing language. The final model comprised all four cognitive presence phases, excluding instruction modality. We also found an effect of this linguistic proxy measure on students’ academic performance. These findings have both practical and theoretical implications for future use of surface-level linguistic proxies to assess student learning in online discourse-based learning environments.