Phatic expressions influence perceived helpfulness in online peer help-giving: A mixed methods study

Background: When struggling students seek academic help in online learning environments, it is important that they perceive the help they receive from others as effective. However, it remains unclear how phatic expressions—comments that are social rather than informative in nature—may help or hinder students who request support for coursework in online settings. Aim: This exploratory study investigates how phatic expressions influence the perceived helpfulness of online peer help-giving replies in an asynchronous college course discussion forum. Sample: The participants were 320 undergraduate students enrolled in a large introductory statistics course. Methods: We used mixed methods to examine how students rated and described the helpfulness of examples of replies to online requests for help, both with and without four types of phatic expressions: greeting/parting tokens, other-oriented comments, self-oriented comments, and neutral comments. Results: Students perceived help-giving replies with neutral and self-oriented phatic comments as less helpful than those discussing course content alone. They described these comments as unnecessary and potentially discouraging. In contrast, students perceived help-giving replies with greetings/parting tokens and other-oriented comments as equally helpful as those discussing course content alone. They described these comments as kind and contributing to a sense of connectedness. Conclusions: This study is the first to identify the extent to which different types of phatic expressions contribute to or detract from the perceived helpfulness of online peer help-giving interactions. We expect this work to provide valuable insights for educators and researchers seeking to foster productive online learning experiences through effective online help-giving interactions.