ABSTRACT
Many students in Master's programs in Teaching English as a Second Language (MA TESL) enroll in research methods courses with nervousness and apprehension. They cite reasons such as a “fear of numbers” or “discomfort with statistics” as reasons for dreading what is usually a required course in their programs. Learning research methods in an online distance course can add to students' apprehension because of the fundamental differences between online and face-to-face learning. These differences, whether real or perceived, include things like a lack of immediacy in getting questions answered, the inability to use eye-to-eye contact as a non-verbal communication of comprehension, and absence of the collaborative camaraderie and interaction of learning in a physical group setting (Lim, Dannels, & Watkins, 2008). Despite these shortcomings in online education, online courses are increasingly popular at all levels of secondary and post-secondary education. This chapter describes how a course with challenging content like Research Methods can be effectively taught to MA TESL students at an American university by providing an overview of current research on online teacher education and research methods courses, outlining the structure and basic content of the research methods course that I teach, and describing the factors that facilitate online learning.
