# Moderation Matters:Measuring Conversational Moderation Impact in English as a Second Language Group Discussion

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.18341 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.18341/

## Key facts

- Cited by 3 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 24 Feb 2025.

## Built on by (most cited first, 3 of 3)

- [Evaluation and Facilitation of Online Discussions in the LLM Era: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.01513/) (2025)
- [Designing Synthetic Discussion Generation Systems: A Case Study for Online Facilitation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.16505/) (2025)
- [To Facilitate or not to Facilitate: Human and LLM Facilitator Tendencies in Online Discussions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.28643/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

English as a Second Language (ESL) speakers often struggle to engage in group discussions due to language barriers. While moderators can facilitate participation, few studies assess conversational engagement and evaluate moderation effectiveness. To address this gap, we develop a dataset comprising 17 sessions from an online ESL conversation club, which includes both moderated and non-moderated discussions. We then introduce an approach that integrates automatic ESL dialogue assessment and a framework that categorizes moderation strategies. Our findings indicate that moderators help improve the flow of topics and start/end a conversation. Interestingly, we find active acknowledgement and encouragement to be the most effective moderation strategy, while excessive information and opinion sharing by moderators has a negative impact. Ultimately, our study paves the way for analyzing ESL group discussions and the role of moderators in non-native conversation settings.