Digital literacies for virtual meetings: Exploring new challenges experienced by university business students

Globalised workplaces have been moving meetings to virtual platforms for cost and efficiency purposes in the 21st century. While communicative issues have been documented in real-world settings, little research has investigated the new challenges faced by university business students. This study focuses on one English for Business Communication programme that has observed an increase in communication breakdowns during Zoom meeting simulations. In order to investigate the potential causes, this study compares ten virtual and ten face-to-face meeting recordings with a focus on the ‘Zoom effects’ on different modes of meaning-making resources and team interactions. Interviews were conducted with three groups that encountered communication breakdowns. It was found that the modes of shot, gesture, gaze, layout, and speech are affected by the change of environment, creating new affordances and constraints for communication. The primary ‘Zoom effect’ is the constraint of ‘richness’ of meaning-making resources available for use. It has made turn-taking difficult, created interpersonal distance, and in some cases led to prolonged moments of ‘dead air’. Meanwhile, the students were considerably passive in actualising the affordances of Zoom, reflecting their lack of digital literacies. This study also provides pedagogical implications and calls for further studies on ‘user effects’ in real-world settings. Copyright © 2024 Taylor & Francis.