EFL students perception and practices of collaborative writting in tertiary academic writting classrooms

QUY NHON UNIVERSITY TRAN THI MY HAO EFL STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS AND PRACTICES OF COLLABORATIVE WRITING IN TERTIARY ACADEMIC... DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP The thesis, entitled “EFL Students

QUY NHON UNIVERSITY

TRAN THI MY HAO

EFL STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS AND PRACTICES OF COLLABORATIVE WRITING IN TERTIARY ACADEMIC

BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN

TRẦN THỊ MỸ HẢO

NHẬN THỨC VÀ VIỆC THỰC HÀNH VIẾT LUẬN THEO NHÓM CỦA SINH VIÊN

DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP

The thesis, entitled “EFL Students’ Perceptions and Practices of Collaborative Writing in Tertiary Academic Writing Classrooms,” was

conducted under the supervision of Assoc.Prof.Dr Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, a

lecturer working at Quy Nhon University

I declare that the information reported in this study is the result of my own work and effort I have used no materials other than those listed in the references No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main text of the thesis Also, this thesis has not been partly or fully submitted for the award of any other degree or diploma

Binh Dinh, 2022

Tran Thi My Hao

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The birth of this thesis was not only my own attempt but also benefited from invaluable assistance from organizations and individuals, which I received throughout the whole process, to whom I would like to express my sincere thanks

Firstly, I would like to express my deepest gratitude and appreciation to

my supervisor, Assoc.Prof.Dr Nguyen Thi Thu Hien I owe her well-oriented guidance, thoughtful advice, warm encouragement, and infinite patience Without her taking precious time to give the instruction, the successful completion of this study work would not have been possible

Secondly, I want to send my thankfulness to all the lecturers that taught

me throughout my M.A course for their sensible and professional advice, which totally helped me to overcome all the difficulties

Thirdly, I would like to extend my special thanks to Quy Nhon University, Post-graduate Department, and Foreign Languages Department for the administrative assistance

My sincere thanks are also to the instructor, M.A Tran Thi Da Thao, who has been teaching the course “Writing 5” and the students from classes K42A, K42B, and K42H Without their help, I could not gather enough qualitative and quantitative data to conduct this study

Last but not least, I was blessed to have my beloved family and friends accompany me on this journey Their support and continuous encouragement throughout the course and the study of this thesis did give me strength and a great source of inspiration

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to investigate EFL students’ perceptions and practices regarding collaborative writing in tertiary academic writing classrooms To fulfill the aim, the study was carried out at Quy Nhon University with the enthusiastic participation of 120 third-year English Language majors The data for the study was collected through students’ questionnaires, focus group discussions, and classroom observations, and then analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively The findings of the study revealed that the students’ perceptions regarding the use of collaborative writing in writing classrooms were highly positive Specifically, they were in favor of the use of collaborative writing in writing classrooms as it significantly contributed to improving their writing performance, motivation, and critical thinking As for students’ practices regarding collaborative writing, they followed the writing procedure, which consists of three main stages in general (Pre-writing, While-writing, and Post-writing) However, some slight differences in how students collaborate and divide tasks for each group member in writing classes were seen Although students basically practiced collaborative writing as they perceived, there was still a gap between students' perceptions and their classroom practices regarding the level of involvement in the collaborative writing among group members, the time allocated for proofreading and editing the final draft, and the overuse of mother tongue during the discussion

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP i

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF ABBRREVIATIONS vi

LIST OF TABLES i

LIST OF FIGURES ii

CHAPTER 1.INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aim and objectives 3

1.2.1 Aim 3

1.2.2 Objectives 3

1.3 Research questions 3

1.4 Scope of the study 4

1.5 Significance of the study 5

1.6 Organization of the study 5

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 7

2.1 Definition of perceptions and practices 7

2.2 Teaching writing in tertiary academic writing classrooms 9

2.2.1 Definition of writing 9

2.2.2 Approaches in teaching writing 10

2.3 Collaborative learning 13

2.4 Collaborative writing 16

2.4.1 Definition of collaborative writing 16

2.4.2 Benefits and drawbacks of collaborative writing 18

2.4.3 Types of collaborative writing strategy 23

2.4.4 The implementation of collaborative writing in EFL classrooms 27

2.5 Previous studies on EFL students’ perceptions and practices of collaborative writing 29

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 36

3.1 Research design 36

3.2 Research setting 36

3.3 Research participants 38

3.4 Research instruments 40

3.4.1 Questionnaire 41

3.4.2 Focus Group Discussion 42

3.4.3 Classroom observation 44

3.5 Procedures for Data Collection 45

3.6 Procedure for data analysis 47

3.7 Research reliability and validity 48

3.8 Legal and ethical considerations 48

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 50

4.1 Students’ perceptions of collaborative writing in writing classrooms 50

4.1.1 Students’ perceptions of the effects of collaborative writing in writing classrooms 51

4.1.2 Students’ perceptions of difficulties they might face using collaborative writing 66

4.2 Students’ implementation of collaborative writing in writing classrooms 71

4.2.1.Pre-writing stage 72

4.2.3 While-writing stage 74

4.2.3 Post-writing stage 75

4.3 Students’ perceptions and their actual classroom practices regarding collaborative writing 76

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 81

5.1 Conclusion 81

5.2 Pedagogical implications 83

5.3 Limitations 84

5.4 Recommendations and suggestions for further research 85

REFERENCES 86 APPENDICES

LIST OF ABBRREVIATIONS

CL: Collaborative Learning

CW: Collaborative Writing

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

ESL: English as Second Language

FGD: Focus Group Discussion

L2: Second Language

LREs: Language Related Episodes

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2 The Advantages and Disadvantages of Collaborative Writing

Strategies (Lowry et al., 2004, p.81) 26Table 3.1 Summary of the characteristics of the research participants 39Table 3.2 Research questions and instruments 40Table 4.1 Students’ perceptions of the effects of collaborative writing on

their writing skills 52Table 4.2 Students’ perceptions of the effects of collaborative writing on

other skills 55Table 4.3 Students’ perceptions of the effects of collaborative writing on

their motivation and confidence 57Table 4.4 Students’ perceptions of the effects of collaborative writing on

their collective efforts and responsibility 59Table 4.5 Students’ perceptions of the effects of collaborative writing on

their problem solving and knowledge exchange 62Table 4.6 Students’ perceptions of the effects of collaborative writing on

their academic improvement 64Table 4.7 Students’ perceptions of difficulties they might face using

collaborative writing 66

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1 Group Single-Author Writing (Lowrey et al., 2004, p.76) 23

Figure 2.2 Sequential Single Writing (Lowrey et al., 2004, p.76) 24

Figure 2.3 Parallel Writing (Lowrey et al., 2004, p.77) 24

Figure 2.4 Horizontal Division Parallel Writing (Lowrey et al., 2004, p.78) 24

Figure 2.5 Stratified Division Parallel Writing (Lowrey et al., 2004, p.79) 25

Figure 2.6 Reactive Writing (Lowrey et al., 2004, p.80) 25

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

The introduction chapter helps lay background information essential for

an understanding of the issue discussed in this study In addition, it is established with the framework of the thesis consisting of (1) rationale, (2) aim and objectives, (3) research questions, (4) scope of the study, (5) significance of the study, and (6) organization of the study

1.1 Rationale

English has become an essential means of communication in the age of globalization In the context of Vietnam, English is regarded as a compulsory subject in many schools, colleges, and universities Of the four skills, writing

is considered to be one of the most necessary academic skills, especially at the tertiary level Students are supposed to acknowledge that mastering the complexities of the writing process not only helps them achieve their immediate goals of composing well-written essays, reports, and research papers, but also serves their further education later Many students, on the other hand, consider writing to be the most difficult compared to the other skills because they might have to struggle with developing and organizing ideas, using correct grammar and word choices, and applying proper writing mechanics According to Homstad and Thorson (1996), writing is always a challenging skill for those learning English because of some restrictions in terms of language proficiency and linguistic knowledge Silva (1993) suggested that it is difficult for students learning English as a foreign language to compose a great essay because of the significant difference between the sentence structure of the first language and the second one Likewise, Wang and Wen (2002) suggested that students' difficulty in writing English is due to the influence of their mother tongue, as they often translate

from their mother tongue to English in their writing

Within that context, developing the writing competence for EFL learners as a foreign language is not a simple and easy task In fact, researchers have examined the effectiveness of various pedagogical methods

to find an effective way of teaching and learning English writing skills in the ESL classroom Many researchers worldwide (Dobao, 2012; Storch, 2011) highly recommended collaborative writing to be implemented in the writing classrooms Since the communicative language teaching approach (CLT) was introduced in the 1970s, many English instructors have taken advantage of pair work or group work to enable students to accomplish higher quality writing products Over the years, there has been an increasing interest among scholars and educators in collaborative writing, which may be simply defined

as the participation of two or more writers in the creation of a single text This learning strategy contributed to a shift from a teacher-centered to a learner-centered approach and brought multiple advantages to language learners In addition, Shehadeh (2011) and Dobao & Blum (2013) reported that collaborative writing activities were able to boost students’ motivation, confidence, and sense of responsibility

Although research about the efficacy of collaborative writing in L2 or foreign language teaching has proliferated in recent years (Eloba & Oskoz, 2010; Grufron & Hawa, 2015; Kim, 2020), little prior research has been done

to explore students' perceptions of collaborative writing and their classroom practices In Vietnam, some studies were conducted to explore students' perceptions of collaborative writing or its effect on students' performance (Pham 2016; Trinh & Nguyen 2021; Le 2021) However, there is a lack of investigation into the gap between students' perceptions and their classroom practice Hence, more research to gather insights into students’ perceptions and their practices is pertinent to a better understanding of the use of

collaborative writing in the classroom, especially at the tertiary level Also, previous studies on students' perceptions of collaborative writing mainly focused on pair work, with little attention paid to writing in small groups

All the above reasons have inspired the writer to choose the topic “EFL Students’ Perceptions and Practices of Collaborative Writing in Tertiary Academic Writing Classrooms” for my M.A thesis This study aims to

explore students' perceptions towards collaborative writing activities as well

as their practices during the writing classroom The findings of the study are hoped to provide valuable insights and pedagogical implications for both teachers and students to enhance the effective implementation of collaborative writing in L2 contexts

1.2 Aim and objectives

1.2.1 Aim

This study aims to explore third-year English majors’ perceptions and practices of collaborative writing in tertiary academic writing classrooms at Quy Nhon University

1.2.2 Objectives

To achieve the aim, three specific objectives were identified:

1 Identify EFL students’ perceptions regarding the effects of collaborative writing in tertiary academic writing classrooms

2 Find out how EFL students implement collaborative writing in their classrooms

3 Indicate the divergences between students' perceptions and their actual classroom practices

1.3 Research questions

The study aims to answer the three following research questions:

1 What perceptions do EFL students hold regarding the effects of collaborative writing?

2 How do EFL students implement collaborative writing in writing classrooms?

3 What are the divergences between students' perceptions and their actual classroom practices?

1.4 Scope of the study

As stated above, the study is restricted to the area of exploring students' perceptions and practices in collaborative writing in tertiary academic writing classes Specifically, the researcher identifies students' general perceptions of the effects of collaborative writing and some difficulties they might face using this learning approach Besides, students' practices of collaborative writing in academic writing classrooms are extensively investigated Then, the similarities and differences between their perceptions and practices were also discussed Based on the findings, some suggestions were given to help the teachers improve the implementation of collaborative writing in the classrooms to the fullest, which might promote students' enjoyment of learning and their academic performance Due to the constraints of resources and time, the study limits its scope to the participation of 120 third-year students at the Department of Foreign Languages, Quy Nhon University Therefore, the study limits itself to the teaching and learning of English writing, not for all students of Quy Nhon University The justification for choosing participants is that they are assumed to be similar in terms of required proficiency level and background knowledge of English Those students had passed the previous writing courses (Writing 1, 2, 3, and 4), so they fully understood the basics of essay writing Second, in the second term

of the school year 2021-2022, they have been taking an academic writing course, “Writing 5”, in which they are taught how an academic essay should

be written Last but not least, the participants engaged in this study have all experienced group writing in most of the previous writing courses Therefore, they well perceived some effects and challenges when this approach was

implemented in the classrooms

1.5 Significance of the study

Students' perceptions of collaborative writing in academic writing classrooms and their practices during the writing process are the focus of this study From an educational perspective, the study is significant for both theoretical and practical reasons

In terms of theory, the study contributes to the importance of implementing collaborative writing in writing classrooms It also provides a thorough insight into how students implement collaborative writing and to what extent their practices reflect their perceptions

In terms of practice, the findings of this study may benefit English teachers, students, and researchers As for the teachers, the findings of the study could raise teachers’ awareness of how their students perceive the use

of collaborative writing in writing classrooms As a consequence, they will endeavor to implement it in an effective way so that their students can improve their academic writing performance This study can also be used as a reference, not only by English teachers at Quy Nhon University but also by teachers who want to employ collaborative writing in their writing classes For students, this study hopes to help them realize the importance of collaborative writing and some problems may arise that might result in their negative perceptions In addition, they might figure out how to bridge the gap between their perceptions of collaborative writing and their classroom practices Finally, with regard to the researchers, those who share the same interest in this topic could certainly rely on this research to find reliable and useful references for their related studies

1.6 Organization of the study

The thesis consists of five chapters

Chapter 1, Introduction, presents the rationale, the aims and objectives, the

scope, the research questions, the significance, and the structure of the study

Chapter 2, Literature Review, defines major related concepts and briefly

reviews the related works that compose the theoretical background of the study

Chapter 3, Research Methodology, deals with research methodologies,

data description, data analysis, and research procedures The data's reliability and validity are also discussed in this chapter

Chapter 4, Data Analysis and Findings, describes the analysis of data in

detail and gives a summary of the findings as well as a thorough discussion

of the findings of the study Some explanations and interpretations of the findings are also presented in this chapter

Chapter 5, Conclusion, summarizes the whole research, gives some teaching

implications, and discusses the limitations of the study, as well as suggestions for further research

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

The purpose of Chapter 2 is to review the theoretical background of the study This chapter will be divided into 5 main sections It begins with presenting the definition of perceptions and practices The following section deals with teaching writing in tertiary academic writing classrooms, in which the definition of writing and approaches used in teaching writing, are briefly discussed The concepts of collaborative learning and collaborative writing are then presented In this chapter, the researcher also reviews the previous studies related to EFL students' perceptions and practices of collaborative writing

2.1 Definition of perceptions and practices

In recent years, foreign language teaching and learning have shifted from teacher-directed instruction to student-centered learning; as a result, studies focusing on students' perceptions have caught the interest of many researchers Numerous studies on teaching methods have been conducted on the perceptions of students as students play an important role in the teaching and learning process Students' perceptions influence not only their approaches to language acquisition but also how they respond to teaching activities Students who are dissatisfied with the teaching method will lose interest in learning the language Therefore, the teacher's understanding of students' perceptions and practices is essential since it allows them to evaluate their teaching systems based on learning system results For instructors to evaluate the effectiveness of their teaching and learning, Chen and Hooswer (2010) underlined that they must take into account both the students' perceptions and their actual classroom practices

McShane and Von Glinow (2010, p 68) unmistakably defined that

“perception is the process of receiving information about and making sense of the world around us." In other words, perception can be seen as the way in which the five physical senses shape our understanding of the real world Perception, according to Irwanto (2002) (as cited in Fadillah, 2019), is classified into two types: positive and negative perceptions (a) Positive perception is one that describes all the information and reactions that continue

to be used This process will be repeated by engaging, accepting, and supporting the perceived item (b) Negative perception is the perception of all information and reactions that are in contrast with the object of perception As

a result, both good and negative perceptions will always influence someone's behavior Positive or negative perception is determined by how individuals interpret all of their information about an observed thing In the current study, perception is defined as someone's idea about something that they learn to evaluate their attitude toward the use of something, whether they agree or disagree with that method or something that they learn It means that students have their own perceptions of what they learn and how they react to it According to Sidhu (2003), students' perceptions are students' points of view about anything that occurs throughout the learning process and provides ideas

or arguments for instructors or classmates to better their learning process

From the definitions given above, it can be concluded that perception happens when students use a given meaning to stimulate the classroom environment or their classroom behaviors Thus, in order to understand one’s behavior, one needs to understand their perceptions In some ways, one's perception is closely connected to his or her practice (Bodenhausen & Hugenberg, 2009, p.14)

Despite the fact that several studies have lately been interested in students' collaborative writing practices, the definition of practice has rarely

been stated According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, practice is defined as “the actual application or use of an idea, belief, or method, as opposed to theories relating to it” In this study, practices are related to the actions and strategies students deploy in the class during the learning process Practices also include students’ behavior towards their friends and the teacher when a strategy or teaching method is implemented in the classroom

2.2 Teaching writing in tertiary academic writing classrooms

2.2.1 Definition of writing

Writing or learning to write in a language is not simply a matter of writing something down Writing is not only the act of putting words into sentences but also a process in which the writer focuses on inventing ideas and how to organize and express them in an effective way in order to enable readers to understand what they want to convey through the written work In addition, Hayes (1996), as cited in Weigle (2002), viewed writing as a cognitive activity that involves three main activities: text interpretation, reflection, and text production

As stated by Sokolik (2003), writing was both “a physical and mental act” (p.88) in the sense that writers were required to commit words or ideas and simultaneously invent ideas and consider their expressions and organizations Besides, when composing words, writers mainly focus on two purposes The first one is to express the ideas that writers have in their minds The second one is the text, which is written and is used to communicate the ideas to the readers, as writing is also a means of communication (Nunan, 2003) Thus, writers must be able to convey and explain ideas in ways that could impress readers Moreover, writing is both a product and a process Writers need to generate ideas, organize, draft, edit, read, and rewrite to produce a writing product – a paragraph, an essay, or a report

In general, writing is not only the product of word formation, the presentation of meaningful messages, and the development and presentation

of thoughts in a structured way, but also the process of generating ideas, organizing, writing, and rewriting

2.2.2 Approaches in teaching writing

There are several approaches taken in teaching and learning ESL/EFL writing However, the product approach and the process approach are two approaches that have been widely adopted by many researchers and educators

2.2.2.1 Product approach

The product approach is considered one of the earliest approaches used

in teaching and learning writing, in which students should begin with writing before moving on to composing and revising According to Tangpermpoon (2008), the fundamental goal of this approach is to raise student awareness of grammatical structures The product approach, according to Nunan (1999), places greater emphasis on activities in which students imitate, copy, and transform models of correct language offered by textbooks or teachers As a result, writing courses only feature tasks at the sentence and grammatical levels As stated by Saeidi & Sahebkheir (2011), modeling is central to this approach, and it is regarded as an effective teaching tool as well as a valuable source of feedback for students if it is implemented

pre-in the appropriate way Accordpre-ing to Ppre-incas (1982), the emphasis of this approach is on linguistic knowledge, with a strong emphasis on the appropriate use of vocabulary, grammar, and cohesive devices

The purpose of the product method, according to Nunan (1999), is to focus on the final product of the writing, which should be a cohesive, error-free text As a result, familiarization, controlled writing, guided writing, and free writing should all be included in the writing learning process in order to achieve the aforementioned goal (Pincas, 1982) During the familiarization

stage, the teacher introduces a topic using textbook instructions and then reads model texts In the guided and controlled writing stages, learners are provided with the opportunity to freely practice their language skills and organize ideas until they are ready for the free production activity Then, learners are required to produce a written text based on what they have learned in the free-writing stage In the product approach, the teacher is placed at the center of the entire learning process as he/she acts as the provider of the language model, guiding the exercises and correcting errors when the final product is created As a result, this approach is highly valued for offering learners with linguistic knowledge of rules and structures and helping learners have a thorough understanding of how to use vocabulary and grammatical structures correctly for each writing genre There are, however, certain limitations to adopting the product approach in teaching and learning writing Murray (1980) suggested that using sample texts restricts L2 learners' creativity in writing, particularly when learners are asked to read the text, analyze it, and then begin to write in the form of the text Furthermore, Eschholz (1980) viewed the imitation of models as a process of "stultifying and inhibiting writers rather than empowering or liberating them." Reid (1993) further added that while using the product approach, students are likely to overemphasize the significance of vocabulary, grammar, and mechanics without a sense of audience or writing purpose, both of which are essential components of writing

In conclusion, the product approach is primarily concerned with the accuracy of the learners' final products of writing based on knowledge of language structure, and writing progress is primarily viewed as the result of imitation of the form of texts provided by the teacher However, writing activities are controlled in order to minimize errors in text production, which limits the development of creativity and the learners' potential

2.2.2.2 Process approach

The process approach, as opposed to the product approach, emphasizes the writing process and encourages learners to explore meaning and ideas rather than practice vocabulary and grammatical structures According to Hatcher and Goddard (2005), in order to write a well-written text, learners must go through a variety of phases and processes in which they must deal with various procedural strategies During the process approach, learners need

to draft, reflect on, correct, and rewrite in order to make a better writing version According to Badge and Write (2000, p.154), teachers should use a four-step writing process (pre-writing, drafting/composing, rewriting, and editing) to encourage their students to develop their own writing In the pre-writing stage, students are provided a writing task and supported to find out related vocabulary and grammar To support students, teachers may employ multiple techniques such as brainstorming, clustering, or discussion In the second stage, students used the related vocabulary and grammar to express their ideas in their first draft Students receive feedback from their teachers or peers after drafting Then, depending on the feedback, they make modifications by rewriting, adding, eliminating, or rearranging ideas A final written product, therefore, is a result of the thinking process that learners go through Furthermore, Tribble (1996) described the process approach as “an approach to the teaching of writing which stresses the creativity of the individual writer, and which pays attention to the development of good writing practices rather than the imitation of models” (p.160) As a result, students are viewed as central in the learning process in the process approach because they are given the opportunity to make decisions on how to begin, organize, and express their opinions in writing activities, while the teacher supports them in the development of writing strategies for getting started, drafting, revising, and editing Even though the process approach has been

shown to be effective method for teaching and learning writing, other researchers believe that teachers should take its disadvantages into consideration when applying this approach in the classroom It might take a long time and is sometimes unsuitable for teaching settings if both the teacher and students pay too much attention to the stages (Harmer, 2004) Furthermore, Badger and White (2000) highlight that the process method cannot provide students with enough input, particularly in terms of linguistic knowledge, to enable them to write effectively, particularly those who lack both knowledge and experience

In conclusion, the process method has certain limitations, but it is generally a useful tool for learners to develop their writing skills since

it focuses on the composing process, during which students are given the opportunity to explore and reformulate their ideas Also, with constructive comments from the teacher and other students, learners may improve their writing performance Additionally, as a facilitator in the learning process, the teacher helps students develop their critical thinking from their own experience, and the learning process no longer depends entirely on the teacher

After discussing the product and process approaches to teaching writing,

it is evident that each has its own different strengths and weaknesses As a result, the process of teaching writing must be viewed from the perspective of

a balance between process and product In other words, we should consider the importance of paying attention to both product and process during the writing process

2.3 Collaborative learning

As learning is a social activity, it should take place in collaborative contexts that are favorable to learning The ideas of collaborative learning are based on the theories of John Dewey (1938), Harold Bloom (1956), and Lev Vygotsky (1986), as cited in Dobao & Blum (2013), who argued that learning

is a social activity that cannot be done in isolation In fact, collaborative learning has been extensively researched in a number of studies

As stated by Colbeck et al (2000), collaborative learning can be defined as a learning technique that requires students to work together in groups or in pairs in a classroom situation In the same vein, Barkley et al (2005) describe collaborative learning as an activity that is designed for students through working in pairs or small groups, and during the time they work together, they are able to achieve their common goals From the point

of view of Slavin (1995), collaborative learning is a method in which students work in groups to share their knowledge, help their friends to master academic content, teach responsibility for learning, and help others

to learn Furthermore, Smith and MacGregor (1992) define "collaborative learning" as "an umbrella term for a variety of educational approaches involving joint intellectual efforts by students, or joint intellectual efforts by students and teachers" (p.1) In most collaborative learning situations, students are working in groups of two or more, collaboratively searching for understanding, solutions, meanings, or creating a product However, one of the most explicit definitions of collaborative learning is provided by Graham (2005), who argues that collaborative learning is “a small group of learners working together as a team to solve problems, complete a task, or accomplish a common goal” (p.11)

Many EFL writing experts believe that collaborative learning is preferable to traditional, teacher-centered teaching methods since students may benefit from pair or group work in the classroom For example, McDonough (2004, p.208), citing evidence from pedagogically-oriented research, states that:

Pair and small group activities provide learners with more time

to speak the target language than teacher-fronted activities,

promote learner autonomy and self-directed learning, and give

instructors opportunities to work with individual learners In

addition, learners may feel less anxious and more confident when

interacting with peers during pair or small group activities than

during whole-class discussions

Gokhale (1995) notes that students who participate in collaborative learning can help students think more critically and perform better than when they work individually Working collaboratively also improves students' problem-solving abilities, ability to resolve conflicts, use effective communication strategies, and time management skills According to Chen et

al (2004), collaborative learning helps students understand others and how to manage the elements of successful collaboration, how to manage conflict in a group, and set their goals together Students are more likely to develop a sense of responsibility and reach a higher level of critical thinking while working with others

In sum, it can be concluded that collaborative learning is an educational method that emphasizes the importance of group learning activities to solve problems and encourages students’ active participation in the learning process When a group is presented with a task, there will often

be a process of clarification, discussion, and evaluation of ideas Specifically, students have to cooperate with other members of their own group to exchange ideas, search for information, and find meanings to solve their current situations without waiting for the teachers’ clarification Therefore, it

is generally accepted that two people working together to solve a problem or complete a task have a much better chance of success than one person working alone

2.4 Collaborative writing

2.4.1 Definition of collaborative writing

Collaborative writing, which has its roots in collaborative learning, has grown in importance in the teaching of writing in EFL classrooms since the 1980s In fact, several studies on collaborative writing have been published in the last several years, and each author or scholar defined the concept of collaborative writing in different ways However, collaborative writing is sometimes confused with cooperative writing According to Storch (2013), collaborative writing is an activity that requires the co-writers to be involved

in all stages of the writing process, sharing the responsibility for and ownership of the entire text produced Then, based on these traits, he clearly distinguishes collaborative writing from cooperative writing While cooperation involves a division of roles and responsibilities for completing one section, like collecting information or editing the final draft, learners in collaborative activities work together throughout the entire writing process, sharing decision-making and responsibility for the text Given that these two terms have been used by researchers interchangeably, what the researcher focuses on in this study is collaborative writing, not cooperative writing

As collaboration means the process of working with others in order to achieve something, collaborative writing can be defined as a process in which two or more individuals collaborate to create a single text (Storch, 2019) To put it another way, students work together, complete the task, and create a product based on their discussion According to Lowry, Curtis, and Lowry (2004), collaborative writing is a social process that helps group members focus on a common goal that requires negotiation, cooperation, and discussion throughout the process of creating a common text

Galegher and Kraut (1994) share the same perspective on collaborative writing and emphasize the social nature of collaborative writing They view

collaborative writing as a social interaction process that involves

negotiation about the meaning of facts, a demand for consensus

as to an appropriate solution, division of labor based on

concerns for fairness and quality of work, coordination of

individual contributions, and resolution of questions about

authority within the group (p.113)

Similarly, others have emphasized that collaborative writing can be seen as a social practice that has different meanings for different participants Rice and Huguley (1994) offer yet another definition that emphasizes the primary activities of collaborative writing:

Collaborative writing is any writing performed collectively by

more than one person that is used to produce a single text; and

we define writing as any activity that leads to a completed

document, including brainstorming or idea-generating, gathering

research, planning and organizing, drafting, revision, and editing (pp.163-164)

In addition, Barkley et al (2005) suggest stages of the writing process that learners go through during collaborative writing activities, including the first stage (brainstorming ideas), the second stage (gathering information and organizing the ideas into an outline), the third stage (drafting the writing), the fourth stage (revising), and the final stage (revising and editing the writing) The main core of collaborative writing is a process in which a pair of students

or a group of students work together to produce a piece of writing, so the cooperation and contributions of the group members play an important role

In the collaborative writing process, instructors as facilitators will demonstrate how a group or pairs of students provide feedback to each other, search for assistance from others, and discuss and negotiate strategies for the concerns of writing (Kessler et al., 2012) Consequently, the writing product

will be better than before, as there is social interaction between teachers and students

Given the fact that there are many different viewpoints about the definitions of collaborative writing, each scholar or author has their own way

of defining this term based on their field of research and their experience In this thesis, however, the researcher chooses to describe collaborative writing

as a process in which students engage in pairs or groups to produce a single written text During this process, students are asked to brainstorm, discuss, generate, and deliberate on ideas for the text together As it is the joint product of the whole group, each member in the group has to share equal responsibility for contributing to and completing a shared piece of writing

2.4.2 Benefits and drawbacks of collaborative writing

Since collaborative writing became common practice in various educational settings and gained popularity in language teaching and learning, many studies have been conducted to examine the benefits and challenges of the implementation of collaborative writing

2.4.2.1 Benefits

Collaboration in writing simply means students work in small groups as

a team to produce and complete one written text Many researchers in the field of the teaching of writing support the use of collaborative writing as it positively impacts both teachers and students

First of all, Brown & Kolin (1982) point out a list of benefits that collaborative writing may bring about for EFL students They state that collaboration in writing can offer productive feedback and critique, increase productivity and save time, ensure overall writing effectiveness, and accelerate decision-making time Collaboration through writing not only assists students in completing a task but also inspires them to communicate more effectively (Storch, 2013) While working as a group, learners in

collaborative writing activities communicate with each other to convey their intended meaning by providing and receiving assistance as they engage with one another while working toward a common task goal As pointed out by Wismath and Orr (2015), learners can reap the benefits of working together

by pooling their knowledge and resources for joint decision-making and problem-solving Besides helping each other pool their ideas, students can receive immediate feedback from peers so that they do not feel stressed and frustrated when writing Then, in EFL courses, collaboration in writing can improve student engagement, reduce anxiety associated with doing tasks alone, and boost students' confidence

Furthermore, collaborative writing transforms the traditional teaching classroom from a teacher-centered to a student-centered environment (Ghufron

& Ermawati, 2015; Zhou et al., 2019) Students assume their new role as active learners, while teachers serve as expert mentors The learners, as well as the knowledge seekers, are the center of the classroom They take responsibility for their own learning, work together to complete specific tasks while tutoring and consulting one another, and learn to work as a team There is student-student interaction in the problem-solving assignment, and thus learning takes place As

a result, student-centered classrooms can foster a learning community in which students share experiences, support one another, and learn from one another To put it another way, collaborative writing transforms the dynamics of the classroom, where teachers are traditionally the source of knowledge and students are passively getting it with no opportunity to collaborate

Furthermore, in ESL writing, collaboration may promote grammatical accuracy as well as a sense of self-confidence (Young et al., 2018) In addition, exchanging group ideas or group brainstorming is likely to effectively enhance group creativity Exchanging ideas can somehow activate students’ prior knowledge so they may produce more interesting ideas However, learners

should be made aware of the significance of mutual interactions and take complementary roles as they organize, produce, and share ideas and views with their peers as pre-collaborative activities To put it another way, students are supposed to listen to one another in order to gain different perspectives and explore different ways of thinking Integrating collaborative approaches into ESL writing classes allows students to not only complete their tasks collaboratively but also communicate, discuss writing strategies, and scaffold one another (Storch, 2011) The students may differ from one another in a number of ways Some students cannot write well but may propose interesting ideas Some others cannot come up with good ideas or examples, yet they can write well In this situation, collaborative writing allows students to share their strengths with others Learners differ in terms of language skills, background experience, knowledge, and other factors, and they learn and obtain information from one another by writing jointly (Fung, 2010) Mutual sharing of ideas among the learners and the contribution of different writing styles may allow the learners to produce accurate and rich contexts Such a pooling of students’ different abilities can co-construct knowledge and enhance their writing skills more effectively than they could separately

Khatib & Meihami (2015) also expand on the benefits of collaborative writing in their writing on collaborative dialogue and language She describes collaborative dialogue as the conversation that occurs when students are working together on a problem-solving activity Learners use language in more meaningful ways during collaborative writing activities They make every effort to communicate their intended meaning to their peers As a result, not only do students engage in writing and exchange information through collaborative writing, but they also use their target language to discuss their writing, which will undoubtedly help them enhance their target language Many studies on collaborative writing have yielded positive results

According to research conducted in first-language L1 and L2 contexts (Ransdell & Barbier, 2002), collaborative writing encourages students to cultivate reflective thinking as they are involved in the group discussing and sharing their thoughts with their colleagues When learners’ ideas are challenged by their peers, they will try to convince, defend, and protect their viewpoints, or they might need to reconsider their beliefs and ideas Studies have also demonstrated that during the collaborative writing process, learners pay attention not only to grammatical accuracy and lexical choices but also to discourse (Lin & Maarof, 2013; Meihami et al., 2013; Zhang, 2018, 2019) Students should be able to brainstorm, propose ideas, discuss them, and then begin writing jointly during collaborative activities Thus, they engage in productive discussions to create new ideas and effective plans They respond

to one another during the writing process, which will help them understand the task at hand Furthermore, other studies also reported that the student's participation and discussion during collaborative writing activities encourages self-directed learning or autonomy (Deveci, 2018; Tanyeli Zeki & Kuter, 2017), which is crucial for more effective learning

Besides bringing many advantages to EFL students, collaborative writing can also be beneficial to teachers According to Boughey (1997)’s view, teachers may reduce their workload because the number of students’ writings in groups are fewer than in individual writing Therefore, teachers may give more constructive and detailed feedback Also, in collaborative writing, students may get immediate peer feedback from their group members (Seong, 2006) Thus, not only teachers but also students give feedback on writing products

2.4.2.2 Drawbacks

On the other hand, the challenges of collaborative writing have also been reported by various scholars For example, Brodahl et al (2011) found

that collaborative writing can be time-consuming due to the frequent and frustrating disagreements on the style of writing among the members of the writing group As a result, some teachers believe that implementing collaborative writing might slow down students' work Similarly, Lee et al (2015) pointed out that even though a conflict during collaborative activities

“stimulates members’ thinking by making them explain, argue, and negotiate their position” (p.568), some kinds of conflicts or disagreements during collaboration can be so difficult to resolve that collaborators might agree to disagree This, of course, will impede reaching a consensus and will eliminate the process of learning

Carless (2002) mentions three main drawbacks that he encountered in the CW class: noise or the absence of discipline; excessive L1 use; and a lack

of student participation Concerning discipline, Carless (2002) assumed that the primary school educators in his interviews admitted that it was not easy for them to establish equilibrium between the fulfillment of collaborative activities and the maintenance of children's appropriate conduct In accordance with Malmqvist (2005), not all groups work efficiently together If learners are reluctant to make contributions and are not receptive to their peers’ suggestions, this can affect the product in a very negative way, as the feedback exchanged will not be as effective as it should be According to Watanabe (2008, pp.621-622), some students' anxiety is strongly attributable

to their previous negative experiences regarding group work

Hewett and Robidoux (2010) also brought up the question of power or authority in the collaborative writing group In his study on collaborative writing, he discovered that some group members have a dominating personality and impose their ideas, causing others to get frustrated and unwilling to engage in the collaborative activities He also noted that unequal division of labor and a decrease in the sense of ownership of text will also

lead to limited creativity since the members of the writing group might feel that the text is not for their individual credit For those mentioned reasons, some students feel hesitant towards the idea of working as a team

2.4.3 Types of collaborative writing strategy

A number of teachers have implemented collaborative writing in their writing classes by using a variety of strategies In other words, they have different points of view dealing with the strategies of collaborative writing The following are the types of collaborative writing strategies proposed by Lowry et al (2004, pp.74–81)

First, group single-author writing is a kind of writing conducted by one individual that involves planning, drafting, and reviewing Even though it is done by one person, it is still collaborative writing since it involves a team that works toward a coordinated consensus that is reflected in a document written by one of the team members It occurs when one team member writes

on behalf of the entire group If the writing assignment is easy, this type of writing might be used The form of group single-author writing is illustrated

in the figure below

Figure 2.1 Group Single-Author Writing (Lowrey et al., 2004, p.76)

Second, sequential single-author writing involves one group member writing at a time Each group member is given a part of the text to write, and then the text is passed on to the next group member See the following figure for further information on the sequential single writing form

Figure 2.2 Sequential Single Writing (Lowrey et al., 2004, p.76)

Third, parallel writing happens when a group splits an assignment or composition into separate parts and each member works on their assigned part simultaneously (see Figure 2.3) There are two types of parallel writing: horizontal division parallel writing is used when group members divide the task into sections, with each member responsible for the development of his or her assigned section (see Figure 2.4); and stratified division parallel writing is used when group members divide responsibility for the product's creation by assigning different members with different roles Author, editor, facilitator, or team leader are some examples of roles that a member might be given (see Figure 2.5)

Figure 2.3 Parallel Writing (Lowrey et al., 2004, p.77)

Figure 2.4 Horizontal Division Parallel Writing (Lowrey et al., 2004, p.78)

Figure 2.5 Stratified Division Parallel Writing (Lowrey et al., 2004, p.79)

The fourth type of writing is reactive writing, which happens when members of a team work together in real-time to develop a written text Members of the team react to and adjust each other's contributions as they make them (see Figure 2.6)

Figure 2.6 Reactive Writing (Lowrey et al., 2004, p.80)

It is of paramount importance for teachers to consider the pros and downsides of each collaborative writing strategy before adopting one The following table summarizes the benefits and drawbacks of the mentioned-above collaborative writing strategies proposed by Lowrey et al (2004, p.81)

Table 2 The Advantages and Disadvantages of Collaborative Writing Strategies

(Lowry et al., 2004, p.81) Writing

Single-author

writing

Consistency in style while being efficient

Because the goals of the group are not clearly represented and there is less consensus

Sequential

single writing

Easy to organize and simplifies planning

Lose sense of group, subsequent writers may invalidate previous work, lack of consensus, version control issues, inefficiency, and one

person bottlenecks Parallel

Parallel writing

stratification

Efficient, volume, high- quality production, less redundancy, and better use of individual skills

high-Writers can be blind to each other's work, resulting

in duplicate work, stylistic differences, and possibly information overload

Reactive writing Can build creativity

and consensus

Extremely difficult to coordinate, there are issues with version control, and most software does not effectively support this strategy

2.4.4 The implementation of collaborative writing in EFL classrooms

Based on different educational aims and writing tasks, how collaborative activities are used in teaching writing differs from one educator

to another Collaborative writing for big assignments or projects entails several processes (from pre-writing to post-writing stages) The writing process proposed by Widodo (2013) is presented as follows

Pre-writing activities

Forming groups is the first step for implementing a collaborative activity in an L2 writing classroom Group formation can be based on teachers’ decisions, students’ preferences, students’ genders, students’ proficient level in the language, or a shared writing topic or interest Through the process of writing, teachers act as facilitators to offer help to students to

do writing tasks more easily Teachers can give many sorts of scaffolding or help to their pupils For example, teachers can list or outline ideas using mind mapping, give a model for essay writing, ask students to notice typical features of essays, etc

Once the writing topic is delivered, it is a good idea to give them the opportunity to activate their prior knowledge about the given topic Specifically, students collaborate in small groups to brainstorm ideas together

so that they can produce an outline They can use some techniques for brainstorming, such as listing, outlining, clustering, or free writing In short,

at this stage, students are given a chance to stimulate their thinking, create and organize their ideas in a clear way collaboratively

While-writing activities

Students then go on to a drafting activity after they have developed clear outlines The way teachers implement collaborative activities in writing lessons should be dependent on the availability of instructional resources, students' and teachers’ competence in their use of computers and program

applications, and students’ preferences At this stage, students can be asked to handwrite a writing draft collaboratively or they can sit together and type a piece of writing on a word processor until one joint writing product is completed Students can express their ideas in different ways during collaboration They may share their own ideas in their mother tongue and then translate them into English, or else they may express their ideas in English directly Through collaboration, students do not only share their ideas but grammar and vocabulary as well

When the draft is completed, students proceed to the peer feedback activity They are expected to sit together, read out the written text, and give comments and suggestions in order to improve the text At this stage, feedback is commonly focused on content, rhetorical organization, vocabulary, and grammar Teachers should show the students how to respond

to their peers’ drafts using a peer review guide It is critical for teachers to facilitate a peer feedback activity so that students can become good communicators and critical readers

Afterward, students edit and revise the drafts to produce a final product They may correct mistakes in grammar, vocabulary, and mechanics without changing the original ideas Then, they hand in the final written work to the teachers for process assessment

Post-writing activities

Once students have submitted their writing, teachers should assess and grade their products The way to assess students’ writing depends on the teachers’ preferences They may decide on whether to choose holistic scoring

or analytic marking While the former deals with rating and scoring rubrics without stating criteria for individual writing aspects, the latter is related to details in which a teacher rates students’ writing based on different aspects of writing such as content, organization, grammar, vocabulary, and mechanics

In conclusion, collaboration is applied in every stage of the writing process Students brainstorm the ideas together before writing Then they together write the drafts, give peer feedback, edit and revise the drafts Last, the writings are assessed holistically or analytically, depending on the teachers’ decisions

2.5 Previous studies on EFL students’ perceptions and practices of collaborative writing

For researchers and educators, it is important to take the learners’ perceptions into consideration when attempting to understand learners’ actions and to explain the language learning outcomes of an activity used in EFL classrooms If students demonstrate a positive perception and an interest

in participating in the classroom, this approach is expected to meet student expectations, leading to their academic progress Also, educators might explore the difficulties or limitations of the method based on what students have experienced so that they can find feasible ways to improve the use of the activity in teaching practice As a matter of fact, a number of studies have been undertaken in EFL contexts to investigate students’ perceptions towards collaborative writing and their practices as well in recent years

In 2005, Storch carried out a study whose aim was to examine students’ reflections on their collaborative writing experience by comparing texts produced by pairs with those produced by individuals According to the findings, students who worked together produced better texts in terms of task completion, grammatical accuracy, and complexity Through collaboration, students were able to pool their opinions and offer feedback to one another Although the majority of students were positive about the experience, some students expressed unwillingness when being asked to write collaboratively

A quasi-experimental study conducted by Shehadeh (2011) in an EFL context successfully explored the effectiveness and students’ perceptions

towards collaborative writing Twenty students were asked to write individually while eighteen students wrote in pairs He reported that the use of collaborative writing had an overall significant effect on students’ L2 writing proficiency In addition, most of the students hold favorable perceptions towards collaborative writing, although they are novices at such experiences Students also reported that collaborative writing did wonders for them since they were given opportunities to discuss and plan their writing, develop and pool ideas, collaborate on texts, receive immediate peer feedback, and polish their final product

Similary, Winarti, & Cahyono (2020) carried out another attempt to find out the effect of the task on students' ability to write an explanation essay and the student's perception of the task Two intact classes involving 30 students in each class participated in this study One class, as the experimental group, completed the writing task using process writing in pairs while the other class completed the task individually By comparing the writing ability completed after working in pairs and individuals, it was found that students employing collaborative writing using process writing had better writing ability than students working individually In addition, participants expressed positive perceptions towards collaborative writing tasks, with only one showing an unfavorable perception These findings suggest that collaborative writing combined with process writing can be implemented in EFL writing pedagogy to improve students' writing ability

On another note, Dobao and Blum (2013) investigated the perceptions

of Spanish EFL students about writing in pairs and small groups As a part of their classroom activities, the students were given a written assignment to complete Some of them did the writing task in groups of four, while others did it in pairs Generally, the students preferred to work in pairs rather than alone on these activities The students who wrote in groups of four