The Role of Online Collaboration in Promoting ESL Writing

Abstract

The study examined an ESL writing class, which consisted of 36 students, at a community college of Hong Kong. The students took part in three online collaborative writing tasks by sending drafts to peers who gave them suggestions and comments for improvement and working together on the completion of the writing tasks via email.The 36 students worked in small groups of four to six. They wrote, responded and revised using the email system offered by the WebCT interface of their course book. The results were evaluated by means of questionnaire, interview with participating students, report of the peer observer, written work, e-responses and reflective summaries of students.The overall results suggest that students generally enjoyed the supportive atmosphere created by online collaborative tasks and regarded the use of online collaboration as a means of improving their writing by enhancing their motivation, awareness of the audience and the importance of revising, and by reducing their stress and cultivating their positive attitudes towards writing. The data show that the inclusion of the online component has potential in supporting learning and bringing about positive learning effects on writing as learners were found to enjoy the benefit of interacting with the other learners both in-class and out-of-class in the study.

EFL Arab Learners’ Peer Revision of Writing in a Facebook Group: Contributions to Written Texts and Sense of Online Community

“…This finding conforms the findings of previous studies (e.g. Berbache, 2007;Choi, 2008;Kessler, 2009;Hadjerrouit 2011;Woo et al, 2011;Razak & Saeed, 2014a) that learners made such additions to incorporate additional information to their writing. It also helped them to correct the errors in grammar and mechanisms (Horne, 2011;Yang, 2010).…”

“…For instance, Choi (2008) and Kessler (2009) reported that learners focused on how to make the meaning clearer in their revised texts, thus, attending to fluency rather than accuracy. Other studies reported that learners focused on conclusion and sentences or ideas relative to the text in their final drafts (Arnold et al, 2009;Yang, 2010), content (Hadjerrouit, 2011), organization and cohesion (Alshumaimeri et al, 2011) and more language related contributions (LRCs) than non-language related contributions (NLRCs Kessler et al, 2012).…”

“…In investigating online peer revision, many researchers (e.g. Min, 2006;Berbache, 2007;Choi, 2008;Arnold et al, 2009;Kessler, 2009;Hadjerrouit, 2011;Woo et al, 2011;Horne, 2011;Yang & Meng, 2013;Razak & Saeed, 2014a) have found that learners made text revisions: addition, substitution, deletion, permutation (re-ordering or re-arranging), consolidation (combining elements) and distribution (breaking up combined elements). Other revision strategies include scaffolding exchanges such as suggestions and using the first language (L1) (Santoso, 2010;Razak & Saeed, 2014a), meaning negotiation and content discussion (Liang, 2010 …”

The effect of online collaborative project-based learning on English as a Foreign Language learners' language performance and attitudes

“…Several studies have established the usefulness of PBL and online collaborative learning in countries such as the USA (Changwatchai, 2006), Hong Kong (Choi, 2008), Thailand (Simpson, 2011), and Oman (Al Kindy, 2007;Al-Abri, 2009). Changwatchai (2006) collaboration in The University of Texas at Austin.…”

“…The researcher stated that students should be informed about the desired behaviors before the semester starts in order to reduce students' frustration. Choi (2008) also investigated students' feelings and attitudes towards the use of online collaboration in English as a second Language (ESL) writing. The sample of the study consisted of a class with 36 higher diploma (intermediate level) students from a community college in Hong Kong.…”