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

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING QUY NHON UNIVERSITY TRAN THI MY HAO EFL STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS AND PRACTICES OF COLLABORATIVE WRITING IN TERTIARY ACADEMIC WRITING CLASSROOMS Field: Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching Code: 8140111 Supervisor: Assoc.Prof.Dr Nguyen Thi Thu Hien 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 Ở BẬC ĐẠI HỌC Ngành: Lý luận phương pháp dạy học môn tiếng Anh Mã số: 8140111 Người hướng dẫn: PGS.TS Nguyễn Thị Thu Hiền i 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 ii 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 iii 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, Whilewriting, 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 iv 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 Rationale 1.2 Aim and objectives 1.2.1 Aim .3 1.2.2 Objectives 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Significance of the study 1.6 Organization of the study CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definition of perceptions and practices .7 2.2 Teaching writing in tertiary academic writing classrooms .9 2.2.1 Definition of writing 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 v CHAPTER 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 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 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 vi 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 i LIST OF TABLES Table The Advantages and Disadvantages of Collaborative Writing Strategies (Lowry et al., 2004, p.81) 26 Table 3.1 Summary of the characteristics of the research participants 39 Table 3.2 Research questions and instruments 40 Table 4.1 Students’ perceptions of the effects of collaborative writing on their writing skills 52 Table 4.2 Students’ perceptions of the effects of collaborative writing on other skills 55 Table 4.3 Students’ perceptions of the effects of collaborative writing on their motivation and confidence 57 Table 4.4 Students’ perceptions of the effects of collaborative writing on their collective efforts and responsibility 59 Table 4.5 Students’ perceptions of the effects of collaborative writing on their problem solving and knowledge exchange 62 Table 4.6 Students’ perceptions of the effects of collaborative writing on their academic improvement 64 Table 4.7 Students’ perceptions of difficulties they might face using collaborative writing 66 ii 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 91 approaches to teaching composition (pp.3- 20) 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I would be grateful if you could help me complete my research satisfactorily by putting a tick () on the selected responses Your objective answers are very important to the success of the study They will be completely confidential and used for research purposes only Thank you for your cooperation! PART I: PERSONAL INFORMATION Gender Male  Female   18-20  Age: Under 18 Over 20  How long have you been learning English? Under year  5-7 years  More than years  How you evaluate your writing ability before taking the course “Writing 5”? Very bad  Bad  Good  Very good  Average  Have you ever produced a written text in pairs or in small groups? Yes  No  PART II: STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF COLLABORATIVE WRITING IN THE WRITING CLASS What is your opinion about the use of collaborative writing in the class? (Please circle one among five options) AP-2 = Strongly disagree = Disagree = Agree = Strongly agree = Neutral DEGREE No PART A E1 Working in groups helps me to know how to organize to have a better paragraph E2 Working in groups helps me develop the writing content focused on the topic E3 Working in groups helps me use sentence variation and transitions more Writing skills effectively E4 Working in groups helps me identify errors in using parts of speech E5 Working in groups helps me avoid grammatical errors E6 Working in groups helps me avoid errors in spelling, punctuation, and capitalization AP-3 E7 Working in groups stimulates my critical thinking skills E8 Working in groups enhances our Other skills communication skills E9 Working in groups enables us to use skills which individual assessments not E10 I enjoy writing more than I did before due to collaborative writing E11 Working in groups helps me to work in a more Motivation & Confidence relaxed atmosphere E12 Working in groups helps us to participate actively in the learning process E13 Having completed group projects, I feel I have more confident working with other students Collective efforts & Responsibility E14 Working in groups helps me to focus on collective efforts rather than individual effort AP-4 E15 Having completed group projects, I feel I am more cooperative in my writing E16 Despite disagreement, the group is able to reach consensus E17 Working in groups helps me to have a greater responsibility for myself and the group E18 Working in groups enables us to help weaker learners in the group E19 Working in groups makes problem-solving easier E20 Working in groups helps Problem me to receive useful solving & feedback knowledge exchange E21 Working in groups fosters exchange of knowledge, information, and experience E22 I have the chance to express my ideas in the AP-5 group E23 I learn new ways to support my points of view E24 Working in groups improves our performance E25 I get more work done Academic improvement when I work with others E26 Working in groups increases my comprehension E27 Overall, this is a worthwhile experience AP-6 No D1 PART B DEGREE Working in groups makes it difficult get Participation members to actively participate in tasks D2 Working in groups is a waste of time as we keep explaining things to others D3 While working in groups, we spent more time generating ideas than I Time when I write alone D4 While working in groups, we spent more time checking spelling, punctuation and grammar than I when I write alone D5 Agreement We sometimes disagreed about what to say or how to express our ideas Thank you very much! AP-7 APPENDIX B QUESTIONS FOR FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION Question 1: In your opinion, how does collaborative writing affect your writings skills? Question 2: Do you think it is difficult getting members to actively participate in collaborative writing? Why? Question 3: Do you think you spend more time generating ideas, explaining things, and checking spelling and grammar when writing an essay collaboratively? Why? Question 4: Do you think disagreement have bad effect on the group work when writing collaboratively? Question 5: How did the students divide group work (equally or unequally)? Question 6: What did group members in Pre-writing stage? Question 7: What did group members in While-writing stage? Question 8: What did group members in Post-writing stage? AP-8 APPENDIX C CLASSROOM OBSERVATION CHECKLIST Course: Class: Observed group: _Date: Response Category Students were randomly grouped by the teacher Teacher let the students group themselves Students had a discussion on the given topic Students spent time finding some reference sources that cover information about the given topic Students brainstormed ideas about the given topic Students used prewriting techniques to gather ideas _ / _ / 2022 Collaboration level Little Much Yes Partially No Individual collaboration collaboration Items related to Pre-writing stage AP-9 (freewriting, researching, listing, clustering, etc.) Students put the ideas together and developed an outline including topic sentence and supporting ideas Items related to While-writing stage Students organized the ideas into sentences and paragraphs Students began to write a rough draft based on the outline Students conferred with others to improve the written text Students shared their piece of writing with other members in the group for editing Students reflected on AP-10 and revised their writing based on peer feedback Students proofread and corrected errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, and mechanics Students reorganized text order to improve the flow of information and logic Students reread the essay to replace overused words and remove redundant information Items related to Post-writing stage Students handed in their group work to the teacher for feedback Students rewrote the final copy of their writing correctly and AP-11 neatly Students gave comments on other groups’ final draft Items related to students’ collaboration in writing Students shared the group work equally during the writing classes Students were always on-task during the writing classes There were quarrels among group members during the writing classes Students were actively engaged in the collaboration work ... 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... collaborative writing in tertiary academic writing classrooms Find out how EFL students implement collaborative writing in their classrooms Indicate the divergences between students' perceptions and their... area of exploring students' perceptions and practices in collaborative writing in tertiary academic writing classes Specifically, the researcher identifies students' general perceptions of the