Collaborative writing tasks in the L2 classroom: Comparing group, pair, and individual work
Journal of second language writing, 21 (1):
40-58 (2012)Abstract
This study investigates the benefits of collaborative writing tasks. Previous research from the perspective of the sociocultural
theory of mind suggests that writing tasks completed in pairs offer learners an opportunity to collaborate in the solution of their
language-related problems, co-construct new language knowledge, and produce linguistically more accurate written texts. Building
on this research, the present study compares the performance of the same writing task by groups of four learners (n = 15), pairs
(n = 15), and individual learners (n = 21). It examines the effect of the number of participants on the fluency, complexity, and
accuracy of the written texts produced, as well as the nature of the oral interaction between the pairs and the groups as they
collaborate throughout the writing process. The analysis of interaction focused on language-related episodes (LREs) reveals that
although both groups and pairs focused their attention on language relatively often, groups produced more LREs and a higher
percentage of correctly resolved LREs than pairs. As a result, the texts written by the groups were more accurate not only than those
written individually, but also than those written in pairs. The implications of these results for the understanding of both collaborative
writing tasks and collaborative problem solving activity are discussed.