Using wiki-based collaborative writing to develop writing skills James Baggesen Senior Teacher ICT British Council Madrid Adults Centre

Benefits of collaborative writing Wiki Project Recommendations Questions

Collaborative Writing – a definition Neomy Storch (2011) defines collaborative writing as ‘the joint production or the co-authoring of a text by two or more writers’ and the defining trait is the ‘joint ownership of the document produced’.

Communicative Approach in TESOL Apparent contradiction when it comes to writing – pair/group writing collaboration is not common. Why? Why don’t teachers spend more time on writing in the classroom?

Process Writing 1. Pre-writing (brainstorming) 2. Drafting 3. Revising 4. Editing/peer-reviewing 5. Publishing Tribble (1996)

Writing in the ESOL Classroom Collaborative perhaps only at brainstorming and editing/peer-reviewing stages of the process The drafting and revising stages are usually set as homework

What you think are the potential benefits of collaborative writing and some possible problems?

Research has identified the following benefits of collaborative writing: Socio-constructivist approach to learning Collective scaffolding - ‘Two heads are better than one’ Develop critical thinking and analytical skills through revising/editing Shared ownership promotes responsibility for own learning Preparation for real world tasks Promote social interactions and relationships

Each person brings a unique set of skills and knowledge of the world - creativity Audience encourages self-correction Both individual and collaborative writing can complement each other Move from a sentence level view of writing to a more global perspective i.e. from language and lexis to discourse and coherence Collaborative writing better than individual efforts

Learners are reluctant to work together to produce a piece of writing preferring to complete the task individually A relatively small proportion of students do the bulk of the work Writing is cooperative rather than collaborative Reluctance by learners to engage in collaborative writing based on previous negative experiences of collaboration

Collaboration can continue outside the classroom through a Wiki (PBworks).

Edit History showing who/when changes were made

One group member edits another’s work

Group members discussing the writing

The benefits of collaborative writing are further enhanced by using wikis to write collaboratively for the following reasons: The very nature of wikis promote collaboration Unique features of wiki; edit history, discussion area, equal access to most recent version, all instances are saved, user- friendly editing Learners build stronger relationships with each other – sense of community

Motivation – responsibility for own learning, reduce free-riding, visibility of own work Asynchronous communication allows for reflection and critical thinking Research indicates higher levels of error identification and correction and attention to discourse all improve through discussion The process of writing becomes non-linear; editing occurs at all stages of the process

Audience – peers and publishing, social writing/meaning Learning preferences - vicarious interaction, dominance by few reduced, shier learners able to contribute Learners report they enjoy using wikis for collaborative writing Learners report their peers were able to identify & correct errors they couldn’t see

Social loafing Some learners wait until the few last days before contributing Lack of learner engagement if use of wiki is poorly designed and/or supported

Wiki-based Collaborative Writing Project Upper C1 – lower C2 level students Majority Majority working / followed by university students 4-5 hours class time a week (40/50 hours total) 132 students participated 35 groups of 3/4 November – December 2013

Students’ views on wiki-based collaboration

How did you find the experience of working together to produce a single piece of writing? (Interview Question) “I was a little sceptical at first, l’m not used to doing this sort of stuff in English courses but I would say it was a good experience” Student A “…once we find a topic we all agree on we worked together and it was good experience” Student C “Completely positive. I enjoyed the experience in fact, and it’s a method of work that encourages people to work together and to do his best” Student F

Teachers’ comments (teacher focus group) “What they produced collaboratively was of a higher standard than what they produced on their own” Teacher D “The stronger students did more correcting and brought the level up” Teacher A “16-18 year olds spend 1 or 2 hours doing homework and didn’t want to spend more time on it” Teacher C “I think some students really got into it and enjoyed it and did a lot actually, others didn’t do very much and didn’t take it seriously” Teacher A “all of mine really went for it and it got a really, really nice response” Teacher D “in each group there was one that did engage with it, they were working on their own as the others didn’t really collaborate” Teacher B

Recommendations for wiki-based Collaborative Writing Need to think about how the groups are set up Wikis alone doesn’t equal collaboration there has to be willingness Less mature students want/need more teacher guidance Training on the wiki Training for learners on giving feedback Have time to get used to correcting each others’ work Training videos Individual contributions assessed Teacher needs be interested/motivated

Questions? Storch, N. (2011). Collaborative writing in L2 contexts: Processes, outcomes, and future directions. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 31(1), Tribble, C. (1996). Writing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

If you want a copy of the PowerPoint me and I’ll send you a Dropbox link.