Collaborative Writing in Group Work

AbstractCollaborative learning in small groups can enrich and enhance the learning experience in large online courses by facilitating interaction and collaborative knowledge building between peers. on the work reported here addresses scenarios based on asynchronous communication and exchange. As compared to synchronous and face-to-face settings, these scenarios require higher explicit coordination efforts and specific support mechanisms to reach out to inactive group members. This can be achieved by human tutors as well as through automatic interventions by the system in the organization and facilitation of group work. Our approach is based on characterizing the quality or well-functioning of collaboration using sequence alignment techniques that were originally developed in bioinformatics for the comparison of DNA sequences. Sequence alignment provides a similarity measure between pairs of action logs originating from the group work. The ensuing similarity matrix allows for clustering the working groups characterized by the similarity of their complete action logs. Notably, these clusters differ clearly in terms of quality measures related to the activity distribution and group output. This allows for determining quality indicators that can trigger feedback and adaptive scaffolding. Our data stem from inter-university online courses in which regular (weekly or bi-weekly) assignments had to be completed in small groups supported by an online forum for coordination and a separate tool for the actual collaborative writing. The basic actions are interpreted/coded as different contribution types, namely coordination, monitoring, minor/major contributions. Longer periods of inactivity are coded as another type of action (“gap”). These are the building blocks for the sequence alignment. One consequence of our analysis is a revision of the intuitive assumption that inactivity is a main indicator of inefficient group work: We found that inactivity can be compensated by early coordination to the extent that coordination is even the most important factor for successful group work. These insights are now being used to design alert mechanisms to signal inefficient group work and to generate timely interventions.

Download Full-text

Lexical language-related episodes in pair and small group work

International Journal of English Studies ◽

10.6018/ijes/2017/1/255011 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 17 (1) ◽

pp. 61 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Maria del Pilar Garcia Mayo ◽

Nora Zeitler

Keyword(s):

Small Group ◽

Group Work ◽

Vocabulary Learning ◽

Collaborative Writing ◽

Point Of View ◽

Linguistic Knowledge ◽

Small Group Work ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Set Up ◽

Writing Task

<p>The present study investigates whether learner set up in interaction, namely in pairs or small groups, influences the frequency and outcome of lexical language-related episodes (LREs) and L2 vocabulary learning. Thirty Spanish English as a foreign language (EFL) university learners took part in the study. They worked in four groups and seven pairs on the same collaborative writing task. Research was carried out on the course of five weeks as a pre- and post- vocabulary task and an individual writing task were administered to assess vocabulary learning and retention. The quantitative analysis of the data showed that there was no significant difference between the performance of pairs and groups, although the latter produced slightly more lexical LREs than pairs and were able to solve most of them correctly. However, from a qualitative point of view, the findings suggest that small group work leads to slightly better results than pair work as the different members obtain benefits from their peers’ linguistic knowledge.</p>

Download Full-text

Individual, Pair and Group Writing Activity: A Case Study of Undergraduate EFL Student Writing

English Language Teaching ◽

10.5539/elt.v12n10p1 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 12 (10) ◽

pp. 1

Author(s):

Chittima Kaweera ◽

Rattana Yawiloeng ◽

Khomkrit Tachom

Keyword(s):

Group Work ◽

Collaborative Writing ◽

Student Writing ◽

Writing Teachers ◽

Self Confidence ◽

Efl Students ◽

Group Members ◽

Pair Work ◽

Different Levels

The present study aimed to compare between individual and collaborative writing (pair and group of four) activities of 72 EFL students. The subjects of the study were assigned to produce their tasks by these three activities. Qualitative method was employed by using interview of nine students drawn from students with different levels of English proficiency (low, fair and high). It was focused on their perspectives towards skills practiced during working on written tasks: writing, thinking, participation, communication as well as their satisfaction of these activities. The results from content analysis demonstrated that overall the students practiced participation skills when doing individual and pair work. The students practiced writing skills when joining group work. With regard to the students’ satisfaction, low proficiency students in low group were likely to enjoy coauthoring activity either pair or group work. Their satisfaction seemed to increase according to the number of group members. This is important for writing teachers to provide this activity for low proficiency students as this may lower the students’ anxiety and foster their self-confidence, compared with completing tasks individually. On the contrary high proficiency students seemed to enjoy writing alone and were fairly satisfied group work. These students were likely to be more confident when performing the tasks individually or experienced some problems that might impede working collaboratively.

Download Full-text

Collaborative Writing in EFL Classroom: Comparison on Group, Pair, and Individual Writing Activities in Argumentative Tasks

Asian Journal of Education and Training ◽

10.20448/journal.522.2021.73.179.188 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (3) ◽

pp. 179-188

Author(s):

Jitlada Moonma ◽

Chittima Kaweera

Keyword(s):

Critical Thinking ◽

Group Work ◽

Language Use ◽

Collaborative Writing ◽

Structured Interview ◽

Argumentative Writing ◽

Advanced Level ◽

Proficiency Levels ◽

Novice Learners ◽

Group Pair

This study focused on comparing the effects on 32 students’ argumentative writing qualities when they worked alone or collaborated in pairs and groups and explored the students’ opinions towards critical thinking across different writing activities. The 32 students were divided into groups of four (n=8), pairs (n=16) and individuals (n=32). Their papers were rated in terms of content, language use, and organization by three raters. The research employed argumentative writing rubrics, semi-structured interview, and observation. From the total of 15 points, the novice learners gained the highest scores when writing in groups (X ̅ = 11.22), followed by pairs (X ̅ = 10.19) and individuals (X ̅ = 8.98). The intermediate learners also gained the highest scores in group work (X ̅ = 11.50), followed by pairs (X ̅ = 10.32), and individual work (X ̅ = 9.04), respectively. Similar to the advanced level, they had the highest scores when working in groups (X ̅ = 11.95), followed by pairs (X ̅ = 10.45), and individuals (X ̅ = 9.45). The findings indicated that group work led to the highest scores in all proficiency levels and in groups, the students’ critical thinking improved regarding analyzing, evaluating and creating information when they brainstormed, shared and discussed all information. In pairs, the students also demonstrated that their critical thinking developed but only in analyzing from sharing information with a partner. In individuals, all proficiency levels reported that critical thinking was not developed as no interaction with peers.

Download Full-text