EFL College Student Perceptions, Engagement, and Writing Developments in a Wiki-Based Interuniversity Collaborative Writing Project

Abstract

This paper reports a study of a wiki-based collaborative writing project conducted between two Taiwanese universities. A total of 100 sophomore students from two English writing classes used the wiki with group members to collaboratively produce online picture books. The aims of the study were to examine student perception, their engagement in the project, and their overall writing development. Various sources of data, including the questionnaires, archived changes of wiki pages, and pre- and post-project essay writing scores were collected and analyzed. The results showed that students' general opinions toward the project were positive. Students particularly appreciated the experience of collaborating with peers. However, the students found it challenging to negotiate a common work schedule and to reach group agreement. Students' engagement in the collaborative writing project varied, due in large part to their diverse English proficiency levels. Specifically, more proficient English writers appeared to be more engaged in the writing tasks, while less proficient writers tended to contribute by offering story ideas and arranging layouts. In the end, students' writing skills on average improved more as a result of the frequent writing practice and peer editing tasks, rather than from the completion of the online picture books.