Exploring Jigsaw Writing for Journal Writing (JWJA)

Abstract

The scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) is obtained through the lecturers’ effort to engage in teaching and research. SoTL puts teaching and research as belonging to a symbiotic relationship. To improve teaching, there should be research. The end product of a research is publication in journals. So, why aren’t lecturers writing in journals? Lack of time to write and lack of knowledge of the writing process are two main reasons why lecturers in higher institutions are not actively writing for journals. Writing for a journal article is no doubt an academic writing and many lecturers have gone through postgraduate studies where they have submitted thesis in the form of academic writing. Some even teach academic writing to students. So, why is it still difficult for lecturers to write academic articles for journals? This study is done to introduce an interesting way of teaching lecturers to write journal articles for publication in journals. This quantitative study explores the concept of jigsaw writing for lecturers. This approach explores team writing using colours as scaffolds. 139 participants participated in this one cycle of jigsaw writing for journal writing project. At the end of the cycle, the participants responded to a survey that contains items on the writing process and team work. Findings revealed that the JWJA approach gave writers a springboard to writing through the planning, and team-work; as well as, the use of coloured scaffolds. The findings bear interesting implications towards team-writing among academicians. Future research could look into how to motivate academicians to writer academic papers.