How Do Korean EFL Students Perform in Computer-Supported Collaborative Writing?

Abstract

The collaborative writing process and the nature of conversation during computer-supported collaborative writing have not received much attention. This study aims to investigate how students perform collaborative writing in computer-supported writing environment. The participants of this study consisted of 24 Korean EFL college students. For collaborative writing, the students were paired based on a similar writing proficiency level. The participants were asked to write three essays on a web-based social writing platform and to talk with their peer using a synchronous computer-mediated communication program. A total of 34 transcripts of conversation between 12 pairs were collected and analyzed into a total number of 1,866 episode units. The majority of the talk was substantive talk followed by procedural talk, social talk, and then writing talk in both higher level and lower level groups. However, there were some differences in substantive talk and social talk between higher and lower level groups. The groups generally followed a common process when they worked together to produce an essay. All groups consistently took a parallel approach. The findings of this study about how student groups proceed to work collaboratively to produce a shared text may benefit writing teachers who may want to adopt collaborative writing.