Saudi Female EFL Learners and Collaborative Writing: Attitudes and Challenges

Abstract

Writing skills are important skills that must be learned to express one's thoughts and ideas. Therefore, several strategies were used in writing classes to enhance learners' writing skills, one of which is collaborative writing. A number of studies reported many advantages for this strategy in terms of the quality of the produced texts and the improvements in students' writing skills. The present study aimed at investigating the attitude of Saudi female EFL learners toward collaborative writing and the challenges/problems that may arise during the activity. It adopted a quantitative approach in which 50 Saudi female EFL learners answered a questionnaire about their experience in writing collaboratively and the problems they encountered during the activity. The findings have shown that the learners have a positive attitude toward collaborative writing. However, there were some problems in terms of students’ behavior, assessment and time management. These findings encourage writing teachers to use this strategy in their classes. In addition, the findings encourage teachers and researchers to address the problems reported in the study.