Summary This study is part of my PhD dissertation that will be carried out in Kosovo, in April 2020. Prior to the main study a pilot study is planned to be conducted in January-February 2020.
Although pair and group work are very common in foreign language (FL) classrooms, only a few studies have investigated collaborative writing in FL classes with learners of lower secondary schools (aged 13-14 years) when they work together to produce a joint text. Thus, this study set out to investigate potential benefits of collaborative writing in FL acquisition. The study was conducted with 144 participants from lower EFL classrooms in Kosovo. 96 learners were assigned to write in pairs (48 pairs) and 48 others individually. Texts produced by both groups of learners were analyzed qualitatively using global rating rubrics that assessed the written compositions for task-achievement, coherence and cohesion, grammar, vocabulary and mechanics. Learners working in pairs were audio-recorded and their interaction was coded for Language-related episodes (LREs). LREs were then analyzed for their number, type and resolution and examined whether pairing proficiency had any effect on the number, type and outcomes of LREs. After the data analysis, it was revealed that pairs performed significantly better in task-achievement, coherence and cohesion, grammar and vocabulary, but not in mechanics. Findings also indicated that the pairs of higher proficiency produced significantly a greater number of LREs and resolved correctly the largest number of LREs compared to the pairs of lower proficiency. Finally, the majority of LREs produced by all pairs were lexis-focused, indicating thus that learners in this study focused more on meaning than on form during task completion. This is not surprising given their task was to write a story based on a set of photographs, considered as a meaning-focused task.
Key words: collaborative writing; foreign language writing; peer interaction; LREs
