Cheryl Wei-yu CHEN
Asian Journal of English Language Teaching. 2012, 22(1): 25-44.
Collaborative writing, defined as “writing involving two or more writers working together to produce a joint product” (Anderson, 1995, p. 195), is a common occur- rence across educational and professional contexts. This study attempted to further the research on collaborative writing by focusing on students’ descriptions and perceptions of engaging in group writing in an English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) writing class over the course of an academic semester. Data sources included students’ individual and group writing assignments, questionnaires, interviews, rele- vant entries in students’ e-portfolios, and audio-recordings of students’ group work. The results indicated that most students perceived their collaborative writing experi- ences quite positively. Students’ perceived benefits of collaborative writing were numerous, ranging from opportunities to exchange ideas to development of communi- cation and interpersonal skills. On the other hand, students reported problems with conflicts, the pressure to maintain group harmony, and uncommitted group members.
