Chapter published in:
Languaging in Language Learning and Teaching: A collection of empirical studies
Edited by Wataru Suzuki and Neomy Storch
[Language Learning & Language Teaching 55] 2020
► pp. 149–170

Chapter 7
Languaging in wiki-based collaborative writing:

Functions and mediating factors

| Texas A&M University-Commerce
Despite the acknowledgement of the role of languaging in collaborative writing, little research has examined how L2 students use language to mediate the process of jointly composing a text during asynchronous computer-mediated collaborative writing. This chapter reports on a study that investigated the languaging of three small groups of EFL students and the factors mediating languaging when completing a collaborative wiki writing task. The results revealed that languaging served multiple functions: resolving various language problems, negotiating and deciding about content and text organization, as well as mediating social relationships. Learners’ perception of task goals, language proficiency grouping, and patterns of interaction explained the ways in which the three groups engaged in languaging.
Keywords: collaborative writing, languaging, LRE, mediating factor, Wiki
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Literature review
    • Languaging in collaborative writing
    • Factors mediating languaging and LREs
    • Research gap
  • Methodology
    • Participants
    • Study procedure
    • Patterns of interaction
    • Data analysis
  • Results
    • Functions languaging serves
    • Language-related episodes (LREs)
    • Mediating factors
      • Perception of task goals
      • Language proficiency grouping
      • Patterns of interaction
  • Discussion and conclusion
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 14 August 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/lllt.55.07li
References
Anton, M., & DiCamilla, F.
(1998) Socio-cognitive functions of L1 collaborative interaction in the L2 classroom. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 54 (3), 314–342. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Brooks, L., & Swain, M.
(2009) Languaging in collaborative writing: Creation and response to expertise. In A. Mackey & C. Polio (Eds.), Multiple perspectives on interaction in SLA (pp. 58–89). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Cho, H.
(2017) Synchronous web-based collaborative writing: Factors mediating interaction among second-language writers. Journal of Second Language Writing, 36 , 37–51. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Denzin, N., & Lincoln, Y.
(1994) The Sage handbook of qualitative research (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Donato, R.
(1994) Collective scaffolding in second language learning. In J. P. Lantolf & G. Appel (Eds.), Vygotskian approaches to second language research (pp. 33–56). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar
Ede, L., & Lunsford, A.
(1990) Singular texts/plural authors. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.Google Scholar
Elola, I., & Oskoz, A.
(2010) Collaborative writing: Fostering foreign language and writing conventions development. Language Learning and Technology, 14 (3), 51–71.Google Scholar
Fernández-Dobao, A.
(2012) Collaborative writing tasks in the L2 classroom: Comparing group, pair, and individual work. Journal of Second Language Writing, 21 (1), 40–58. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Imai, Y.
(2010) Emotions in SLA: New insights from collaborative learning for an EFL classroom. The Modern Language Journal, 94 (2), 278–292. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kessler, G.
(2009) Student initiated attention to form in wiki based collaborative writing. Language Learning & Technology, 13 (1), 79–95.Google Scholar
Kessler, G., & Bikowski, D.
(2010) Developing collaborative autonomous learning abilities in computer mediated language learning: Attention to meaning among students in wiki space. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 23 (1), 41–58. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kim, Y., & McDonough, K.
(2008) The effect of interlocutor proficiency on the collaborative dialogue between Korean as a second language learners. Language Teaching Research, 12 (2), 211–234. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kost, C.
(2011) Investigating writing strategies and revision behavior in collaborative wiki projects. CALICO Journal, 28 (3), 606–620. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lee, L.
(2010) Exploring wiki-mediated collaborative writing: A case study in an elementary Spanish course. CALICO Journal, 27 (2), 260–276. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Leeser, M. J.
(2004) Learner proficiency and focus on form during collaborative dialogue. Language Teaching Research, 8 (1), 55–81. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Li, M.
(2013) Individual novices and collective experts: Collective scaffolding in wiki-based small group writing. System, 41 (3), 752–769. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2018) Computer-mediated collaborative writing in L2 contexts: An analysis of empirical research. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 31 (8), 882–904. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Li, M. & Zhu, W.
(2013) Patterns of computer-mediated interaction in small writing groups using wikis. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 26 (1), 62–81. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Li, M., & Zhu, W.
(2017) Explaining dynamic interactions in wiki-based collaborative writing. Language Learning & Technology, 21 (2), 96–120.Google Scholar
Loewen, S., & Wolff, D.
(2016) Peer interaction in F2F and CMC contexts. In M. Sato & S. Ballinger (Eds.), Peer interaction and second language learning: Pedagogical potential and research agenda (pp. 267–289). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lund, A.
(2008) Wikis: A collective approach to language production. ReCALL, 20 (1), 35–54. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Piezon, S. L., & Donaldson, R. L.
(2005) Online groups and social loafing: Understanding student-group interactions. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 8 (4), Retrieved from http://​www​.westga​.edu​/~distance​/ojdla​/winter84​/piezon84​.htm (2 April, 2020).
Qi, D. S., & Lapkin, S.
(2001) Exploring the role of noticing in a three-stage second language writing task. Journal of Second Language Writing, 10 (4), 277–303. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Rouhshad, A., & Storch, N.
(2016) A focus on mode: Patterns of interaction in face-to-face and computer-mediated context. In M. Sato & S. Ballinger (Eds.), Peer interaction and second language learning: Pedagogical potential and research agenda (pp. 267–289). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Storch, N.
(2002) Patterns of interaction in ESL pair work. Language Learning, 52 (1), 119–158. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2004) Using activity theory to explain differences in patterns of dyadic interactions in an ESL class. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 60 (4), 457–480. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2008) Metatalk in pair work activity: Level of engagement and implications for language development. Language Awareness, 17 (2), 95–114. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2013) Collaborative writing in L2 classrooms. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2019) Collaborative writing. Language Teaching, 52 (1), 40–59. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Storch, N., & Aldosari, A.
(2013) Pairing learners in pair work activity. Language Teaching Research, 17 (1), 31–48. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Storch, N., & Wigglesworth, G.
(2007) Writing tasks: The effects of collaboration. In M. P. Garcia Mayo (Ed.), Investigating tasks in formal language learning (pp. 157–177). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
(2010) Learners’ processing, uptake, and retention of corrective feedback on writing: Case studies. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 32 (2), 303–334. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Strauss, A. & Corbin, J.
(1990) Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Swain, M.
(2000) The output hypothesis and beyond: Mediating acquisition through collaborative dialogue. In J. P. Lantolf (Ed.), Sociocultural theory and second language learning (pp. 97–114). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
(2006) Languaging, agency, and collaboration in advanced second language proficiency. In H. Byrnes (Ed.), Advanced language learning: The contribution of Halliday and Vygotsky (pp. 95–108). London: Continuum.Google Scholar
(2010) Talking-it-through: Language as a source of learning. In R. Batstone (Ed.), Sociocognitive perspectives on language use and language learning (pp. 112–130). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
(2013) The inseparability of cognition and emotion in second language learning. Language Teaching, 46 (2), 195–207. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Swain, M., Brooks, L., & Tocalli-Beller, A.
(2002) Peer-peer dialogue as means of second language learning. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 22 , 171–185. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Swain, M., & Lapkin, S.
(1998) Interaction and second language learning: Two adolescent French immersion students working together. The Modern Language Journal, 82 (3), 320–337. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Swain, M., & Watanabe, Y.
(2012) Languaging: Collaborative dialogue as a source of second language learning. In C. A. Chapell (Ed.), The encyclopedia of applied linguistics (pp. 3218-3225). Oxford: Blackwell. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Vygotsky, L. S.
(1978) Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Watanabe, Y.
(2008) Peer-peer interaction between L2 learners of different proficiency levels: Their interactions and reflections. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 64 (4), 605–63. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2019) The role of languaging in collaborative and individual writing: When pairs outperformed individuals. In M. Haneda & H. Nassaji (Eds), Perspectives on language as action (pp. 63–79). Bristol: Multilingual Matters. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Watanabe, Y., & Swain, M.
(2007) Effects of proficiency differences and patterns of pair interaction on second language learning: Collaborative dialogue between adult ESL learners. Language Teaching Research, 11 (2), 121–142. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Zeng, G., & Takatsuka, S.
(2009) Text-based peer-peer collaborative dialogue in a computer-mediated learning environment in the EFL context. System, 37 (3), 434–446. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 1 other publications

Zhang, Meixiu, John Gibbons & Mimi Li
2021. Computer-mediated collaborative writing in L2 classrooms: A systematic review. Journal of Second Language Writing 54 ► pp. 100854 ff. Crossref logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 03 april 2022. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.