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L2 Collaborative Writing in Diverse Learning Contexts
Edited by Mimi Li and Meixiu Zhang
[Language Learning & Language Teaching 59] 2023
► pp. 80–108

Chapter 4
Do task repetition and pretask focus on form instruction impact collaborative writing performance?

Evidence from young learners

| University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU)
| University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU)

This study examines the influence of task repetition (TR) and pretask focus on form instruction (FFI) on written collaborative production. Eighty-five low-proficiency EFL children carried out a dictogloss task twice: one targeting the 3rd person singular present “‑s”, and the other aiming at the possessive determiners “his/her”. Participants were divided into three different conditions: individual, collaborative, and pretask FFI + collaborative. Their written output was analyzed for complexity and accuracy, and overall text quality was gauged with an analytic rubric. The results did not reveal an advantage for the collaborative groups over the individuals. However, TR and collaboration increased grammatical accuracy while pretask FFI appeared to foster more accurate use of the target forms. Pedagogical and research implications are discussed.

Keywords: task repetition, focus on form, collaboration, young learners, dictogloss
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Literature review
    • Collaborative vs individual L2 writing
    • Task repetition
    • Pretask focus on form instruction
  • Methods
    • Participants
  • Materials
    • The DG texts
    • The pretask FFI
    • Procedure
    • Analysis
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
Published online: 17 August 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lllt.59.04cal
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