Benefits and Drawbacks of Collaborative Writing for Young Foreign Language Learners: A Case Study on Teachers' Perspective

Abstract

Collaborative Writing (CW) and its benefits and drawbacks for language learning have been studied by many scholars, mainly concerning adult learners (ALs). Nevertheless, its potential applications to young learners (YLs) of a foreign language (FL) are yet to be examined in depth. The collaborative method is based on such theories as Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory (1978) which emphasizes that learning is a social process, Krashen’s Input Hypothesis (1985) which explains that language learning is achieved via comprehensible input obtained from other learners, Long’s Interaction Hypothesis (1996) that underlines the significance of the interaction and negotiation of meaning among learners that makes the input more comprehensible and Swain’s Output Hypothesis (1995) which highlights the importance of the production of L2 (output) from which students are conscious of their own knowledge. It is also nurtured by the claims made by Swain (2000), who considers that Languaging, and especially Collaborative Dialogue, may help students to solve their problems by means of interaction. It is important to take into account that writing is considered an arduous skill to acquire, a skill that becomes more challenging when dealing with a FL (Williams, 2012, p. 322; Sheerin, 2008, p. 345; Verspoor & Smiskova, 2012, p. 41). For this reason, working collaboratively on a writing task may help YLs to acquire FL writing skills. Nevertheless, regarding classroom practices with YLs, teachers’ beliefs concerning collaborative work come into play, since their point of view on whether a FL teaching approach or method results beneficial for their pupils is crucial. This dissertation aims to explore teachers' perspective on whether CW is beneficial also for YLs by means of a case study, in which three teachers of diverse stages of a Primary school took part. Semistructured interviews were conducted with the teachers, audio-recorded and transcribed. Then, the data was examined in search of recurrent themes mentioned by the three teachers. The results of this case study show that CW is generally considered favorable for young FL learners, which is in line with the theoretical underpinnings of collaborative learning and the existing body of research. However, more investigation is needed in this field. Overall, the present study supports claims in favor of CW’s benefits for YLs, which enables us to advocate for its more widespread implementation in FL Primary classrooms.