Exploring Students’ Attitudes Towards The Implementation of Collaborative Writing: The case of 3rd Year students at Oran2 University

Abstract

Collaborative learning is a crucial social-affective strategy in EFL classes, fostering shared expertise and decision-making among researchers in knowledge construction and language skills development, especially in academic writing. Good writing calls for good writing techniques, including collaborative writing. This approach encourages teamwork, critical thinking, and active engagement towards creating a well-structured piece of writing. Using collaborative writing in the classroom makes students more involved in all the writing processes—that is, in brainstorming ideas, compiling and arranging data, drafting, editing, and rewriting. Thus, the current investigation examines the attitudes and experiences of third-year English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students at the University of Oran 2, Algeria, toward collaborative writing and its effect on overcoming writing limitations. Using a mixed-methods approach, the researcher collected data through a four-section questionnaire administered to one hundred (100) students, semi-structured observations of collaborative writing projects, and analysis of student-generated essays. The quantitative analysis revealed that most students had participated in collaborative writing tasks. Though they had some reservations about time constraints and unequal participation, students generally expressed positive attitudes towards its advantages of English language learning and error correction. Qualitative data highlighted different interaction patterns and the negotiation of meaning within the group. Analyzing students’ papers revealed notable increases in organizational skills, comprehension and analysis, production standards, and discourse coherence. Although students preferred group projects to individual assignments, issues with group coordination and unequal contribution became clear as primary concerns for pedagogical relevance. The study found that the students often struggle with academic writing due to various reasons. However, implementing collaborative writing positively impacted students' attitudes towards academic writing, especially for weaker and average students. This approach helped overcome challenges such as time constraints, understanding objectives, structuring, presentation, and methodological issues. Collaborative writing significantly improved students' logical structure, clarity, understanding, analysis, production standards, and communication skills. The results imply that, in this EFL environment, collaborative writing has a significant potential to improve academic writing abilities; nevertheless, organized implementation is necessary to address the inherent challenges.