The Effects of Collaborative and Individual Planning on Iranian Male and Female EFL Learners' Writing Ability

Abstract

This article is concerned with the effects of planning type (individual vs. collaborative) and gender on EFL learners' writing quality. The interaction of these two types of variables is also investigated. In a quasi-experimental design, the performance of two collaborative-planning and two individual-planning groups were compared. In each of these planning situations there was a male group and a female group with 26 students of the same proficiency level. All four groups underwent 8 treatment sessions. Results of the Paired-samples T-tests revealed that both types of planning had been effective in improving the learners’ writing performance. Moreover, based on the MANOVA results, there was no interaction between the two independent variables of the study and the main effect was significant only for the planning type. Findings of the study highlight the significance of planning, whether individually or collaboratively, before writing tasks.