An Exploratory Study on the Role of L2 Collaborative Writing on Learners’ Subsequent Individually Composed Texts

Abstract

While research into the potential benefits of second or foreign language (L2 or FL) collaborative writing for jointly written texts has proliferated in the last few decades, it remains unclear whether texts that learners compose individually after such activities demonstrate improved quality, accuracy, fluency, and complexity. This study compares individually written texts produced by students on post-tests in two parallel classes (one exposed to collaborative writing practice for a semester and one without). Tests were delivered immediately after the class, as well as after a delay, in order to investigate the role of L2 collaborative writing in the production of new or subsequent texts at various periods of time. The findings indicate that students who were exposed to collaborative writing practice outperformed those who were not in terms of accuracy, fluency, and quality (organization, vocabulary, and grammar) in subsequent, individually produced texts. Also, the same measure in a 2-month delayed post-test found the same result in terms of accuracy, fluency, and quality (vocabulary, grammar) on subsequent texts; however, gains did not persist in organization. The implications of these findings for implementation of L2 collaborative writing are also discussed.