Options
Impacts of the patterns of dyadic interaction on second language learning through collaborative writing between young ESL learners
Author
Jang, Hari
Supervisor
Cheung, Yin Ling
Abstract
Although the benefit of collaborative writing has been widely investigated based on Vygotsky’s socio-cultural perspectives (1978), it was found that the benefit depends on the patterns of interaction (Storch, 2002). However, little literature has informed us how young ESL learners interacted in collaborative dialogue and how collaborative writing enhanced L2 learning. Thus, this study investigates the impacts of pair interaction on the process and product of collaborative writing by analysing Language Related Episodes (LREs) and students’ narrative written products. Participants involved four pairs of grade third to fifth ESL learners whose mother tongue is Chinese, Tamil or Hindi in Singapore over six weeks. Each pair’s audio-taped collaborative dialogues, interviews, and writing products were analysed. The results showed that the patterns of dyadic interaction greatly influence the quantity and quality of LRE as well as the post-writing. When learners were engaged in collaborative or expert/novice pattern, they were likely to produce more LREs and attained a higher quality of post-writing. Specifically, the results indicated that not only a novice learner but also a moderate passive learner benefitted from collaborative writing by watching how the other student writes (Dale, 1994). However, the students who showed dominant role had the least improvement in the post-writing, and it was likely due to their perceived proficiency level of the partner (Watanabe & Swain, 2008). The study found that the interaction patterns affected the process of collaborative dialogue and also second language learning.
Date Issued
2016
Call Number
P118.2 Jan
Date Submitted
2016