Improving the Revising Stage when Writing Through Collaborative Work on EFL Students

Sandra Priscilla Bustamante Ruiz1

Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil Guayaquil, Ecuador sandra.bustamante@casagrande.edu.ec

María C. Quiñones Guilott2 Universidad Casa Grande Guayaquil, Ecuador guil@bellsouth.net

This study aimed at analyzing how students’ collaboration when through Google Docs. The research addressed the revising stage of the writing process. An action research investigation analyzed quantitative private higher education institution in Ecuador. The instruments used to interviews. The results evidenced that collaborative work improved students’ performance at the time of writing and enriched their texts. All constructs tested at the end of the innovation improved by more than progress of the study was shown in the results of Supporting Details respectively. The research matters to students who are looking for strategies to improve the writing process, and investigators who need

Keywords: collaborative work, peer review, writing process, revising stage

Introduction

Individuals who are keen to learn a foreign language attempt to communicate through the written word for personal and academic reasons. Students who are learning a second language face problems at the time of writing, mainly at a university level where they write col-

Ciencies In The Ability To Write Could Compromise The Academic Success

writing skills educators should consider what students learn and build, through social interaction, and what motivates them to learn.

For many EFL educators, communication can happen while deand writing that students demonstrate language acquisition. Some educational institutions in Ecuador, through the Education First program skills of the examinees in one of the six levels established by the Com-country, Ecuador is situated at a low level regarding the knowledge of the English language. After the results, the Ecuador Education Miniswhen preparing curricular plans, including higher education. Accordingedge and skills gained throughout the process.”

One of the learning standards focuses on the writing skill which for English teachers is challenging to develop since writing allows people to communicate and give power to their ideas. Due to the demands of and cultural activities, learning writing may encourage them to work collaboratively, provide feedback, and join ideas to produce a powerful message. The study carried out at one private University of Ecuador by developed at the time of peer review practice.

The Ecuadorian government through the Ministry of Education the students, at the time of accessing higher education, should man-

English texts in their chosen careers. However, this is not the reality in some Ecuadorian Universities, and English educators have noticed that to understand. the teacher’s role has the tendency to evaluate the student’s writing and does not provide feedback during the writing process. So, the student does not have the opportunity to act on the teacher´s opinion. This might end up in students’ lack of interest when writing tasks are assigned to be done in the classroom, since teachers may not be able to answer all students´ questions, leaving the unattended students un-

CEFR is A2. Considering the data that has been gathered at the institution where the current study took place and the feedback obtained via conversation with other English instructors, it corroborates the fact that students lack a clear notion of what revising texts is about. Students’ scores at the university level attest to the fact that learners at the time of writing are not familiar with the revising stage in the writing process.

Literature Review

Writing is essential to socialize and inform ideas and opinions.

between the writer and the reader. In education, working collaboratively motivates students to perform peer review and peer feedback so that they are able to elaborate coherent documents. Peer interactions help students to acquire new strategies of learning, construct knowledge,

Peer Review

Peer review is a practice whereby students provide and receive provided. This raises the question: how do peers and teachers know whenpractice and students must take into account that its regular application provides the reviewee and reviewer opportunities to give, receive and apRevision

Revising is the stage at which writers try to improve the text they produced while planning and constructing an initial draft. However, it, particularly through substantive revisions and undervalue the imporwho wrote an essay. The essay received feedback from peers and the proved noticeable changes in linguistic features from original to revised drafts. Revised essays were longer, included more transitional phrases, and were somewhat more cohesive. draft helps the students to examine their writing from a new perspective during each revision in order to strengthen it. When writing, the writer’s objective is to produce a text that represents their intent and the audience’s needs, and revision is necessary to achieve this objective. During a writing revision, the relationship, and interaction between the student and the teacher, as well as the communication that exists between peers of a working group, allow the synergy of knowledge, points which in turn, generate the construction of knowledge. This synergy, acinvolvement of students, accountability for the task they perform, and more critical collaboration among participants. and considers social interaction essential to generate and consolidate knowledge. A collaborative work environment in a classroom can bring their collaborative work competency level. A collaborative competency correlation between the high level of collaborative work competency and academic achievement. Collaborative work helps the student academically, socially, and psychologically as it improves critical thinking, and the learning process, develops social support, and develops posi- community practice where interdependence stimulates an atmosphere of cooperative responsibility, mutual respect, and a sense of group - time-consuming and might create a chaotic situation in the classroom. For the latter study, one of the concerns was students’ behavior when working collaboratively. Furthermore, there was the possibility that

Feedback be provided to students when performing writing and it can be given learners consider the teacher’s feedback to be trustworthy and unques- that feedback is an assessment form performed by equal status learners to help them to understand better not only what must be improved in the writing but to increase the ability to understand feedback, and therefore to perform well in future assignments.

Collaboration through technology

interaction and technology are integrated that helps create a peer social interaction language environment. Google Docs is considered a web learning resource that encourages students to interact with their class- it lets the students’ participation be constant and motivating. Google Docs. is a free and convenient resource that facilitates carrying out tasks concerning the writing process, as well as encourages peer feedback. Google Docs enables users to view what has been, and who is editing in the current research because it revealed that students showed positive attitudes towards the application of Google Docs., which enhanced students’ ability to express their ideas and comment on their peers’ writing that if higher education institutions decide to include technology as part of the learning process for future professionals, it is necessary to take into account that education will not improve just by using it and technology can fail. Some questions are necessary to consider such as fails?”

Methodology Design

To improve the teaching performance, the investigator carried out an Action Research study that included a quasi-experimental design.

study what the academics must know to improve performance. The research involved quantitative and qualitative data analysis. The validity of the study is supported by the triangulation of the study results interviews. The instruments for data collection answered the three research questions:sion phase of the writing process?

2. How does shared text enhance participants´ peer collaboration?

Participants

The participants for this research were students enrolled in an English level 5 course at a private institution of Higher Education. The the students who are promoted to level 5 have an entry level that corresponds to level A2 of the CEFR. The study included two groups of participants, the control and the experimental group. There were twengroup. Both groups assent to participate in the study.